Start with the right domain name.

Domain names are in short supply, but that does not mean that you can’t find the perfect online address to showcase your business. Start by searching Smart Choice Domains. You never know when you’ll find the perfect domain name just waiting for you. If you choose a domain name from scratch, make sure that you go with a reputable registrar, and then choose a name that best suits your business. Ideally, it will end in .com and have 15 letters or less.

Get to know search engine optimization.

Have you ever wondered how Google knows what results to give you when you type a question into the search bar? The answer is through web crawlers, which are like invisible fingers that go out into the internet flipping through the pages to quickly find what’s most relevant. The way that you get your website seen during this process is through search engine optimization. There are many moving parts that go into this, but just know that you will need quality content, such as blog posts and videos. You also need to maintain a strong understanding of emerging trends. If you’re not quite ready to understand the technical, Search Engine Journal gives the best advice: understand what people want. When your site answers a question or solves a problem, that puts it in a good position to be found during a search query. To figure this out, start with your keywords. If you’re not sure which to use on your most important pages, use Ubersuggest or Google’s keyword planner tool.

Design custom banners.

Your online banners are a quick way to draw attention to important information, deals, promotions, and events. Fortunately, you can find a free online banner creator that will help you create custom ads that you can post on your website to help spread awareness. Look for a template that best matches your brand, and then make sure that all of the elements – fonts, color, animations – remain consistent with your current branding materials.

Optimize your site for speed.

Page speed is the time it takes for your website to load once somebody clicks your link. If your website gets hung up during the loading process, there is a good chance that people will click off of it and move on to the competition. Moz goes into great detail on how to boost your page speed, including paying attention to technical details, such as enabling compression, reducing redirects, and utilizing browser caching. If you don’t have an IT team behind you, try, at the very least, reducing the size of images on your load screen and eliminating auto-play videos and sound.

Make sure it’s mobile.

One of the most important things you can do for your website is to ensure that it is compatible with people’s mobile devices. A mobile website is essentially a scaled-down version of its desktop contemporary. While you might prefer to work on the desktop, keep in mind that more than half of all organic search visits take place from the palm of someone’s hand.

Pay attention to your statistics.

Analyzing your website is crucial in ensuring that it remains up and running and visible. Web analytics tools, like Google Analytics, can help you see how many page views you get each day, where they come from, and even how much time people spend on your website. All of this can help you cater your content and web experience to your users.

Prioritize simplicity.

Websites are not simple. By nature, there are many technical pieces that have to fall into the exact right place to make sure your website stays up. But your user interface should be as clean and sleek as possible. Not only will this make for a better visit, Websites360 also explains that a minimalistic design will function better on mobile devices and, importantly, load faster. Plus, eliminating visual clutter means that people can see what you have to offer without having to look too far into your site.

Make it disability-friendly.

We often commission the design of our websites without thought to how they may be viewable or usable to those with disabilities. Make sure that your website is easy for everyone to use, which includes things like tagged images, navigation that only requires the use of a keyboard, and the availability of audio or video files to support your content. You also want to pay attention to color contrasts that might make it more difficult for people with visual impairments to read.

Link to your social media.

Something else that's important for your website is to make sure that it links back and forth with your social media. Your website is where you will post all of your content, and your social media is where you will share it. Making sure that you are linked, which will drive more traffic to your site, and, in turn, make it a stronger candidate during search queries. It also ensures that people looking for your social media don’t accidentally come across a similar company with a similar name.

Ultimately, the goal of your website is to be an extension of your brick-and-mortar business. And, in today’s digital world, there’s a good chance that your website will become as or even more important than your real-world setup. Make sure that your site is top-notch from the beginning. While having some technical skills will help, even simple steps, such as creating a custom banner and linking it to your social media, will have a big impact on the overall usability of your online space.

Do you own a domain name that’s not working out? Sell it for cash on Smart Choice Domains today.

Better Understand Your Customers

Monitoring your website will help you understand how customers interact with your website. Without tracking user behavior on your website, it’s hard to know what your customers want or what’s causing them confusion or frustration. Track user behavior so you know what your visitors are interested in and where they struggle along the customer journey.

