Important

• Hand-coded static websites load up to 10 times faster than pages created with WordPress. If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, most of your visitors will abandon it, causing you to lose customers.

• Google indexes your site based on your mobile site’s performance, and mobile sites made with a page builder are not as optimized, not as fast, not as well-constructed, and often not 100% responsive, which could hinder your search ranking.

• Hand-coded static sites are built mobile-first, meaning the code is written initially for mobile screen resolutions, then adding code for tablet and desktop. This makes the mobile device more responsive, optimized, and incredibly fast to load - improving your site's performance on Google and ensuring that visitors do not abandon your site.

• WordPress is known for its vulnerabilities and needs regular updates to fix security flaws that hackers can exploit to compromise your site. Hand-coded static sites cannot be compromised as easily and are practically impenetrable due to their simplicity and lack of entry points for hacking.

In the web development world, there are two types of websites - static and dynamic. A static site is a site that only has the main elements of web development: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. There are no databases or functionalities or data manipulation. It only displays the page as it was created. These form everything you can see on a website and, in many cases, is all you need. When you load a static site, your browser reads and compiles the site's code and loads it instantly. Every user loads exactly the same content. And one of the best ways to create a static site is to code it manually (which is what we do best!) or with a static site generator.

A dynamic site (WordPress, page builders) is one that uses additional server-side languages and technologies to retrieve HTML, CSS from a database and assemble the site as it loads on the server to be sent to the browser. Instead of browsers compiling the code, the server compiles it for the browser and sends it, and instead of each user being served exactly the same content, everyone is served different content individually. This makes loading times slower, and your site is vulnerable to attacks from malware and hackers who disrupt the server's process of checking the database for site content. Static sites do not have databases, so there is nothing to attack. We will focus more on this later in the page.

Dynamic sites would include websites created by WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, page builders, or built in PHP, etc. These page creators store assets and content in a database and when someone visits the website, the server checks its inventory of things that the browser requests and pulls from that database and stitches together the landing page you see. While these page creators make it easy to create your own website and at a cheap price, there are HUGE disadvantages compared to static websites we build.

Why are static websites faster than dynamic websites?

One of the most important aspects of ranking your site on Google is how fast it loads and performs - especially on mobile. The problem with dynamic websites (WordPress, Wix, etc) is that the server takes longer to check the database and put everything together. And the more plugins and extra stuff you have on your site, the more it will slow down. This is critical because studies have shown that most users will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. So if your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, what’s the point of having it if most users won't even see it? This is one of the BIGGEST disadvantages I see with WordPress and Wix sites - they can take too long to load and cost you money.

Why are static sites more secure than dynamic sites?

Dynamic sites have databases and server-side platforms that can be attacked when trying to access the databases or content management systems that store all your website’s data. So as the server builds the site and prepares it for the browser, hackers can inject themselves into the process and compromise your site.

Why should I pay someone to make a website when I can make one myself?

Wix and WordPress advertise that anyone can make a website for free, making it very attractive for small businesses that don’t have money to hire a developer like me to make one. However, if page speed, load times, security, converting more customers, and Google rankings are concerns you'd like to have addressed in a website and you want to stand out from the competition, then I advise you to find someone to create a static website for you.

Conclusion

Ultimately, whether you choose a static or dynamic site comes down to your budget and priorities. If you don't have much to spend on a website and just need something out there, then it's okay to use WordPress or Wix. But if you have the budget to make something a step above and can maximize your online presence, then making a static site is the best return on investment. Or if you need something bigger that involves needing a database or the ability to edit your own content, then WordPress and other page builders are the way to go.