You need a static-site blog | Michael Lamb | Magnolia Conf 2025

Talk Description
In today's digital landscape, establishing a portable, maintainable, and centralized hub for your personal brand has become essential for professionals, creators, and thought leaders. This talk explores how static site generators offer the ideal balance between content focus and customization flexibility, making them the perfect foundation for personal blogs that truly represent your unique voice and expertise. Unlike platform-dependent solutions that lock you into proprietary ecosystems, static site generators provide complete ownership and portability of your content while maintaining the simplicity that keeps you focused on what matters most: writing and sharing your ideas. We'll examine how modern SSGs like Jekyll, enable you to create highly customizable blogs through templating systems that can evolve with your brand, all while generating lightning-fast, secure websites that perform exceptionally across all devices. The presentation will demonstrate practical approaches to content organization, theme development, and deployment strategies that ensure your blog remains maintainable as it grows. We'll also cover how SSGs integrate seamlessly with version control systems, enabling collaborative workflows and providing a complete history of your content evolution. Through real-world examples, attendees will see how static site generators eliminate the overhead of database management, security patches, and server maintenance, allowing creators to focus entirely on content creation while still having full control over design and functionality. Whether you're a developer looking to establish your professional presence, a designer showcasing your portfolio, or an entrepreneur building thought leadership, this talk will show you how static site generators provide the perfect foundation for a blog that truly serves as your digital home base—one that you own, control, and can take anywhere your career leads you.

About the Speaker
Michael Lamb is a software engineer living in Jackson, Mississippi. He studied at Mississippi State University and Hinds Community College before taking a full-time position at C Spire where he is presently a Systems Analyst.

Special thanks to Progress for sponsoring this year's livestream!