Process mining is a great way to uncover customer behavior insights. By learning about your customers and how they make buying decisions, you can better align your website with their needs. With process mining, you can also identify hidden opportunities to upsell and cross-sell products or offer support when customers need it most. Get started with process mining by identifying potential data sources that you can use to learn more about the customer journey.

Improve Your Website Conversions

Improving your website conversions will help you turn more visitors into paying customers, boosting the return on investment (ROI) of your marketing campaigns. Measuring certain website performance metrics can help you learn more about your conversions and identify opportunities for improvement. For example, you can measure how long customers tend to spend on your website and how many people only visit one page before clicking away. These metrics may indicate issues with things like website layout, page content, and ease of navigation.

Rank Higher in Search Engine Results

It’s also important to know where your website ranks in search engine results. High rankings lead to more organic traffic—visitors coming from unpaid sources, like search engines. This traffic is free, so you want to maximize it! SEO metric tools make it easy to monitor your search engine rankings and identify areas for improvement. This will help you continually optimize your SEO strategy and encourage more users to click through to your website.

Enhance Your Marketing ROI

Monitoring your website performance can do a lot for your marketing ROI. If your marketing campaigns are successful at driving traffic to your website, but few visitors are turning into paying customers, you’re missing out on a lot of potential revenue. By measuring web traffic, visitor count, bounce rates, and user behavior, you can make adjustments to your website to improve conversions. As a result, you’ll see more sales without increasing your marketing budget!

Prevent Cybersecurity Issues

Too many businesses overlook the threat of cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Don’t make this same mistake! Cybercriminals target small businesses that lack the defense systems necessary to prevent attacks. By neglecting website security, you’re leaving sensitive customer information and business data vulnerable to theft and loss.

Monitor your website for cybersecurity vulnerabilities so you can stop cyberattacks. For example, Computer.org explains that it’s important to install the latest software and plugin updates on your website to avoid security vulnerabilities. Many website building platforms allow for automatic monitoring and update installation, so take advantage of these. Another way to prevent attacks is to monitor your website traffic for potential sources of trouble. DDoS protection software does a good job at continuously monitoring traffic to detect attack attempts before they get out of control.

Your website performance can tell you a lot about your business and whether or not you’re progressing towards your goals. By keeping an eye on a variety of important performance metrics, you will better understand what your customers want and how simple adjustments to your website can increase conversions.

Are you looking for a new domain name for your website? Smart Choice Domains can help you find the best available domains at a fair price. Check out our website to learn more!

But if WordPress is free, you may be wondering, then why do WordPress websites cost money?

Excellent question!

Think about WordPress as a state-of-the-art kitchen that lets you cook up any number of interesting dishes. Even if you own a gorgeous kitchen, you’d still need a house to put it in. You’d also need an address so people could come over. And you might want to paint the kitchen cobalt blue and add an over-the-top neon yellow backsplash — no judgment.

OK, a little judgment.

The point is, WordPress can’t operate on its own. To get a fully functional website, you’ll need to spend money on a few other essentials, such as WordPress hosting, a domain name, and a WordPress theme.

Just as with the kitchen example, there’s no one true way to build your WordPress website. Depending on your preferences, the costs can range from less than $100 per year all the way up to thousands of dollars. But no matter your budget, there’s a solution out there that will meet your needs.

In this article, we’ll explain what you need to build a site and why. Then we’ll answer the following questions (feel free to skip ahead to the section that most applies to your website goals):

Can I Build a Free WordPress Website? How Much Does it Cost to Build a Budget WordPress Website? How Much Does It Cost to Build a Mid-Range WordPress Website? How Much Does It Cost to Build a Small-Business WordPress Website? How Much Does It Cost to Build an E-commerce Site with WordPress? How Much Does It Cost to Build a Custom WordPress Website?

Finally, we’ll talk about ways you can keep hosting costs low, so you don’t overpay to set up the perfect site. Ready to get started? Let’s talk $$$.

