(Newswire.net — October 30, 2015) — So often when we’re told we need a new service or product, it’s implied that it’s because we or the things we do are somehow subpar. Case in point: infomercials. Every single infomercial could be summed up with the tagline do you not know how to live? Here’s a specialty bowl to hold your snacks because you can’t handle crackers! A device for opening your windows because you don’t know how to work your hands!
That’s not the case here. If you need a content delivery network (CDN) – a network of servers located across the globe designed to deliver your website’s content quickly and efficiently to all users – it’s because you have a popular website which could use some assistance better using its resources and giving your users a far better experience.
Here’s why you may need a CDN and what it can do to improve your website:
Reason #1 your website needs a CDN: you get plenty of traffic
One of the biggest things a CDN accomplishes is load balancing. With a single server, it’s possible for that server to get overwhelmed by an influx of traffic. This is dangerous because not only will a large amount of legitimate traffic render your website unusable, but a single server is incredibly vulnerable to the massive amount of illegitimate traffic that can come from a DDoS attack, which will be detailed a bit later.
With multiple servers, when one server strains under the weight of traffic or even crashes, another server will simply pick up the slack so your users have an uninterrupted website experience.
Reason #2 your website needs a CDN: that traffic comes from around the world
The closer a user is to a server, the better a website will function for them. So for instance, if you run a news website for your small town, a single server location may be fine for you since the vast majority of your users are going to be in the same place. (That’s ignoring the other downfalls of a single server location, but let’s not digress.) However, many websites want as much legitimate traffic from across the globe as possible, and a single server location won’t do since users located far from that server will be met with a struggling website.
With a CDN you have servers set up all over the world, and users of your website will be automatically redirected to the server closest to them in order to give any user in any location a better web experience. If you have international traffic, you need international servers. That’s just how it works.
Reason #3 your website needs a CDN: you have dynamic content and/or multimedia content
The more rich (and heavy) your content is, the more you need a CDN. If your site has anything like games or music, live video broadcasts, video files, or file downloads, a CDN will be a big-time help when it comes to how your website’s resources are used.
Advanced CDNs are also excellent at caching both static content and dynamic content for faster load times, even on advanced websites with tons of features. A high-quality CDN will be able to learn about your website’s dynamic content, so to speak, and cache that dynamic content for the period in which it remains unchanged. Be sure to research dynamic content caching optimization abilities before choosing a CDN – not every CDN is capable of this.
Reason #4 your website needs a CDN: the design isn’t 100% flawless
If you’re wondering whether or not your site’s design is flawless, the answer is it isn’t. No one’s site is perfect. No matter how careful you or your designer was, there are going to be extra characters in your source code that need to be stripped, image files that are too big, CSS, HTML and JavaScript files that need to be compressed on the fly, and so on.
A CDN offers excellent networking optimization, taking care of all of the above for you while also managing user connections efficiently and reusing open sessions in order to speed up page load time and keep your users happy, clicking and converting.
Reason #5 your website needs a CDN: you can’t afford downtime from a DDoS attack
Either literally or figuratively. Not only can an unmitigated DDoS attack that knocks a website offline cost an organization upwards of $40,000 per hour, but it also causes other long-term fallout, including a loss of consumer or user trust, damage to software, hardware or both, or the potential theft of intellectual property as well as the financial or personal information of users or customers.
With the excruciating popularity and tremendous damage of DDoS attacks, websites should absolutely not be going without DDoS protection. If you don’t already have it, and you’re considering a CDN, thump two birds with one stone and get a high-quality CDN with built-in DDoS protection that goes beyond even the protection provided by having multiple servers.
Reason #6 your website needs a CDN: honestly, your user experience could be improved
Page load time is a major factor in user experience, and according to Imperva Incapsula’s CDN guide, even a one second delay causes a 7% decrease in conversions, an 11% decrease in page views, and a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.
The number one thing a CDN can do for your website is speed it up. Give your site an honest assessment: is it fast enough? If you were a user, would you be happy with its performance? Any hesitation on that answer combined with any of the factors listed above equals a pretty clear-cut need for a CDN.
When you’re good, you’re good
If you read this expecting to be met with attempts to get you to buy something you don’t actually need to fix a problem you don’t actually have, you might be disappointed. A CDN is simply designed to provide excellent websites with a boost, keeping users happier, increasing page views, and increasing conversions.