What Is A Content Delivery Network (CDN) And Why You Should Use One?

If you have ever used the Internet (and in this day and age, who hasn’t?), then you know the value of a web page that loads quickly.

If there’s any delay, there’s always a chance that you’ll ignore the site and look for another alternative.

One study showed that a one second delay in site loading time can result in a 7% reduction in sale conversions.

You may even be unwilling to come back to that site. Another study showed that 75% of Internet users won’t come back to a site when its loading time takes more than 4 seconds.

And that spells disaster for your bottom line revenue and for your SEO.

Imagine, you’ve already succeeded in luring people to your site by getting the top spot on Google, only to have them turn back because your website is very slow to load.

And that’s where a CDN comes in.

What’s a CDN?

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network, and it can really help you speed up your web pages loading time. Usually, when you have a website, you may just have a single server holding all your website files.

That can present a problem if your server is located in the US and your website is in Germany. It takes a while for the info to travel the distance, and that affects loading time.

Another potential problem with just a single server is that large amounts of traffic can overload the server.

That can also slow down the loading time, and the server may even crash.

Now with a content delivery system, you have an entire network of servers working for you. The CDN gathers all your static files (CSS files, images, Flash, JavaScript, etc.) and saves them all on all the servers in the network.

So when a German Internet user visits your site, the static files all come from the nearest server to the user, such as a server in Berlin.

That really speeds up the loading time.

Reasons for Using a CDN

By knowing how a CDN works, you should now have a clearer idea of its benefits:

• It really makes a website load faster. This has commercial implications if you use your website for business purposes. You can lose ecommerce sales, for example. You may also lose the patronage of mobile users looking for the nearest shop like yours. Mobile users are much more in need of speed, as they’re already on the move.

• You can rank higher in Google’s search results pages. The SEO implications of loading time are pretty much accepted these days. Loading time is an acknowledged ranking factor for Google.

• Website stability is assured. Since a CDN separates the load from just a single server, then it can help reduce the possibility of a server crash. Having a down website is never a good sign. Not only is it inconvenient, but it can lower your website’s credibility among your users.

• CDN improves your users’ experience. Fast websites tend to encourage greater use among visitors. You can then expect lower bounce rates and higher page views.

It seems very clear that if you’re serious about running a small business website or an online store, you need a CDN as well.