Launch Your Website with DreamPress

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What Does It Take to Build a WordPress Website? (8 Key Steps)

A WordPress website can be up and running in a matter of seconds. However, depending on your end goal and the host you choose, certain elements may be more time-consuming than others. To help you prepare ahead of time, we’ve put a list together of eight key steps for building your new site. 

Step 1: Choose a Domain

Naming your site after your business might seem like the most logical approach when choosing a domain name. There are some other factors to consider, however, before you sign off on your site’s name.

We’ll cover domain costs in detail later on, but names can range from free to more than $1,000, depending on what you want. Fortunately, we offer many options when it comes to domain names.

You can choose from a wide variety of Top Level Domains (TLDs), including premium domains like .inc, .io, .tech, and .shop. With over 400 options, we’re pretty sure you’ll be able to find something to fit your website.

Most of all, it’s essential to remember that picking a memorable name can help with promoting your business or website later on. You’ll want to strike the right balance of professionalism and branding. Since so many domain names end in.com, for example, it might be worth your time to explore other TLDs. 

Related: The Top 11 SEO Best Practices for Domains

Step 2: Pick Out a Hosting Plan

Of course, many hosting plans come with a free domain name. That’s how we approach it here at DreamHost Getting your domain and hosting from the same place can save you time and make managing your site easier in the long run.

When you review your options for web hosting, you’ll want to keep in mind a few essential criteria, such as: 

Included software. If you need one-click installation options or pre-installed e-commerce features, make sure to review what extras your chosen host offers.  Provided security. Keeping your plugins and other software up-to-date is crucial for site security. If you know you’d rather have those tasks handled by a managed host, you’ll want to be sure that is an offered service.  Available support. Running an e-commerce store can sometimes mean your site has to run smoothly through all time zones, so your tech support should too.  Scheduled backups. In case the worst-case scenario does happen, it is a good idea to review your host’s backup and restore protocols.

Regardless of your final decision, your hosting provider is your site’s partner. So it’s wise to review your options carefully before making a choice.

Related: Do I Need Managed WordPress Hosting?

Step 3: Decide on a Content Management System (CMS)

Here at DreamHost, we are pretty vocal about our love of WordPress. As a Content Management System (CMS), it is highly flexible and easy to use. Built on open-source programming, WordPress is always free to download and install.

It’s important to assess your needs and pre-existing skills, however. There are several popular CMSs on the market, and none is perfect for every application.

It’s also vital to understand the difference between a CMS and a website builder before making your final decision. WordPress comes with a user-friendly interface backed by a sophisticated MySQL database, which means both beginners and experts can easily build amazing websites. Website builders can serve the basic needs of small sites, but struggle when it comes to providing more complex functionality.

Step 4: Select a WordPress Theme to Fit Your Goals

If you’ve already established your site’s brand and niche, you’ll be better able to choose a WordPress theme. That’s because WordPress themes come in many shapes and specialties.

Keep in mind, however, that themes are pretty easy to customize. So if you like the base offering of a particular theme, but you want a different color palette, you can probably make that change. That’s why it’s a good idea to read through a theme’s features and functionalities before you pick one. 

Often, you can also start out with the free version of a theme to give it a test drive before upgrading for more features. Premium themes can range from $20 to over $100. Reading reviews for the themes you like and checking out other information, such as when the latest update was made, are key ways to make sure your decision is one you can live with long-term.

Related: Tutorial: How to Install a WordPress Child Theme

Step 5: Purchase a Secure Sockets Layer Certificate

We don’t mess around when it comes to website security. Many of our plans come with a SSL certificate pre-installed. This certificate adds a critical “s” to your web address.

An SSL certificate lets your visitors know that any data they share with your site, such as payment information, will go through a secure connection. You can purchase these certificates through third-party services, as well as through your web host. 

Step 6: Install and Manage Useful Plugins

Plugins often become an essential part of your website’s maintenance and core functionality. These are packets of code that “plug in” to your WordPress platform to extend and enhance its features and options. 

If you’re setting up an online shop, for example, many e-commerce plugins can help you coordinate digital payments, keep track of inventory, or connect to other services you’d like to use. Additionally, there are many plugins available for streamlining your workflow, enhancing your site’s security, driving conversions, and much more.

