Migrate Wordpress to Static HTML
Why Convert WordPress to Static HTML?
Understand the pro's and cons of conversion and how you benefit.
Static websites have many advantages primarily faster page loading speed and better security. On the other hand dynamic pages generated by content management systems such as WordPress provide great flexibility. According to W3Techs, 68.9% of websites have a CMS. WordPress market share has been steady at 64% whereas static sites have been growing as developers switch to the Jamstack. Furthermore a survey by Web Almanac 2021 shows Jamstack adoption growing rapidly. As of 2021, 1.1% of desktop web pages are powered by Jamstack and for mobile 0.93%
WordPress Migration Options
Outlined below are the key features and benefits which need to be considered when migrating from WordPress to the JAMstack. The three use cases are a manual approach with a static site generator such as Hugo or Jekyll. Remaining with WordPress or using WordPress as a headless CMS. Lastly adopting the YouDoCMS serverless content management system.
Manual/Static | WordPress | YouDoCMS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | |||
| Free Hosting | |||
| Content Editor | |||
| Categories | |||
| Tags | |||
| Site Search | |||
| SEO JSON-LD | |||
| 301 Redirects | |||
| Cloud Integration | |||
| Pretty Urls | |||
| Import MySQL | |||
| Backup | |||
| Clone Site | |||
| Responsive Images | |||
| Security | |||
| Scalability | |||
| Server Log Analytics |
KEY FEATURES EXPLAINED
Speed Matters?
Faster speed is known metric for Google particularly for content-focused websites. WordPress and CMS in general score badly on the Lighthouse performance metric with a score of 26% compared to this page on GTMetrix which is 100%.
Save money go serverless?
Static sites do not require an Apache Web Server or PHP. Resources are much lower which is why a static site loads faster. For small to medium traffic static sites the major cloud providers offer hosting for free whereas WordPress.com is a minimum of 50-100 USD per year.
Secure by design?
WordPress is the most popular content management system and is a target for hackers. Version 5 of WordPress has been updated 80+ times since the original release of version 5.0 the majority of the updates are security releases prevent hackers gaining access to a site. Static websites generated off-line are secure by default and cannot be hacked.
How to convert WordPress to static HTML?
There are WordPress plug-ins to create a static site from a WordPress instance. However these require a working WordPress server which is used to generate the static pages. So this is not a true serverless solution.
YouDoCMS supports migration directly from WordPress MySQL database. Jekyll also supports WordPress conversion to markdown. However this does not include categories. Hugo also has a Java tool for exporting WordPress to markdown. However unlike the Jekyll plug-in you do not use WordPress as a headless CMS.
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How to import WordPress into a headless CMS?
YouDoCMS supports direct conversion of WordPress into a static equivalent. On import all existing content is imported as html and the relationships between pages, posts, categories, tags and menus match the originals. A google for "headless CMS migrate WordPress" does not find any headless CMS supporting direct migration from WordPress.
Updating Content
Traditional static site generators such as Hugo and Jekyll require the user to learn the markdown language and edit using a text editor. For many years WordPress used the familiar TinyMCE HTML editor and this is still one of the most popular plug-ins. YouDoCMS incorporates the same WordPress classic editor with very similar features.
Cloud Deployment
WordPress users are familiar with updating content which then becomes instantly available on the internet. Switching to the JAMstack with a static site generator will involve manually uploading files to the cloud hosting provider using the command line. YouDoCMS GUI is integrated with the five leading cloud API's for a single click deployment to your host.
SEO and Redirects
By default WordPress does not include automatic 301 redirects when the slug to a page or post is updated. To achieve this WordPress users install a redirection plug-in. Similarly for search engine optimisation the most popular WordPress plug-in is Yoast (£99 per year) which provides a search and redirect functionality to improve Google search results. YouDoCMS includes the same functionality (reading score and keyphrase analysis) as Yoast and also imports the Yoast data.
Site Backup
There are a variety of WordPress plug-ins available to backup your WordPress site. Most of these have both free and paid versions. Basic site backup is a feature of all of the plug-ins but generally for a single domain. If you want to manage multiple domains and or clone sites for example UpdraftPlus premium is $84 per year. YouDoCMS incorporates cloning and single click site backup and including images into a single file which can be stored anywhere on the network or a USB drive.
