Running your site on a CDN (Content Delivery Network) is one of the most efficient ways to improve your the User Experience (UX) of your site’s visitors. CDNs are single networks comprised of several (or many) linked-up servers which are phsyically located in different places. This creates several distinct advantages that can benefit your site’s end users. Today we’ll discuss 3 of these benefits.
1. CDNs Create Server Proximity
Because CDNs are made up of several servers in different locations, ping times between your site visitors and your servers are often reduced. As an example, if you’re housing data on servers in Los Angeles, Houston, Orlando and in the UK, a user in Dallas would be more likely to experience faster data transfers by interacting with your servers in Houston than in any of the other locations. That’s because the user’s proximity to the server will eliminate ping times between the servers. CDNs enable this sort of proximity-based performance improvement by making sure you’re able to offer servers in multiple locations.
2. Sharing the Load
In addition to creating faster data transfers, another way CDNs help improve UX for your site’s visitors is by having multiple servers share in the completion of tasks. This creates a smoother, faster and more reliable experience for end users. It also means that large data requests will be far less likely to impact your end users’ experience. When sites are serving all data from a single server, having too many large requests can have some serious negative impacts on how that server performs. By incorporating several servers to share in the workload, the likelihood of experiencing these performance issues is significantly decreased.
3. Cashing In on Caching In
As if the network proximity and shared resources aren’t enough, your users will also benefit from additional caching options created by a CDN. If a user has visited your site before, there’s a great chance that his/her browser has cached some of the data. Data stored in a user’s cache makes website performance even faster by eliminating the need to create new data transfers. By having interacted with one of the servers in your network previously, your end user is making it easier to access information from your website.
Setting Up a CDN for Your Site
These are just 3 of the ways that CDNs can benefit end users. You might recall that when we first introduced CDNs back in February, we also mentioned several ways these networks can benefit businesses as well.
If you’re thinking about moving your site to a CDN, getting started doesn’t have to be overly complicated. There are several large CDN networks available making the service available for a staggering price. The cost may not be an issue for some large enterprise businesses, but for most of us those fees are simply out of the question. At URPad.net, we are here to help! If you’re considering moving your site to a CDN but you aren’t quite ready to cover those enormous fees, we may have a solution that would work for you. Write to us at sales@urpad.net for more information about US-based CDN services on our network.