Hi. I have a conventional HTML-based static website www.jonathanbourla.com , and I have been advised by an SEO expert to replace it with a Wordpress-based site. Do you agree with his advice, and if so, why is Wordpress meant to be better? Also, I understand I would need to install an SEO plugin. I know about Yoast and All In One Pack. They both have a paid version - what is your opinion of these compared to the free ones? Thanks for your help. Jonathan
There's no inherent gain in having a dynamic site - nothing you can't do with your static site. What you will get is easier content management - adding posts, tags, internal links menu changes, layout, styles are managed centrally so you don't have to cut and paste your changes to all the pages easier to generate xml sitemaps for google You will probably get an initial hit because your pages will be on different urls and I wouldn't worry too much about that as the xml sitemap will let Google know where everything is now. Nice work btw - I like the ghostly tree on None Tree Hill. The SEO will probably want to charge you to install Yoast which is free. I recommend getting JetPack too - I really like the gallery on that but probably not arty enough for a real photographer.
Hi Jonathan Sites with .html extensions are considered best by the search engines like the one you have, however WordPress is a very easy content management system and it has lot of free themes that can help you to present your website content in more attractive manner, which in turns reduce the bounce rate of your website, and bounce rate plays a very crucial role when it comes to SEO. And from SEO perspective also, WordPress site is easy to optimize with the help of plugins available. I would recommend you Yoast Plugin. Thanks Navneet Singh
As mentioned by everyone above there are many advantages to using CMS alike wordpress, in particular when looking at your current site with a critical eye I would first and foremost say the design looks a bit dated. Using a wordpress website allows you to update the appearance of your website on the fly with a massive choice of available themes, overall if you have got past the learning curve with wordpress the management is far more efficient than a static html website.
As compared to static html site wordpress offers more flexibility like you can create blog post on daily basis, you can change the titles in an easy way, can add keywords, can add content, can add navigation items easily, So it is better to use wordpress in my opinion
It depents on the type of website but Wordpress has become more then only a CMS for blogging. If you don't want to waste time on building website from the ground I would prefer Wordpress over static websites.
Static and WordPress both are good for SEO, but it depends on you, while in static you will need to edit each page manually, still you have more control, but also with WordPress you have flexibility and there are many plugins that can help you in SEO such as Yoast Plugin.
I wouldn't say WP is better, but at the same time easier in the sense of been able to add plugins such as ALL in One SEO and easy installation etc, there is more to SEO than the CMS believe me
Google seems to like WordPress sites, I don't know why. I have both WordPress sites and HTML sites (built in Dreamweaver) and both rank well for SERPs but it is easier to do in WordPress. The WordPress SEO plugin I like is All-in-One SEO
Coming from a non-tech background it is understandable that I like WordPress much better than good ol' plain HTML. The flexibility, low learning curve and abundance of possibilities is something that really appeals to users. And in terms of SEO there really are some great plugins that will not only help, but give invaluable insights and metrics to keep your eye on. Just be careful, as the plugins themselves have given WordPress the fame of a pretty insecure application. And the most famous ones are no difference - particularly All In One SEO which some of the people advised had been a target of a number of exploits. Good that the guys from WP are finding them and patching them up pretty fast. So, as a rule of thumb, carefully select your plugins and ALWAYS make sure they are all updated (as well as WordPress itself) so you can avoid the risks