Why I Now Build Most Websites in Astro

For years I built almost every website in WordPress. It’s flexible, familiar and runs a huge share of the web. These days, most of the sites I build use Astro instead. If you’re a business owner rather than a developer, you don’t need to know what Astro is. You just need to know what it means for your website.

What Astro actually is

Astro is a modern way of building websites. Instead of building each page on a server every time someone visits, it prepares your pages in advance as simple, finished files. Those files are then delivered from servers around the world, close to whoever is visiting.

There’s no database to look after and no stack of plugins to keep updated. The page is ready before the visitor even asks for it.

What that means for your business

• Speed: pages load quickly, especially on phones. Faster sites keep more visitors and tend to rank better.
• Security: with no login page or plugins exposed to the internet, there’s far less for anyone to attack.
• Lower upkeep: no weekly plugin updates and no surprise breakages after an update.
• Reliability: simple files on a global network are very hard to knock offline.

The sites I’ve built this way regularly score in the high 90s on Google’s PageSpeed Insights, on mobile, without any special tricks.

“But can I still update it myself?”

Yes. This is the question I get most. I set things up so you can change text, photos, prices and opening hours yourself, without touching any code. And if you’d rather not, that’s what a care plan is for: you send me a message and I make the change.

When WordPress still makes sense

Astro isn’t right for everyone, and I still build in WordPress where it’s the better fit. That’s usually when a site needs features that WordPress handles well out of the box.

• A large online shop with lots of products and stock to manage.
• Membership areas, courses or bookings that rely on specific plugins.
• A team of people who already know the WordPress dashboard well.

For most business websites, though, the kind with services, projects, reviews and a contact form, Astro does the job better, faster and with less to worry about.

The short version

I choose the tools that give you the fastest, most secure site with the least ongoing hassle. Right now, for most businesses, that’s Astro. If you’re not sure which suits you, ask me. I’ll give you a straight answer either way.