Last updated on February 12th, 2016 at 04:05 pm.
A static website is a simple website that shows the same website content to all visitors. They are coded in HTML or even both PHP and HTML . Static websites have to be updated by manually updating the website code. These websites do not require a database to run.
Static websites are relatively cheap to build and set up on the live server. These websites are pretty fast loading and are mostly used just for display of information about a business or a venture.
The web has changed tremendously in the recent years. Websites used to be a mystery to most business individuals and they often had to hire web designers and developers at exorbitant prices to work on their websites. These days getting online has become pretty easy and the number of both qualified and unqualified developers to build you a website has risen.
Back to the subject of static websites, you should not be having a static website in this day and age. Unless you are using the static site as a placeholder as you work on your real website. Getting a dynamic website which is much more flexible and powerful is really easy these days. The alternative to a static website in this article is not going to be a dynamic website per se , it will be a CMS website.
Why you should not have a static website
Extensibility with your business and organisation
A static website has to be updated by changing the code. If you are not a website programmer then this will be challenging for you and you will have to hire a programmer to make changes for you. With every change in your business you will have to go through the process of having to contact your web designer. When you introduce a new product, when you add a new service, when you roll out a new business or product you want to be able to make alterations in house without consulting the web designer. With a CMS website you are perfectly capable of doing this yourself. All changes can be done by you, unless they are too complicated. As your business changes, you should be able to add, remove and edit your website as appropriate.
Availability of easier better solutions
There are a myriad of Open source CMS solutions that are available. Any of these should be perfectly fit for your website. The major CMS web solutions that are mostly used are WordPress (from WordPress.org), Drupal (from drupal.org), joomla (from Joomla.org) among other CMSes which are available on the internet. WordPress has notably surpassed the other CMSes on the Websites share on the internet, running over 12 million websites in 2014. The learning curve of WordPress and its friendly usability makes it a favorable choice for many. Even a non programmer can set up a fully functional website . To get started on installing WordPress you can take a look at this WordPress Tutorial for beginners.
Drupal is considered the most powerful and has the steepest learning curve. Joomla is also all powerful. Any of the 3 mentioned will be good enough to power your Website better than any static website would. All three have been built to accommodate SEO, some by plugins and some by header metas. Point is, better an open source CMS than a static website. Beauty of it is that you can learn WordPress yourself and create your own website with no programming skills.
Cheaper alternatives in the long run
With open source CMSes comes plugins/modules. These plugins can take your simple informational website to a full eCommerce website or a full community website. As you grow you will find the need to grow with your website and your website functionality.Plugins and modules will give you this possibility. A static website will not give you this possibility. Some of these plugins will be free.However some will cost you. Be sure to do your research before implementing any plugins or modules to your website. With the same hosting you will be able to achieve so much more just by integrating new plugins on your website.
Conclusion
You must know that there are better alternatives. Since these CMSes are open source, each of them have their own following, and may have a programmers animosity / superiority. This means there may be a level of bias on the internet regarding these CMSes. Talk to a web developer who knows what they are doing and do not let them overcharge you in one solution whereas the same website or web application can be achieved afford-ably using another solution. Do not settle with the first option, do more research until you reach ultimate satisfaction based on your budget and your website requirements.
Feel free to comment below or get in touch with me here if you need to consult about your website.
Superb……
Thanks