Idea validation: Wordpress to static HTML
Hello Indiehackers,
I had this problem with a couple of my clients, that they didn't need a full Wordpress site. They rarely update their site or maintain a blog. Yet, I still had to update the sites and plugins.
I searched for a plugin that could convert a Wordpress site to static HTML and found the awesome https://wordpress.org/plugins/simply-static Plugin. However it lacks some features that I needed.
For example, it only does full site conversions, which means I have to convert the full site every time I make a change. It doesn't upload to the client server, which isn't ideal.
So my idea is to create a plugin/service that covers these extra things, what do you think? Does anybody have the same or a similar problem?
Here is the landingpage for the idea: https://gostaticwp.com
Hi Nicolas,
I am supporting a few Wordpress sites so this rings a bell for me. What I am curious about is - how do I do the changes then, even when I do them so rarely? Do I have two instances of the site at all times - one "hidden" Wordpress which is used to make a new static version every time something has changed and one static which is public on client's server or...? How that works?
As for the landing page I would replace the header text with something more concrete and when you say "Wordpress updates" you mean plugins, security updated etc. probably but when I read it I think in terms of "updating the site's content" :/ I would put at least in the subtitle "Convert your Wordpress to a static site" or something.
Cheers 🙌
Hi Sven,
I would store all the necessary files (db, theme, plugins) on github. If I need to make a change and I don't have the clients setup on my dev machine anymore, I would pull the latest version from github and make the changes. Then push to github again and in the process covert all changes to static files and upload to the client server.
Thanks for the suggestions for the landing page. I'll change the copy to make it clearer.
i'm a happy user, so, yeah the idea is valid
Hi livegigs,
just to clarify, you are a happy user of the simply static plugin?
yes, i am
The free plugin you link to has 5000 active installs, so I guess there's a market for it :-) Me personally, I don't see the need for such a service because I would just build a static site if my client doesn't need frequent updates.
A few things are concerning me specifically:
You're forced to keep a WordPress version of the static website somewhere. This instance would most likely run on your own server or your localhost. In any case, it seems expensive for you to keep the WP site running as you need disk space & resources for it.
Something like this only works for the most basic of websites: you can't have any plugins installed that perform some kind of php code. Actually, this isn't really an issue as there are plenty of websites that are plain simple, so maybe this point can be ignored but it does make your target audience smaller :-).
Why not just use another CMS then? One that doesn't have so many security vulnerabilities or is meant to be a static CMS.
What if you are creating a static website off of a theme you bought on CodeCanyon? Strictly speaking, aren't you violating the theme's copyright? Will you even get support when you need help with themes/plugins?
Are web developers really spending so much time updating their client's websites? Most people are running some kind of dashboard that will handle this automatically.
The WP repo is a well-visited resource. It will be hard to compete with that. You may want to create a free plugin and use those downloaders to upsell your premium service.
I do think there's a market for this though. Here's what I think your ideal customer is like:
Hi poehah,
thank you for your thoughtful reply.
As to have a version of the client site somewhere, that is true. But that is true for me now, as long as I have a maintenance contract with the client. I don't actually now how others are handling that.
Converting makes only sense for fairly simple sites, which is part of the pain. These sites don't need any PHP or DB and I still have to update them.
Personally, I build websites in Wordpress, because it is just faster than building them static in the first place.
I didn't think about the licencing issues to be honest.
The problem with updates accumulates over time. If there is just one problem with one plugin you have to fix all the wordpress sites. The automatic update made it even worse, as you have no control over the updates and the sites suddenly update all at once.
How do you compete against the repo? Do you offer a free version?
Right now I try to find out if there is a market. Apart from the update pain, there are several static CMS around that take money. So there seems to be a market just for static CMS. So why not use the familiar WP backend and generate static sites?
So would be the workflow be something like:
change something -> press button (or whatever) -> get static html + css of the changed site?
I have actually some similar use cases. Never tried simply-static but wanted to do it soon.
It would be awesome if you could push it to a github repo or ftp server...to make it truly automatic. would be something like netlifycms, forestry.io, cloudcannon etc. on top of wordpress. would be a really interesting idea.
I would probably pay for it depending on the price structure
edit: gave you my email on the site ... btw saw that you are from cologne. I'm from bonn, maybe we can chat a bit :)
Hi Rasmus,
yes that was the workflow I was thinking of. I think it should be possible to push to any git service or just plain ftp.
I would love to connect, just going to drop you an email.
Love the domain name.
And you're picking up on a real trend which is static sites with a "headless" CMS. Gatsby.js (+ Wordpress/Drupal) is becoming a popular choice for that.
If you already have clients needing this, then the validation is to sell it to them first. Or build it incrementally for yourself to reduce your maintenance time and improve your hourly rate, then sell it to others with clients like yourself.
Either way you're getting paid to build it so why not?
Thank you, glad you liked the domain name :)
For most static site converters, you need a lot of setup to make it work. I would focus only on freelancers who work with Wordpress and are not necessarily that familiar with CLI tools.
The problem is, my clients don't feel the pain or have this problem. They just want their site running without problems. I was feeling the pain of maintaining the sites and I hoped others would too :)