Why is the website slow?
Most people know that when a user opens a new website, if the website opens too slowly, the user is very unlikely to continue browsing. Website speed is one of the essential elements of a successful website, and if it opens too slowly, it will reduce the website’s conversion rate.
Website opening speed can be affected by many factors, but the following are some common reasons:
- Shared host servers are overwhelmed and have slow response times.
- The website’s images and content are too large and take a long time to download.
- The website uses too many different scripts and images that have not been optimized for quick website loading, and take a long time to load.
- The website’s server location is different from the website visitor’s location.
- There are actually many other reasons, but these above-listed points are the most significant. Based on these reasons, those tech-savvy folks came up with CDN.
What’s the use of CDN?
CDN stands for Content Distribution Network. The basic idea is to avoid bottlenecks and links that could affect the speed and stability of data transmission on the internet as much as possible, making content transmission faster and more stable.
You don’t actually need to worry about how it works technically. All you need to know is that CDN can help our website achieve these things:
- Website acceleration, which is good for Google’s ranking;
- Google considers the website’s opening speed as a relatively important index, so the speed at which the website opens will affect Google’s ranking. After using CDN, the website opens faster, reducing bounce rate and improving user-friendliness of the website.
- It’s good for increasing the website’s conversion rate;
- Undoubtedly, as the user’s visit time to the website increases and the bounce rate decreases, it will benefit the website’s conversion rate and sales volume. No one has the patience to wait for a website that takes 10 seconds to open. Such a website is not friendly from the start and it’s even less likely to increase the website’s conversion rate.
- Enhancing the website’s stability and security;
- CDN uses multiple node servers, with servers distributed in different places, making it difficult for attackers. If there are enough CDN service nodes, then the flow cost that attackers need will be higher.
How to Install a Free CDN Service on Your Website
Cause we’re using Siteground for our server, we can take advantage of Siteground’s free CDN service.
Login to your Siteground backend and click on Cloudflare under Speed, then hit SET UP on the bottom right corner of the page.
On this screen, you’ll see two packages – the free Basic and the paid Premium. For beginners, let’s start with the free one.
Next up, it’ll ask ya to create a CDN account and password. Make sure to check I confirm that I have read and agree and all that jazz, then hit create.
Now, take note to write down your account and password in a little notebook or an online notepad – you’re gonna be registering for lots of accounts for all sorts of functionalities as you build and maintain your website, so make sure to keep ’em all organized.
Next, hit activate free at the bottom.
And that’s it, you got yourself a free CDN installed on your website once you see the confirmation message.
