WORDPRESS TO STATIC SITE A DESIGNER’S LEAP INTO SOMETHING NEW @liamdempsey
A presentation at WordCamp Niagara in October 2019 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, Canada by Liam Dempsey
WORDPRESS TO STATIC SITE A DESIGNER’S LEAP INTO SOMETHING NEW @liamdempsey
ALTERNATE TITLE WORDPRESS PLUGINS TO MAKE A STATIC SITE AVOIDING A NEED TO WRITE CODE @liamdempsey
SLIDES ARE ONLINE https://noti.st/liamdempsey @liamdempsey
DEMO SITE IS ONLINE https://wpplayground.com @liamdempsey
WHAT WE’LL COVER TODAY • Why even consider making static sites • The process of making static sites using WordPress plugins • Ideas on how business flows when making static sites @liamdempsey
WHAT’S THE STORY? • Need options for clients who need a great site, but don’t want a blog • Reduce hosting + maintenance costs • This trend is happening • Some WordPress-to-static hosts are expensive @liamdempsey
THE PROCESS BUILD WORDPRESS SITE CLEAN UP WORDPRESS STUFF INSTALL STATIC SITE PLUGIN CONFIGURE STATIC SITE PLUGIN EXPORT STATIC SITE UPLOAD STATIC SITE TO SERVER @liamdempsey
MY WP BUILD TOOLS • Astra Mini Agency Bundle $152; $135 year • Elementor Pro $199; $149 year • Yoast SEO FREE @liamdempsey
STATIC SITE PLUGINS • Simply Static • WP2Static @liamdempsey
@liamdempsey
CHOOSING WP2STATIC • • • • In the WordPress plugin repository 10,000+ active installs Free to use Premium upgrades for scaling @liamdempsey
HANDLING FORMS • • • • HubSpot Mailchimp subscription forms Typeform Others @liamdempsey
NEWSLETTER SIGN-UPS • Mailchimp embeds • Constant Contact embeds • Others @liamdempsey
PRE-EXPORT TASKS • Get rid of extra themes and plugins • Delete unnecessary uploads • Update exclude settings to prevent export of feed, comments, etc. @liamdempsey
HANDLING 404 • Create a 404 page in WordPress • Use .htaccess to declare the location of the 404 file on the server ErrorDocument 404 /404/index.html @liamdempsey
SITEMAPS FOR SEO • Make a human-focused sitemap via WordPress • Haven’t figured out how to get an sitemap_index.xml @liamdempsey
ON SITE SEARCH • Small enough sites may not need on site search • Yet to find low-cost, low-dev skills solution @liamdempsey
UPDATING CONTENT • With the free plugin, regenerate the entire site • FTP the files/changed pages • With premium add-ons, output only the changed items @liamdempsey
HOSTING • • • • Any basic hosting works Currently hosted on BlueHost Might look at GitHub Pages Exploring Netlify @liamdempsey
BIG SHOUT OF THANKS
STILL LEARNING • • • • Deploy directly from the local install sitemap_index.xml creation Exploring hosting solutions Considering business options @liamdempsey
QUESTIONS? @liamdempsey liam@lbdesign.tv
