How & why to create a pre-footer on your website
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Is there something you want your website viewers to see on EVERY page of your website?
Maybe it’s a call-to-action (ie: asking them to subscribe or work with you, for example). Maybe it’s a reminder to do something. Maybe it’s a display of your most popular shop items.
Using pre-footers in Squarespace
In 7.1 you can quickly & easily add/remove sections to your footer at any time, no matter which 7.1 template you’ve chosen.
In 7.0 whether you can add a pre-footer or not will depend on your template and I believe only the Bedford and Pacific templates offer this an option. Sorry Brine users! This feature doesn’t work with your template.
What’s a pre-footer?
It’s exactly what it sounds like: a section on top of your footer that contains different content.
You can also add a post-footer if you like, which would be a different section after your main footer.
However, I’d encourage you to keep things as simple and clean (uncluttered) as possible so it can be navigated easier by your visitors. So be careful what you add in these areas; this content needs to be very strategic & purposeful.
There’s no industry standard for what to put in these, so it’s totally up to you. Pre-footers are super flexible, so you could change things up regularly/seasonally & that’s totally okay!
How to add sections to your footer (7.1)
Simply open your website, and from any page click Edit on the preview side, then scroll down to your footer area.
Click the white Edit Footer button hovering over that area.
When the editor switches from editing that page to editing the site-wide footer area, select the blue ➕Add Section button hovering above or below the footer section that’s already there, to add a new section.
Don’t worry if it adds it in the wrong place, you can move it up or down as needed using the section toolbar on the upper right of that section by selecting the up or down arrows there.
Once you have added it in the right place, you can start adding content!
This section will work like any other on your site, so there are no additional limitations; just add whatever you need to be there, including things like summary blocks, text & buttons, Image Layout blocks, social media links, a newsletter signup form, etc.
Here’s what that looks like on v7.1 in Squarespace (no sound required):
What can you use a pre-footer for?
place a call to action
work with you
subscribe to your email list
place an affiliate link that will be useful & appreciated by your audience
listen to the latest podcast or read the latest blog
make your best/most popular freebie(s) available from anywhere
draw attention to a new product/service
for shops or product-based businesses:
use Image Layout blocks to display:
your best-selling item
an amazing product review or other social proof
use a summary block to easily & automatically display updated content for:
most popular products
brand new or featured products
products on sale
announce an upcoming sale
+bonus: ask for signups to be notified of sales so visitors can grab items first thing before they sell out
display reviews
you can use a blog collection with each entry being a single reviewer and a summary block carousel to display them from anywhere one or two at a time with next/previous arrows to cycle through them + categories & tags to filter specific ones for different reasons.
break up & organize your footer content
place page links in a pre-footer with a different background to make it more obvious
place your contact info &/or available office hours in a separate section
place your social media stuff in a separate section
place extra navigation links that aren’t part of your header navigation links
place a search bar with a note like “Can’t find it? Try searching: 🔍 ___________________”
