A presentation at D.C. WordPress Meetup in in Washington, DC, USA by Liam Dempsey
WORDPRESS TO STATIC SITES A NO CODE APPROACH TO SPEED + SECURITY @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 SITES ARE ONLINE BLUEHOST https://wpplayground.com NETLIFY https://wptesting.net SHIFTER https://laughing-boyd3536.on.getshifter.io/ @liamdempsey
WHAT WE’LL COVER TODAY • Why even consider making static sites • The process and workflows of making static sites using WordPress plugins • Ideas on how business flows when making static sites @liamdempsey
WHAT’S THE BACK STORY? • Need options for clients who need a great site, but don’t want a blog • Take advantage of speed and security of static sites • Reduce hosting + maintenance costs • This trend is happening @liamdempsey
WHAT’S THE UPDATED STORY? • Exciting hosting solutions from different providers • Constantly evolving options • Stay tuned for more! @liamdempsey
MY INITIAL BUILD PROCESS BUILD WORDPRESS SITE LOCALLY CLEAN UP WORDPRESS STUFF INSTALL STATIC SITE PLUGIN CONFIGURE STATIC SITE PLUGIN EXPORT STATIC SITE UPLOAD STATIC SITE TO SERVER @liamdempsey
MY UPDATED BUILD PROCESS BUILD WORDPRESS SITE LOCALLY NOT SURE! SO MANY OPTIONS @liamdempsey MY PROCESS IS EVOLVING
MY WORDPRESS BUILD TOOLS • Astra Mini Agency Bundle $152; $135 year • Elementor Pro $199; $149 year • Yoast SEO FREE @liamdempsey
STATIC SITE PLUGINS v01 • Simply Static – NOW OUTDATED • WP2Static WP 2 STATIC @liamdempsey
ON THE WP PLUGIN REPO @liamdempsey
CHOOSING WP2STATIC • • • • • In the WordPress plugin repository 10,000+ active installs 4+ stars with 80 reviews Free to use Premium upgrades for scaling @liamdempsey
STATIC SITE PLUGINS v02 • All in One WP Migration ALL IN ONE WP MIGRATION @liamdempsey
HANDLING FORMS • • • • HubSpot Mailchimp subscription forms Typeform Netlify – NEW functionality @liamdempsey
NEWSLETTER SIGN-UPS • • • • • Mailchimp embeds Constant Contact embeds Others Netlify forms Shifter plugin for serverless forms (?) @liamdempsey
PRE-EXPORT TASKS v01 • Get rid of extra themes and plugins • Delete unnecessary uploads • Update exclude settings to prevent export of feed, comments, etc. @liamdempsey
HANDLING 404 – BLUEHOST • 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
HANDLING 404 v02 • Create a 404 page in WordPress • Shifter handles the rest @liamdempsey
SITEMAPS FOR SEO • Make a human-focused sitemap via WordPress • SEO sitemaps: xml-sitemaps.com • New plugin: Core Sitemaps Feature Plugin @liamdempsey
ON SITE SEARCH • Small enough sites may not need on site search • Yet to find low-cost, low-dev skills solution • Shifter – Serverless search plugin on GitHub @liamdempsey
UPDATING CONTENT v01 • With the free WP2Static plugin, regenerate the entire site • SFTP the files/changed pages • With premium add-ons, output only the changed items @liamdempsey
UPDATING CONTENT v02 • For WordPress-to-static hosts, edit from online WordPress site – then regenerate the static version • All within the host’s system @liamdempsey
HOSTING FOR STATIC SITES • Any basic hosting works • Currently hosted on BlueHost • Netlify is pretty cool – and is rolling out more options • Trying to configure AWS by hand – it’s involved @liamdempsey
BASIC HOSTING CHALLENGE • Where does the original WordPress site reside? • How does it get updated – or not? @liamdempsey
WP HOSTING FOR STATIC SITES • Handles the hosting of the WordPress site • Met with Shifter – seems really cool • Will connect with Strattic soon • Who knows of others? @liamdempsey
BIG SHOUT OF THANKS
STILL LEARNING • Deploy directly from the local install • Exploring hosting solutions • Considering business options @liamdempsey
QUESTIONS? @liamdempsey liam@lbdesign.tv
The WordPress community is abuzz with talk of static sites. The speed and simplicity of static pages and sites make them an attractive option for many businesses and non-profits. Yet, how easy is it to produce these sites? Turns out, there are relatively straightforward, cost-effective ways for designers, content producers, and other non-technical folks to build WordPress sites for quick conversion to static sites. Come hear about how you can harness the power of WordPress-to-static sites without writing a single line of code.
for free. You
can too.