Site Analytics
YouDoCMS includes server log analytics which is linked to your content to provide common metrics such as entry and exit pages, bounce rate, visitor geolocation and search engine crawl monitoring. AWS CloudFront and Azure both offer analysis via the server logs which means you do not need JavaScript tracking. Firebase is reliant upon Google analytics which can be blocked by browser extensions. However if you are an existing Google analytics user then Firebase is the best option. Cloudflare also provides JavaScript analytics (paid). See site analytics.
Convert WordPress to Static HTML.
Import Content
Static site generators such as Jekyll include tools to import from WordPress however this simply converts the HTML to markdown. As a WordPress user why not stick with HTML and import the content from MySQL.
Themes
Themes have been feature of WordPress since version 1. If you are migrating your site why not use your existing theme with YouDoCMS and avoid unnecessary complication.
Navigation
Avoid breaking the navigation of your website at all costs. Google never forgets a URL and you will squander your crawl budget while Googlebot looks for old URL's.
Convert WordPress to static HTML?
Import your data directly from MySQL.
Fortunately there is a solution. YouDoCMS includes a MySQL connector to import your existing site from WordPress and convert to static html.
YouDoCMS supports direct conversion of a WordPress 5 site into the static equivalent. Import all existing content as html plus the relationships between pages, posts, categories, tags, menus and widgets all match the original structure. All URL'S are updated with the static file paths using WordPress permalinks and base category settings.
Pages and Posts
Import your pages and posts from the WordPress MySQL database into YouDoCMS. On import, all URL'S embedded within the HTML and referencing the local file system, are rewritten from the PHP original to the static equivalent URL.
Imported pages and posts are also related to the same categories as WordPress. Pages and Posts can be moved between categories published and unpublished and related to menus in exactly the same way as WordPress.
Page and Post parameters also imported along with the published status and date ensuring you do not lose any data.
- Import permalinks and existing URL'S.
- Publish Status and Date.
- Image URL'S.
- Page and Post Tags.
Categories
Categories are imported including any subcategories. All images category parameters, publish status and options are also imported.
Any URLs within the category description are rewritten from the PHP original to the static URL.
- Nested categories.
- Category description.
- Import slug.
- Supports Tags.
Multiple Menus
Import the menus from your site with the existing locations. Multiple menus are supported. The menu system works exactly the same as your existing WordPress CMS and includes additional functionality not available on WordPress.
- Create menu aliases.
- Multiple menu types for pages, posts, categories and tags.
- 301 re-directs if you rename or delete a menu.
Media Library.
Import all of your existing images via FTP from your WordPress site. The folder structure is recreated so all of the image URLs within your pages and posts remain valid.
- Import to a local folder via FTP.
- Preview images on your local machine.
- Batch resize images to create responsive formats.
- Local image paths are available to the TinyMCE editor.
Tags
Tags are imported with expanded functionality and two types of tag widget.
Category Lists
Our category widget incorporates lists of subcategories and lists of pages or posts.
Any Location
Incorporate a widget in any location and include on any page. You are no longer restricted to the sidebar.
Page List
Our page list widget can display pages by category or subcategory. You are no longer restricted to show all pages in the page list.
Wordpress widgets?
Import your default site widgets.
If you have default widgets already defined for your site these are imported and available to include in your new template. Unlike WordPress you can incorporate any widget in any location on any page. If you incorporate the same widget on two separate pages a single URL is created to default location to avoid duplicate content.
App Features
YouDoCMS is the only app you need to create fast responsive serverless websites.
Cloud Integration
Deploy your static site to all of the major cloud providers including automatic cache validation to update the site on the CDN.
Static Site Builder
Static sites are faster and more secure. Build local and deploy to cloud without paying for builds.
Local Site Previews
YouDoCMS includes a zero-configuration Web server allowing instant previews of a page or site.
Responsive Images
Optimise your site with responsive images. Automatically create up to 4 thumbnail images using preset dimensions.
Theme Library
YouDoCMS Includes a free open source template library on GitHub.
Yoast SEO Compatible
YouDoCMS is compatible with the Yoast. Calculate the readability score and manage meta information to improve your search results.