Why Go Back in Time?
Websites use to be a simple thing back in the days but then came Wordpress and all the other page builders. Everyone hopped on the Wordpress train and started building plugins and themes for this open source software.
With so many websites being on Wordpress, there came security vulnerabilities and other SEO ranking factors that put an impact on the website.
Static Site Generators
Static websites is not a new thing. It dates back all the way to the beginning of the web so why are we going back in time? Well static site generators are growing more and more, these include GatsbyJS, Jekyll, and Hugo - which is what I use to build sites for its fast build time.
With new technology emerging, there are more things to do and tons of benefits with using a static site generator. Most articles will explain that you always need a developer to edit a static website because it's pure code. That was the case but enter headless CMS. Headless CMS allows developers to connect CMS to static websites which allows editors like the website owner to go into the admin area and edit what they need.
SEO with Static Sites
Short answer. Static websites will always be better for SEO. With speed being a major factor in Google ranking, static sites will always win (just keep the external resources low). With static sites, you have total control over your SEO. If your developer created an easy back end for your SEO pages, that is even better. I always provide some type of SEO edits in the back end of forestry.io, the CMS used for my sites.
Unlike Wordpress, you have to install additional plugins for Wordpress like Yoast SEO and caching plugins to speed up the website. If you have to install additional add ons to the site, it's time to move to static.
Static Sites Wins for Speed
Wordpress remains a very slow platform, no matter what anyone says and static sites will always trump dynamic websites. Why? Because static websites doesn't require additional processes like fetching from the database and bloated plugins. What else? Unreliable hosting. Especially any hosting by EIG. That requires a new blog post by itself, but I recommend going with hosting that are not owned by EIG.
Serving a static site is extremely fast compared to Wordpress. Why? Because all the web server needs to do is return static files like HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
Static Wins for Security
Since static sites are just files, there is nothing that can be exploited unlike Wordpress. Like Databases, SQL injections can cause major damage to your website and you can spend hours trying to figure out why there is random spamming and code injections on your site.
Security was one of the major reasons why I moved my clients from Wordpress to static sites. I had some issues with some sites due to using a shared server. Quick summary for those who don't know shared servers - it just means you're sharing hosting with other people. Simple right? But if one website on that server gets a virus, then it leaves all the sites on the server vulnerable.
You'd be surprised to find out that some large agencies still use shared servers rather than a dedicated. Even with all the plugins and theme updates that Wordpress requires, your site can still be hacked. Just save the headache and go static.
Conclusion
Wordpress CMS is a very popular platform. Yes you'll get some simplicity and flexibility with additional plugins, but you're wasting a lot of time doing upkeep to ensure it's secured.
Find someone that knows how to get a static site going using Hugo or Gatsby and you'll see how high you rank above your competitors. Get that static site now while your competitors are using old software. Feel free to reach out to me for any questions or projects!
