Alright, this is not a political rant, just stealing the headlines of the day. I don’t expect you to come to my site to read about WordPress and instead get my political views crammed down your throat. Believe me, I have them but that is not what this site is about so I will leave that for the correct time and place, something a few celebrities should figure out. No this is about the old static HTML websites and why I see very little need for them.
I get the same request at least once a week; someone has just learned how to use Dreamweaver or paid big money to create a static HTML site and then want a WordPress blog to match. There are multiple images used for the header and background images, fancy drop-down navigation bars, and the list goes on and on. Then reality hits, they want to change a few items on the sidebar or header and guess what? Every stinking page on the site needs to be edited manually, one at a time. Then I tell them how much work is involved in matching the existing site and most will run away. Sorry but it takes the time to do all that.
The solution I often give is to find a nice inexpensive or free WordPress theme and pay a fraction of the cost to have it customized a bit. Then use WordPress to power the entire site. Why WordPress for an entire site? Well, first it can be set up to show a static front page instead of the blog loop. Multiple pages can be made instead of posts if you don’t want some content in the blog loop. Then there are sidebar widgets to add, remove or edit items on the sidebar from one location, one time, that will show throughout the site. You can change the look of the entire site just by uploading and activate a new theme. And any edits you make to the theme one time in one location will again show throughout the entire site. No more editing one page at a time.
Then there are the other things to consider like built-in SEO. Pinging multiple sites when you publish a new post will spread backlinks around the internet with a push of the Publish button. The Google bots will come in no time to a good WordPress site that is setup correctly with an automatic Google sitemap that notifies Google of all new posts and pages. Then there is the added functionality of plugins, chances are if you want your WordPress site to do something there is a plugin for it.
Also, Check out our famous comparison of HTML Site vs. WordPress Site.
So stop dressing up that static HTML website and consider WordPress for your next website. You won’t need any lipstick for it or any fancy bling, just good solid content and the visitors will come, no matter how well dressed up it is.