Having WordPress security problems? You’re not alone. WordPress is one of the most popular Content Management Systems, so it’s a prime target for hackers. To make the most of your website, you should seriously consider using a WordPress static site generator.
What’s a WordPress static site generator?
When you use WordPress as your Content Management System, your website retrieves webpages from a database and converts them, so the page can be loaded in your visitors’ browsers. A WordPress static site generator converts your WordPress content in a flat file format and this is stored separately. It doesn’t require a database at all.
If that sounded complicated, we’ll explain in the next paragraph.
What’s a static website?
A static website is written in fixed code, so that unlike a dynamic website, it never changes at all, unless the site admin manually adjusts the code. This means that when you have a static website, there’s no database for webpages to be retrieved from, and there’s no need for your visitors to wait for the webpage to be retrieved, converted, and then loaded into their browser.
A static website is more like a digital newspaper or brochure. There are many reasons your website will improve if you use a WordPress static site generator. Here are seven of those reasons:
6 reasons to choose a static website
1. Static websites are better for WordPress security
Static websites are more secure than dynamic websites. For one thing, there’s no database, which means that common hacker tricks (like SQL database injection) just won’t work. The lack of database also means there are fewer entry points that hackers can use to attack your website.
There’s also no need to update plugins when your website is stored in a static format, which means that hackers can’t exploit the weaknesses in your out-of-date plugins, either. So, if you’ve been having WordPress security problems, a static website might be just the solution you’re searching for! Learn more about the security static sites provide.
2. Static websites are cheaper
Dynamic websites require a domain, web hosting, a database, and PHP. This cost adds up over time. When you have a static website, you only need a domain, web hosting, HTML/CSS and JavaScript. This makes them much cheaper than dynamic websites. And don’t forget that you won’t need as many plugins with a static website as you’ll need with a dynamic website.
Because static websites are harder to hack, your security costs are also a lot lower when you have a static website.
3. Static websites are faster
WordPress websites load more slowly than static websites, because with dynamic websites, the pages are loaded from a database and built from a template each time a user requests them. But with a WordPress static site generator, you’re hosting the static files that will be loaded on your visitors’ browsers exactly as they’re stored on the server. This makes the file retrieval process super fast, which means your page will load at almost unbelievable speeds. This does wonders for your bounce rate and your visitor retention.
4. Static websites are more streamlined
When you use a CMS like WordPress, you start with a generic solution that’s supposed to be adequate for a range of websites. If you want it to be perfect for your website in particular, you’ll need to customise it by adding lots of plugins. When you use a static website, you can choose from an endless list of options that are already perfectly suited to the needs of your website, whether you want to use your site for blogging, for showing off your art, or for marketing.
5. Static websites are more reliable
Dynamic websites rely on making a connection with the database. (Thus the dreaded error message: “Database connection not established.”) Because there’s no database to connect with when you have a static website, there’s one less thing that could go wrong. Also, since your static site produces flat HTML files, these files can be hosted just about anywhere. This means that if an attack happens to hit a node where your static site is stored, your site can still be retrieved from whichever node is closest to it. Your website will keep functioning without a hitch!
6. Easier development
When you create a static website, you can rest easy knowing that however your site looks to you as a developer is exactly the way it looks to your viewers. This makes it easier to make changes and to check your work.
Bonus: Static websites are more scalable.
With a dynamic website, getting more traffic means you’ll have to upgrade your hosting plan to account for the extra work your servers will have to do to serve your webpages to all your new visitors. When you have a static website, this isn’t an issue at all! Your webpages will be retrieved more often, but the server won’t need to do any extra work to generate the pages. This means that when you have a static website, more traffic is only ever good news. You don’t have to worry about scaling up. Plus it’s easy to go migrate, just have a look.
To sum up
Static websites are undoubtedly better for your WordPress security. They’re also faster, cheaper, and more scalable. With all these things going for it, there are very few reasons not to use a WordPress static site generator!
Love what you just read? Go deeper and learn about the advantages of static WordPress in this article.
