Web Design
Why We Build Small Business Websites as Static Pages (Not WordPress)
A fair look at the trade-off, and the cases where we do tell people to use WordPress instead.
· 7 min read
There's no single right answer here, and anyone who tells you there is is selling something. But roughly 80% of the sites we build are static HTML pages on a CDN, not WordPress. This post explains why, and — just as importantly — when we'd tell you to use WordPress anyway.
What "static" actually means
A static site is plain HTML, CSS and a bit of JavaScript. The pages are built once, and the server just hands them over. There's no database, no PHP, no admin panel running on every page load.
That's the whole concept. The page you're reading right now is a static page.
The five reasons we lean this way
1. It's faster, and speed is a ranking factor
A static page is already a finished file sitting on a CDN edge server. It arrives in a few dozen milliseconds. A WordPress page typically has to assemble itself on request: run PHP, query the database, pull in plugins, then send the result.
For a local business competing in search, that gap matters more than people expect. It's also the difference between a visitor scrolling immediately and waiting a second for a blank screen on a phone signal that isn't great.
2. It can't be hacked
Not "can't be breached" — nothing is that safe. But static sites have a dramatically smaller attack surface. There's no login to brute force, no file upload endpoint, no plugin to exploit and no database to dump.
This matters when a business's site is also its shop window. The majority of WordPress compromises we know about are through outdated plugins, not through anything clever.
3. It won't break in the middle of the night
WordPress breaks. PHP updates, plugin conflicts, a shared host running out of memory, a database that needs migrating. All of it happens at 2am on a Sunday, and you find out on Monday.
A static site has no moving parts to go wrong. It either loads or the CDN is down.
4. It's cheaper to host and to keep running
Static hosting is a few pounds a year for the traffic a small business gets. Even with our care plans covering backups, monitoring and updates, there's simply less that can need fixing.
5. It stays fast in a year
Nobody remembers to update WordPress. Six months after launch, plugins pile up, the admin panel is slow, and nobody's touched it. A static site doesn't have that failure mode — it doesn't change unless someone changes it.
Where WordPress wins — and when we'd use it
Honesty matters more than looking clever, so here's when static is the wrong answer:
- Someone needs to publish content regularly and isn't technical. If you want to write a blog post every week without touching anything, a CMS is genuinely easier. A static site can have that too, but it needs a proper build setup behind it, which costs more to set up and maintain.
- It's a shop with a large or changing catalogue. A few dozen products with a good e-commerce platform is fine. Hundreds, with filters, stock sync and staff managing it daily, is a different problem.
- You need forms that do something specific — bookings that write to a diary, payments, member logins, an internal tool. We build those as real applications, not blog posts about them.
- You need to change large amounts of content often and would rather not pay for that work each time.
In those cases we'll say so, and we'll say what it will cost you to maintain either way. We'd rather earn a small honest fee over five years than a large one followed by a bad experience.
What you actually get with a static site
Static doesn't mean stripped back. The sites we build still have:
- A CMS if you need one, so you can edit text and images yourself
- Contact and quote forms that send straight to our inbox
- Full SEO setup — meta tags, structured data, sitemap, Google Search Console
- Analytics, so you can see what people actually do on the site
- A custom design, not a template with your logo dropped in
- Cookie-free, GDPR-friendly hosting
You get all of that, and it still loads in a blink.
The honest caveat
If you already have a WordPress site and it works, it works. Rebuilding it because static is theoretically better is a decision most small businesses should not make. If your current site is fine, keep it and spend the money on something that brings in customers instead.
If your current site is slow, insecure, or frightening to edit, then it's worth a conversation — and we'd start by looking at what you have, not by pitching a rebuild.