Step 7: Set Up and Customize E-Commerce Features

Once you’ve chosen and customized your theme, added some useful plugins, and secured your site, you can make sure your online store is ready to roll. If you’re using WooCommerce, the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress, getting started is easy.

You can also check with your hosting service to see if any e-commerce tools come pre-installed. 

If not, WooCommerce is a free plugin available in the WordPress Plugin Directory and has many optional premium add-ons. 

Step 8: Be Strategic and Honest About Your Time and Resources 

Building your website can take a while. It’s best to prepare and plan for the appropriate amount of time, so you aren’t rushed during the process. Setting up yourself and your team for success means being realistic about your resources. 

Therefore, give yourself time to plan out what you want and decide on the tools you’ll use. Gathering feedback on your ideas prior to beginning development can also help you avoid roadblocks later on.

Related: 13 Simple Ways to Boost SEO on Your WordPress Website

Can I Build a Free WordPress Website?

“I don’t mind limited functionality as long as it’s free.”

When you just need to get a site up and you’re not picky about its functionality, there’s no price point like free. You can visit WordPress.com and set up a blog in minutes for no money down.

This is perfect for the person who wants a bare-bones blog, but this option does come with some significant drawbacks:

A unique domain name isn’t included, so your URL will end with .wordpress.com. Since you’re sharing the free resources with all of WordPress.com’s other users, you have a very limited amount of bandwidth and storage space. You can’t have a custom blog design. WordPress.com will place ads on your site that you can’t remove unless you upgrade to a paid account.

As they say, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. But if you’re willing to go with the flow and don’t mind the limitations, a $0 WordPress blog might be what you’re looking for.

Free WordPress Website Costs WordPress.com Free Domain Name Not included Basic WordPress Theme Free TOTAL $0/year How Much Does it Cost to Build a Budget WordPress Website?

“I don’t want to spend a lot of money.”

Perhaps you’re starting a site for the first time and just want to test the waters. Or maybe your blog is purely for fun, and you don’t want to put too much money into a hobby. In this situation, you’ll want to cover the basics but not much else. Here’s what you’ll need.

Unlimited Shared Hosting: $71.40/year

This is one of the most affordable hosting services. When you buy shared hosting, your site lives on a server with a group of other customers’ websites, and everyone shares the price. With a 100 percent uptime guarantee and 24/7 support, DreamHost shared hosting is ideal for customers with one or even a handful of small websites, like blogs or portfolios.

You can get our Unlimited Shared plan for $10.95 a month, but the best deal comes when you lock in for three years of hosting at a time ($5.95/mo)!. Most importantly, shared hosting comes with a one-step WordPress setup, so there’s no tech know-how necessary.

Domain Name: Free with Annual Hosting Plan

Hosting gives your website a place to live, and a domain name is the address people use to find that space. It’s the URL people type into their browser to find the site. Registering a domain name can cost anywhere from $10 to thousands depending on demand, but when you purchase an Unlimited Shared hosting plan, you get a domain name included for free.

WordPress Theme: Free from the WordPress Theme Directory

Once you have a home and an address, it’s time for the fun part — decorating the place! When it comes to how your website looks, WordPress offers a lot of free options.

You can browse the WordPress Theme Directory to find different looks for your site, and search more specifically by features like color, number of columns, and customizable elements. Better yet, every theme in the directory has been specially vetted by WordPress for quality control.

Budget WordPress Website Costs Unlimited Shared Plan (3-year term) $71.40/year Domain Name Free WordPress Theme Free TOTAL $71.40/year

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How Much Does It Cost to Build a Mid-Range WordPress Website?

“I’m willing to pay a little more for a few great features.”

If you run a small business website or a popular blog, you might want to consider bumping yourself up to the next price tier for improved customization and features.

DreamPress: $203.40/year

If you’re looking for a premium, WordPress-specific, managed hosting solution, your dreams have come true. DreamPress is all that and more. Not only is it optimized to support a high-performance WordPress site and make website maintenance a snap, but it also comes with 24/7 support from our WordPress experts. 

