Wordpress Blog vs Static Website? Which is Best?
I am starting a new site on travel. I have a few questions and hope you will give me some feedback. I love Wordpress and blogging, but wonder are there times when you would be better to use a “static” website as opposed to a blog?
I was going to have a WP theme that also has pages (like this one). This means you can have articles as well as posts. Do all WP themes have that facility?
I also wonder what will happen when a blog grows over a number of years. Some WP blogs may have 2000 or 3000 or more posts, or even more, long term. I heard too many posts on WP slows it down. You can’t just delete them to “lighten the load”, because you lose not only information, but SEO benefits.
Any thoughts or advice much appreciated. 
Yvonne,
I am working on a Web site for a client right now, and I’m using a WordPress blog with pages. I’m still trying to find a theme we like - I tried one that the client wanted, but when I started creating the site, it didn’t work well, so I’m back to square one. I’ll be glad to tell you more when I make some progress;-)
Thanks so much Lillie. I would really appreciate that. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
You know, I think these are questions for Lorelle von Fossen at http://lorelle.wordpress.com/
She writes there and at Blog Herald and would be a great resource for you. She’s the Wordpress Diva.
My 2 Cents: Never have a static website. Even if you have changing content, it will never do what a blog can do in terms of people!
I’d like to suggest choosing a theme or design that looks website-y and beautiful, and include your blog. Your landing page would probably be a business page, with a clear link to your blog.
I would hate to lose your presence as a blog, and I’m all for circling the wagons on duplication of effort.
Keep asking!
Thanks Lisa. I will check out Lorelle’s site. I take your point… “it will never do what a blog can do in terms of people.” The people aspect is definitely important to me.
I suppose if 90% of traffic comes from search engines, it doesn’t matter so much, but I heard that blogs are not designed for a huge number of posts, so was thinking long term, and not sure of the implications here.
I’ll still be writing Grow Your Writing Business. This would be a separate site/blog. In fact, I have two in mind.
I’ve been wrestling with this question myself, Yvonne and I am tempted to use Wordpress. The latest version works well as a CMS, I’m told and makes it easy to work with static pages, including a home page. Older versions also have this functionality through plugins. There is a lot of stuff out there on using Wordpress as a CMS. I also agree with Lisa that Lorelle is worth checking out - if it’s to do with Wordpress, chances are she’s already written about it or knows who has
You might check this post out. It’s got some good info for your situation.
http://www.savvyaffiliate.com/Blog/100_day/domain_names/
Hi Mike
That’s useful info, thanks. Choosing a domain name is a bit of a minefield in itself. I’m not sure what he means by
stand alone web pages are better than single web pages in this section -
“Selling Your Site - If you ever decide to cash out, stand alone webpages have a much better resale value than single webpages. Since selling your website can generate a lot of money for the savvy webmaster, this should be an important consideration for you when you are starting your page.”
Any ideas?
I think he was typing faster than his brain was working there. What I think he meant to say was that selling a web site is easier than selling a blog. I know that transferring your domain name is pretty straightforward if you were to sell it. But I have no idea how difficult it would be to sell a wordpress blog.
When I started my blog AIC, it was a stand alone domain and web page. I transferred it to Typepad because there were certain things I didn’t know how to do - that were easy with Typepad - on my web site. Now I know more of what I’m doing and wished that I had kept it where it was.
I think that ultimately, if you can find a domain name you’re happy with, you’re better off going the route of a stand alone web site.
It really depends what you want to do. A static site is more like an online brochure to showcase your work - and for business purposes is a bit more serious. I have a blog and a website.
And I love them both.
Yvonne,
I’ve finally got the site using WordPress online at http://gaslightpublishing.net/
Though I just finished it and have not submitted it to any search engines or even used the SEO techniques in Mig’s book (which I will work on now), the traffic (while very little) was several times more than the traffic on the original static site in the month of June.
That’s really interesting about the traffic Lillie. Good luck with the site. It look great.
You know what? Web 2.0 is the future. Dynamic sites attract search engines like google like bees to honey. Sure my online blog gets me far much traffic than i would ever have managed with a static website. Also blogs are constantly changing. They are not perfect but don’t wait till they are perfect to jump in because then it will be too late.
I think your page rank says it all! Look how well you are doing!
I am having a lot of trouble getting traffic to my site. I’ve been working very hard too; but I just can’t seem to get a good spot on the search engine. For a while I was ranking well, but then Google started tossing me around like I’m some worthless piece of trash. I was told that that is usually what happens when you first start out. It’s frustrating however, because I am following all of their rules and yet I am still not where I need to be.
Anyway, I’ll share an observation with you. If you go to my website you will clearly see that I have a fair amount of content (see my articles section Here).
But here’s the real kicker…
Someone bookmarked my homepage in one of those social bookmarking sites, and would you believe it; his bookmark ranked higher than my website!
Moreover, I have seen blogs, which cover topics similar to the ones that I address on my website, and they are also ranking higher than mine. Yet, their content really isn’t that good. For example, there might just be a simple paragraph (not even 300 words) on a blog which contains keywords that I am targeting in one of my articles, and that blog entry ranks higher than one of my 500-700 word articles! It’s almost embarrassing, and very discouraging, because I really put my heart into my writing. It really makes you feel like you aren’t appreciated.
This has led me to believe that social sites are what’s in right now and static sites are out. Now, I’m sure that static sites could still do well, but I think the ones that are doing well are those that have been around for a while. Thus they have built up a reputation, so to speak.
Of course, this isn’t to say that a ‘fresh’ static site can’t ever do well at some point. I think what it really comes down to here however, is that social sites have an incredible edge when it comes to establishing a presence online. At least this is what I have observed.
So I am very strongly considering getting into blogging. The problem however, is that I feel that if I do this I won’t be able to keep up with it, as I have this impression that you have to keep adding new content daily, or at the very least, several times a week. Is that how it is?
If a person intends to have multiple websites to promote ideas and products, and that is the case with me, how could that person keep up with the demand for more and more content?
I really don’t know. Perhaps you can share some thoughts with me…
There is no doubt, wordpress is your best choice