Simple site or blog

Hi Riz

a) Wordpress is a CMS (a content management system) which means it has the ability to manage a shiz load of content for you. It has a database, all the coding and site architecture done so all you need to do is add the content - no coding needed. When you go back into the site the admin control panel is intuitive for even beginners - a little bit of googling or youtube tutorial following can teach you how to use it.
A simple website you would have to know how to use code to populate the site. or at least you need to know how to go into the files and decipher in which section of the code is your written content. Also, with a simple site, you would need to know basic HTML to style your content so even things like a header, bold, links and images all require HTML to do.
Wordpress on the other hand can manage all this for you in a format that looks a bit like Microsoft Word . It a bit like a bit of software that's completely visual.

b) A simple site would actually rank better than Wordpress because the code is unique to you (if you get it custom made). But in the long run, adding pages, adding content, changing content you would need to know how to edit code, get into the file manager and do this yourself or get someone else to do it. Wordpress (or any other content management system) has an interface and you can do this all yourself.

c. A simple website can definitely become a show stopper over a period of time. As this is all due to the content you put on it. The way you create the website has nothing to do how it performs (unless its to do with the speed of page loading and aesthetics)

Honestly, for a static website that doesn't require a lot of updating, is only a page or a couple of pages would be best doing a simple website for.
If you have a lot of content, don't know how to code and require changing the stuff YOURSELF and want to manage your website yourself then Wordpress is a better option.

I have both Wordpress and just a simple website and both are fine. The one I coded myself for a client actually ranks #1 for really good keywords and it only has 4 pages. Where as my blog.... has about 300 pages ranks awful lol.

All depends on the quality of the content. What you use to create the site is up to you.

I have been working with a lot of custom coded website as well as with WordPress so here is what I have learned:

1. You save a lot of time on creating the web. It is definitely quicker to install WordPress, choose a theme and post some content using the WYSIWYG editor.

2. If you don't know HTML, it will save you even more time (and maybe also a lot of stress ).

3. If you decide to change the design, it is much easier to change a WordPress theme than redesign a traditional website.

4. There are thousands of plugins, a lot of them are free. This may save you a lot of time, especially if you don't know PHP and MySQL.

1. While WordPress need updates time to time, a simple website does not. Just to make the things clear, I don't speak about content updates, I mean installing new WordPress versions, security updates and solving possible plugins/themes incompatibility problems (you can make some simple setting in the config file, but sometimes happen that a plugin or some theme feature stops to work after the update).

2. If you know PHP and MySQL, in some cases it may be better for you not to use WordPress and create the code from scratch. But it depends a lot on your project and your programming skills level.

3. WordPress need more server resources than a static website. If you have a web hosting plan which can handle, for example, 1,000 visitors a day for a website created with WordPress, the same hosting would be able to handle significantly more visitors if the website were a static page. In other words, if your website become popular, a traditional website should be more cost-effective than WordPress.

4. If you check your log files, sooner or later you will probably find visits from malicious robots trying to access the wp-admin directory. In case of the simple website, it does not mean any problem but in case of WordPress you need to take some action to minimize the security risk and block these robots, because in some cases the attacks can consume a lot of server CPU and generate a lot of MySQL queries.

Thank you all for your time and valuable comments.

Is WordPress mobile-friendly by default or I need to install some paid plug-in/theme?

I would have loved to write a long article on the subject but i will say this, if simple, easy and fast is what you are looking for, word press will take all the stress away and is more user friendly

Also i like the comment on quality content, this is king before anything else and will get you reputation, sales and good ranking and this is truly what you really need for any niche.

When you are comparing a blog to a simple website, what do you mean? Just the cms or the content?

a - max income potential.

b - ownership of the site.

c - I am not sure what you mean, but: working diligently on a wordpress dot org blog positions you to succeed over the long haul.

Ryan

Just use WordPress (nothing more to say!).

Wordpress will give you unlimited options of editing and easy to use but website need to have enough knowledge about html coding and can be hard to edit