DiscoverWordPress or Static HTML – What’s best for your website?
Launching a business website is not an easy process, and you need to know how to hit off with it. One of the biggest dilemmas, in this case, is whether to choose a static HTML site or to go for WordPress instead, which is why we wrote this simple comparison article to help you make a decision. Go through it, and estimate which is the best option for your new business website:
WordPress’s Dynamic Website
[image error]
In the software world, WordPress is perceived to be a CMS (Content Management System), a simplified HTML version for non-techie users to add and modify stuff on their websites. CMS sites are usually dynamic, meaning that there are no restrictions to how often you change your content, meaning that you can change literally everything from pictures to entire texts.
Besides, the interface is very simple and user-friendly, and nobody needs any special training to learn how to navigate it. Mobile-friendliness is also an asset, not just for readers who get to visit your website from their mobile devices, but for you as the admin who gets to change content on the go. Imagine how easy things are that way!
The CMS market is highly competitive, but WordPress beats competition every time, and more than 25% of all websites out there are running on it.
Another thing to remember before you start is that there is a significant difference from WordPress.com to WordPress.org because the latter is an open source CMS. WordPress.com, on the other hand, works as a blog-hosting service.
The good sides of using WordPress:
It’s functional – It provides you with thousands of modern plugins to add to the site the functionality that it’s missing. For the purpose, you won’t have to have any programming knowledge;
You own it, and you control it – The website is solely in your hands, you decide how it will be called, how it will look, and what content it will display. A modification is possible at any time, and nobody is limiting you to become the most popular, attractive online business with numerous users and sales;
You can set it up fast – Compared to HTML setup, WordPress takes significantly less time to be done, both in cases of simple brochures and complex websites. Adding e-commerce functions is made simple, some static websites don’t handle that well, to say so, forms are much harder on a static site than it is in WordPress;
The bad sides of using WordPress:
You will face maintenance issues – This is probably the biggest disadvantage of WordPress, the fact that you need to keep it running. You can’t just set it up, and forget it exists – it requires full-time attention and constant updating of software, plugins, and themes. Obviously, you can choose to close your eyes and neglect the need for updating, but you’re risking dysfunctional pages and serious loss of control. Not even to mention how eager hackers are to attack poorly protected and non-updated websites. This is why WordPress sites are not something you can set up and completely forget about. It’s not particularly a bad thing that you have to maintain your website regularly, through this, you’ll update your site and make sure you’re following the trends. But you have to acknowledge the fact that it will be your ongoing duty. You’re the one responsible for making the updates for the WordPress themes, software, and plugins. You risk that your website will not work at all if you don’t keep up with the updates;
It will take you time to learn it – WordPress is easy, but not that much for beginners. Luckily, there are many online tutorials and comprehensive materials to help you go over then nasty learning curve.
HTML static websites
[image error]
The big internet outbreak happened in the late 1990s when small and mid-sized businesses realized the advantages of being online, and the improvement that could cause to their sales pipeline for a modest investment of hiring a Web Developer and letting him deal with the website.
At the time, the mere idea of running a website was enough to convince people your website’s a big deal, and you were staying on top of competition without any further technical efforts. There was no such thing as templates, and the only way to make a website was to hire a professional in programming to do it for you.
Therefore, all websites were built as Static HTML (Hyper Text Markup Languages). The point was to have a website, not to modify the content or its layout, because you would have to hire the HTML developer all over again.
Nowadays, most websites are built using CMS software, as for instance WordPress that stores and retrieves content. On HTML websites, content is stored in static files, which makes it incredibly difficult to modify it.
What happens is that when you type ‘contactus.html’, the page you will get is the file which contains that information, without necessarily fetching up database content and 30+ coded files. As a result, these pages load much faster, and they are automatically responsive on smartphones and other mobile devices.
The good sides of using HTML websites:
You don’t have to maintain it, at least not all the time – once the website goes online, you’re not required to update it or to back it up. Most of the time, nothing ever has to be changed on that website;
They are simple – HTML websites are basic and easy to set up, but don’t take it for granted because it depends on the builder you’ve applied;
They are much faster – Their size and the fact that they use fewer resources than dynamic sites give them a significant speed advantage compared to dynamic sites, making them load much faster.
The bad sides of using HTML websites:
You need to be professional in markup languages; Otherwise, you won’t be able to do any significant update to your website. Hiring a web developer over and over again will cost, even if your website is a really small one, or displays just trivial information. Another important disadvantage is that you can’t add plug-ins, meaning that you’re facing a serious lack of functionality.
Making the final decision: WordPress or HTML?
[image error]
Now that we’ve revealed the good and bad sides of both options, the next step is to decide which one is better for your online business.
If you need functionality and you want to upgrade from now on, your best bet is WordPress. Everything works better with WordPress.
An important WordPress hint that we forgot to mention is being a part of a large, almost global community of users who communicate to manage and maintain their WordPress websites. They can help you a lot, and provide invaluable advice, plugins, tools, and other business assets day per day.
See, you can do the ‘development part’ yourself! There is no need to pay a web developer crazy amounts when you can develop and design a good website on your own. WordPress is proven to be businesses’ best friend while they’re growing, so give it a chance!
