Website Migration Service
If you're happy with the look and contents of your existing website but you update it very infrequently you may be paying for an expensive dynamic host you don't need.
I can transform your website into a static website using mirroring software so you can host it at low cost. The site will become an archived version of its former dynamic self, but to visitors it will appear just the same.
Making edits to this site might be slightly more difficult than editing your dynamic site, but if the edits are rare then this is probably still worth it.
I can even build a static site generator around your archived site, making edits easier but still allowing for very low cost hosting options.
Contact me if this sounds like a good fit for your site.
Dynamic / static / what??
Dynamic websites use a database - popular examples include Wordpress, Wix, or Squarespace. Each visitor request involves running some code (eg php), reading from a database (eg mysql), generating a HTML response, and sending it to the visitor. There are a lot of "moving parts" that need to run at once - and sometimes paid for. They are usually hosted on private servers - which need to be configured and maintained - or on slower shared hosting that might be slow.
Static websites store the "complete" HTML response for each page of the site in advance. Each visitor request just requires the server to reply with the matching HTML for that page. Think of it as the difference between drawing each page fresh for each guest (dynamic) vs making scans in advance and showing those instead (static). In most cases, that re-drawing isn't needed.
Reasons to switch to a static website
Hosting can be very cheap / free. You can host a static site on hosts like Cloudflare Pages or Netlify for free, or you can pay for very cheap hosting from dozens of other hosts - including me!
Performance is excellent. Because no complex operations need to run for each visitor request static pages are already as fast as their "most optimised possible" dynamic equivalent.
No server maintenance. Since you just send the plain files directly to the host, the whole server management job is removed - your host keeps your sites online for you.
Super high reliability. Because there are fewer moving parts there's less to go wrong, less scheduled maintenance, more ability to cache, and other advantages that make sites super reliable.
No room for hackers. Dodgy characters break into sites through outdated software and plugins. Static websites avoid this by not relying on any particular software.
(Can be) easy to update. I can tweak your site so you can edit its content through simple text files. No need to learn a complex editor - you'll change the actual source code of your site and have total freedom to tweak whatever you like.
No limits. Because you're editing the full source of the website you can tweak it however you like - add or remove widgets, rename or duplicate anything, or change any style.
They can still be interactive. I can use JavaScript to add actions to elements on your site, and I can create advanced contact forms with spam protection and attachments too (here's the code for that on this site).
Downsides of static websites
Forced to look at code. There are no static site
generators that have zero-code interfaces. You will see some
code when editing your site, probably, but you won't have to understand
it. You'll also see folders with names like src and
_site - gross! I'll explain which code or files you can
ignore and which you'll update.
Not suitable for 'live' item availability. If your site relies on conveying up-to-date information about stock or availability, for example in a booking system or ecommerce site for physical items, you'll need a database to store and adjust current stock levels.
Let's do the switcheroo
Ready to switch to a static site? Contact me and we'll get moving!