Domain Name: Free with Annual Hosting Plan

Once again, a domain name is included when you buy an annual hosting plan from DreamHost.

WordPress Free and Premium Themes: $0–$80 (average)

Working on a budget is common for startup sites. Fortunately, when it comes to WordPress, you have options that cover the entire spectrum. There are thousands of free themes available in the WordPress Theme Directory to get started with. Plus, you can often upgrade a free theme if you like how it works, typically for anywhere between $20 and $80. 

Mid-Range WordPress Website DreamPress $203.40/year Domain Name Free WordPress Theme $0-$60 TOTAL $203.40-$263.40/year How Much Does It Cost to Build a Small-Business WordPress Website?

“I am just getting started, but I want some e-commerce functionality.”

As your site gains more traffic and your business expands, you will likely need to get as much ‘bang for your buck’ as possible. Looking for all-in-one solutions from the very beginning is a smart way to prepare.

DreamPress Plus Hosting: $299.40/year

With even more features and none of the technical slog, DreamPress Plus takes care of all the WordPress upkeep so you can focus on your content. Plus, it’s speedy — five times faster than shared hosting.

This service is also designed to scale, so you don’t need to worry about your site ever overloading. What’s more, you’ll get free access to Jetpack Professional, the gold standard for WordPress backups and security.

Domain Name: Free with Annual Hosting Plan

Domain names never break the bank when you host with us. DreamHost annual plans come with a free domain.

Premium WordPress Theme: $20–$80 (average)

For a more unique look and additional features, you can choose from a variety of premium WordPress themes at marketplaces like StudioPress and Pixel Union. Not technical? Many premium themes come with easy-to-use site-building tools for additional customization options.

Small Business Website DreamPress Plus Hosting $299.40/year and up Domain Name Free Premium WordPress Theme $20-$80 TOTAL $319.40-$379.40/year

Related: 10 Easy Social Media Tips for Your Hard-Working Small Business

How Much Does It Cost to Build an E-Commerce Site with WordPress?

“I need all the bells and whistles for a streamlined online store.”

If your bread-and-butter revenue comes from online sales, there can be a lot of moving parts to keep track of. Upgrading to a hosting plan that specializes in e-commerce can solve a lot of issues. 

DreamPress WooCommerce Hosting: $203.40+/year

DreamHost’s WooCommerce hosting packages are primed for online sales. They’re pre-loaded with the WooCommerce plugin and the Storefront theme, so you can be up and selling in no time. Additionally, our WooCommerce hosting packages all come with a pre-installed SSL certificate so your customers can make their online purchases with confidence. 

Domain Name: Free with Annual Hosting Plan

With an annual plan, you don’t have to worry about dishing out extra cash for a domain name. 

Premium WordPress Theme: $20–$80 (average)

When it comes to running an e-commerce website, it might be worth upgrading your theme. Not only will your store look more professional, but it’s also likely to function better and be easier to customize. Many premium e-commerce themes come with pre-installed plugins that are useful for online stores and are ready to go when it comes to accepting digital payments. 

E-Commerce WordPress Website WooCommerce Hosting $203.40/year and up Domain Name Free Premium WordPress Theme

$20-$80

TOTAL $223.40-$283.40/year How Much Does It Cost to Build a Custom WordPress Website?

“I want the best WordPress site money can buy.”

Got a high-traffic website — or just want to be catered to? Live in the lap of luxury with the best hosting, security, and custom design out there.

DreamPress Pro Hosting: $863.40/year

If your site has high-capacity needs and top-of-the-line performance requirements, we created DreamPress Pro just for you. We can help you handle over one million monthly visitors to your site. DreamPress Pro comes with more storage and memory as well, plus all the features available with our other DreamPress plans.

Additionally, you’ll get access to DreamCare with your Pro plan. This is an elite force of highly-skilled, in-house WordPress experts who will be keeping an eye on your site, troubleshooting problems, and offering solutions when you need them.

