Very fast websites that still run on WordPress

Every new website I build now works the same way: the front is built with something called Astro, so it loads very fast, and the site itself still runs on WordPress behind it.

We’re moving into a new phase now that AI has entered the world, and a lot of people are asking: can’t AI just build my website? Yes, it can — and it can build a beautiful website. But the difference with just having AI build a website is you don’t have the WordPress back end to make it easy to make changes. You’re always fiddling with AI, trying to get it to work right.

This is a new way of building that takes the best of both worlds. The front gets built exactly how you like it. The back end still runs on WordPress, so you can log in anytime and edit things on the website — add a blog post, change the mailing list information, whatever you need.

You still make the changes yourself. The back end is ordinary WordPress, so you log in the same way you would on any WordPress site — and the things you’ll update most often are brought to the front of the admin, so there’s one easy place to go when something needs to change.

Fewer things that can break

Building this way also removes a lot of what usually has to be watched over on a website:

  • No database or PHP code on the public site. The pages people visit are just pre-built files, so the kinds of attacks that go after a typical WordPress site are aimed at software that isn’t there.
  • The WordPress login isn’t on the public site. The admin lives at a separate address, so the usual WordPress login and dashboard pages aren’t sitting on the website your visitors use.
  • No plugins on the public site. On the part visitors actually touch, no plugins are running — and plugins are the piece of WordPress that needs the most frequent updating. Fewer plugins means fewer updates to keep up with and fewer weak points on that surface.
  • If the WordPress side ever goes offline, the public site keeps serving. It’s pre-built files served from a global network of servers, so people can still visit while you work on the back end.

See it for yourself

These are WordPress websites. What you’ll notice when you go there is how quickly everything loads — click through the different menu items. That doesn’t only help the visitor experience. It helps with search engines too: if a website is very fast, search engines like it.

And the site you’re on right now is a third one — lowthiandesign.com is built exactly the same way.

Let’s talk about your project.

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