28 Aug 4 Reasons Why You Need a CDN for your WordPress Blog?
CDN(Content Delivery Network) is a way by which websites that distribute website’s static files and content to different worldwide servers, improving the loading speed of the website.
Sound’s confusing? Well at the first glance, it is really not that simple. Until now, we have covered many articles regarding Content Delivery Network, but never had the chance to really ask the most basic question, “Why you need a CDN for your WordPress blog?”.
Without answering the basic question, it is not a great idea to invest into CDN. Knowledge of the term and how it works will elevate any misery you are having when the term “CDN” come along. We are here to help.
You can also check out the best free CDN services for your blog.
Let’s find out first on how important a CDN can be for your blog.
Table of Contents
Why You Need a CDN for your WordPress Blog?
Note: Before we continue, I want to make sure that CDN is different from a hosting company. If you are using a CDN that doesn’t eliminate the use of the hosting company and vice-versa.
CDN helps you to reach your users more efficiently improving their user experience.
An Example ShowCasing CDN Usage: What is a CDN?
The best way to approach CDN is to provide an example. Let’s start defining it and then provide an example to clear things out.
CDN, also known as Content Delivery Network is a worldwide network of pre-defined servers that stores static files and other content and deliver to a geographical user according to its location.
In short, the user will load files required to use the website from the nearest possible CDN server. Only static files are served as they don’t change with time. Dynamic content is processed by the actual server(where your WordPress blog/website is loaded) and then served to the actual user.
For example, let’s say a user from Kolkata, India wants to access the site from the UK. The user opens the web browser and types in the URL of the website. In this case, let’s say I am trying to open 85Ideas from my browser. Now, the browser will send a request to the server for the website. And if the website is using a CDN, then the CDN will try to find the nearest CDN server around my geographical location.
Let’s say, the nearest CDN server is Delhi, the capital of India. The browser gets a redirect and starts loading the static cached files to my browser. On the other hand, the dynamic files are loaded asynchronously, improving the loading time of the website.
This clearly diverts a huge amount of traffic and maintains the balance required for proper working of the server where your actual website is loaded. Server crashes are minimal and you improved how your website works on the internet.
The best metaphor is how greek used to send signals at long distance by burning wood from the top of the mountain. The smoke helps to signal the next post and so on. Finally, it reaches the destination and the message is delivered. The internet is nothing but an implementation of real life scenarios to an abstract level.
What Files are loaded through CDN?
I said, static files, but you might ask what actually they contain? Well, the static files are the files that don’t change over time. Normally, all the CSS, JavaScript, Flash, images and other static files are transferred using a CDN service. The CDN redirects the request and delivers the content in a much better way.
Do you really need a CDN?
Now the real question comes. Do you really need a CDN? The answer is astounding yes! You do need a CDN for better user experience and other hosts of benefits. Let’s discuss them one by one.
1. Speed: Website loading times are important for any website. Web sites that load faster has low bounce rate and better ROI. Also, faster loading websites are ranked well by Google.
Any website that have a load time of more than 2 sec, negatively impact the performance of the website. Getting a good hosting is just one step. You also need to make sure that a proper CDN setup helps you to achieve better website loading time.
2. Improved User Experience: Users just love websites that load faster. The instance you load up a CDN, you will see a decrease in bounce rate. There is a co-relation between loading speed and bounce rate.
The higher the loading time of the website, the higher the bounce rate and that can hurt your business. Also, having better loading time invites the user to explore the site and in turn improve your website page views. In short, user loves faster websites and a CDN can help you achieve improved user experience.
3. Stable Server: Servers are made to withstand a high level of traffic, but that doesn’t mean it has the capability of taking on more than it capacity. A very obvious solution is the use of CDN. When CDN is used, the requests are distributed and hence the server never cross the threshold making it more stable and secure for longer operation.
Also, viral articles have the chance to get a huge amount of traffic. Having a CDN installed will make your life easier for sure.
4. SEO improvement: Google loves user experience. If Google see high bounce rate, they will be more inclined to rank the website/page lesser than other websites or pages. In short, CDN improves your SEO and helps search engine to identify great resources.
Over To You
Use CDN, period.
If you cannot invest in a paid CDN service, you can check out the list of free CDN for you blog. The benefits of using are too big to be ignored.
Also, installing a CDN is all about few clicks(depends on the CDN server you are using).
So, are you convinced on how CDN improves your website’s online presence? If not, you can go ahead and ask me any questions and I will answer them for sure.
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