Speeding up your WordPress site using a CDN.
Having a cool looking site is only half the battle. With more and more rich content comes an inherent danger… Having a slow website. As more people access websites over a mobile connection it becomes even more important to optimize your site for speed.
One was to accomplish this is by using a CDN.
What is a CDN?
A Content Delivery Network or CDN is used to deliver content instantly to a user. Usually a site pings the owners server for every request. A CDN is not a central server but many servers.
How Does a CDN Work?
Depending on how far you are from a servers location, it can add significant delays to the loading time of your site. So by making a copy of this information on different servers around the world, it allows users to connect to the closest point of contact, thus increasing site performance for a user,
Do I Need a CDN?
A CDN is encouraged especially if you have users all over the world. By having copies of your site globally, all users get the best experience when visiting. The only time it doesn’t help, is if your site is meant only for a local target, like your city, as another layer of communication is added.
Popular CDN Providers
- CloudFlare
- KeyCDN
- StackPath.
For instructions on how to connect to these providers and a few others please visit this link.
How to install
In order to setup most providers you will need access to your CPanel, but there are a few plugins that can help you, even some of the most common caching plugins have the ability to connect to a CDN.
Benefits of using a CDN
- Save Bandwidth: a cdn keeps copies of your site and delivers them, thus saving you the cost
- Security: Can help prevent DDos attacks and spam attacks
- Handle more Traffic: Content is always ready to deliver
- Speed: Latency is reduced to your global visitors.