The document discusses converting WordPress sites to static sites to reduce hosting costs. It outlines the process of cleaning up a WordPress site, installing a static site plugin, configuring the plugin, exporting the site files, and uploading the static site to a server. It also addresses handling forms, pre-export tasks, 404 pages, and potential hosting options for static sites. The author is still learning aspects of the conversion process like exporting single pages and clearing demo content before exporting.

1. WORDPRESS
TO STATIC SITE
@liamdempsey
My First Dive Into
A DESIGNER’S LEAP INTO SOMETHING NEW

2. WHAT’S THE STORY?
• Looking for options for clients who need a
great site, but don’t want a blog
• Eager to reduce hosting and maintenance
costs for sites that don’t update often
• This trend is happening, so better explore it
• Hosting for active WordPress-to-static sites
is expensive
@liamdempsey

3. CLIFF JUMPING
• Decided to dig into WordPress-to-
static sites one week ago
• Spent 4 hours building and
outputting first static site
• Knowledge is a work in progress
@liamdempsey

4. THE PROCESS
CLEAN UP
WORDPRESS
STUFF
INSTALL
STATIC SITE
PLUGIN
CONFIGURE
STATIC SITE
PLUGIN
EXPORT
STATIC SITE
UPLOAD
STATIC SITE
TO SERVER
BUILD
WORDPRESS
SITE
@liamdempsey

5. WORDPRESS TOOLS
• Astra Mini Agency Bundle $152; $135 year
• Elementor Pro $199; $149 year
• Yoast SEO FREE
@liamdempsey

6. WORDPRESS TOOLS

7. STATIC SITE PLUGINS
• Simply Static
• WP2Static
@liamdempsey

8. HANDLING FORMS
• HubSpot
• Mailchimp subscription forms
• Typeform
• Others
@liamdempsey

9. PRE-EXPORT TASKS
• Get rid of extra themes and plugins
• Delete unnecessary uploads
• Update exclude settings to prevent
export of feed, comments, .DS_Store
files on Mac, etc.
@liamdempsey

10. 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

11. HOSTING
• Currently hosted on BlueHost
• Playing around with Amazon Lightsail
• Might look at GitHub Pages
@liamdempsey

12. BIG SHOUT OF THANKS

13. STILL LEARNING
• Exporting single static pages
• The best way to clear demo content
before exporting to static
• Exploring hosting solutions
@liamdempsey

14. QUESTIONS?
@liamdempsey
liam@lbdesign.tv