A static web site is like an online brochure giving information about your organisation, your products, services and contacts. It normally does not contain interactive functionality, and updates to content and images are done by a web developer with HTML skills.

What kind of business needs a static web site?

A static web site might be useful for a small business that simply wants to be found on the web, with only a few pages of information that do not change very often.

What are the advantages of a static web site?

• Can be developed fast when small.
• May be cheaper for initial development if small.
• Pages are often delivered fast because the HTML code for each page is very simple.

What are the disadvantages of a static web site?

• Information becomes rapidly outdated. This might damage your image rather than help it.
• An unchanging site is not be friendly for search engines as one with changing content.
• Does not encourage visitors to return for the latest information, and they may wonder whether you are an active business.
• If there are many pages, the initial investment can be higher than a dynamic web site.
• Static web sites can be expensive to maintain, once you start updating them. You will need to pay a developer for even minor changes.
• Static web sites are prone to errors. The larger the site becomes, the more difficult it is to maintain and you end up with dead links or other technical errors.
• The value of the initial investment may be lost if, like most web site owners, you decide to replace it in the future with a more interactive site. 

Recommendation

A static web site finds it hard to compete for attention compared with the volume, timeliness and dynamism of a more sophisticated system. Depending on the purpose of your web site, the lower initial investment for a small site may well justify a static web site as a starting point. This may mean that it is an inexpensive, relatively rapid entry point to the web. However, the longer term return on investment is likely to be lower than from a more dynamic system, and the same effect and more may well be achieved at similar cost with a simple site using a content management system such as DotNetNuke.