Domain Name: $11.95 and up

Once again, you get a free domain name with your annual hosting package. For a custom website, however, you may also want additional domain names that redirect to your site. That way, both cupcakesbyhannah.com and cupcakes-by-hannah.net direct visitors to the same place so potential customers can easily find you.

Web Designer/Developer: $1,000–$10,000

Forget a packaged theme. If money is no object, why not work with a professional designer to build your ideal WordPress site from the ground up? Designers’ fees can vary widely, depending on their experience level and your local market. In general, however, you can expect to spend a minimum of $100 an hour to work with one.

If you’re not sure how to select a web developer or designer and would rather go with a recommendation you can trust, you’re in luck. Here at DreamHost, we can confidently recommend checking out our friends at RipeConcepts. Their team of highly-skilled WordPress designers can bring your visions to life. Plus, you’ll receive special DreamHost customer pricing!

Custom WordPress Website DreamPress Pro Hosting $863.40/year Domain Names $11.95 and up Web Designer/Developer $1,000-$10,000 TOTAL $875.35/year and up (not including designer/developer costs) The True Cost of Building a Website with WordPress

Pricing out a website build from start to finish can include quite an intimidating list of items. It’s necessary to remember, however, that there’s a hosting plan out there for every budget.

Whatever your approach might be, we’re here to help you manage your site’s hosting, so you can focus on running your business. We offer plans to suit a diverse range of needs – check them out today!

The post How Much Does It Actually Cost to Set Up a WordPress Website? appeared first on Website Guides, Tips and Knowledge.

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The average page site according to GTMetrix is 2.9MB.

But as you might know, slower sites are a big NO when it comes to overall user-experience, SEO and Google rankings.

As per Google, the ideal upload time for an average site is less than a second.

My average loading time went from ~700ms to ~200 when I switch to Cloudflare DNS.

Slower sites contribute to less satisfying user experience which Google does not like at all and it’s worse on mobile devices. To overcome this situation, Content Delivery Network (CDN) plays an important part in delivering content of your WordPress site to your users around the world.

Therefore, we intend to explore further in this article the various aspects through which WordPress CDN service can make your site faster and look at different options for integrating CDN to a WordPress site.

What is CDN? How CDN Works? Do I Need a CDN in WordPress? Popular CDN Providers CDN Integration to WordPress Site CloudFlare KeyCDN Benefits of Having a CDN in WordPress What is CDN?

Content Delivery Network or CDN is used to deliver content instantly to the end user. It takes a while for the web page to load if the server is pinged for every request especially if the server is located far away from the user.

This is also known as latency which CDN was built to overcome. Instead of pinging web server for every request; CDN keeps a copy of the web page and delivers it to the end user for every subsequent request from its nearest server.

Source: KeyCDN

Above image is taken from KeyCDN. It demonstrates how CDN server caches the CSS file requested only once from the origin server and is delivered from the CDN server on subsequent requests.

How does CDN work?

To understand how CDN works, it is important to understand why CDN was needed at first place. A website is hosted on a web server which has a single physical location. If the user is located near to this server location then the content delivered from the web server will be faster as compared to the user browsing from the other side of the world.

For example, if the web server is located in London, UK; user browsing from Germany or Spain will get a faster response as compared to the user browsing all the way from Russia.

CDN servers delivering content to the users inside their domain

To avoid this latency in delivering the content; CDN makes a copy of these web pages and stores them in its servers spread all over the world. To ensure faster delivery to every user, CDN makes use of its PoPs (points of presence) located in multiple locations around the world. These PoPs contain multiple servers which are responsible for delivering content to the user visiting the site inside its parameters. CDN delivers both static and dynamic content which includes media files, HTML, JavaScript and CSS files.

Do I need a CDN on a WordPress site?

CDN is essential for every website which has a global audience. It does not matter if you are running a blog or an online store, Content Delivery Network (CDN) significantly improves the user experience and increases overall productivity.

CDN services are widely used and are getting popular among WordPress users who wish to offer better experiences to their users. The list of businesses using CDN services is huge – Digital Agencies; Entertainment; Health Care; E-Commerce; Education and Advertising to name a few.

There is one exception where CDN might not be the best option. If you are running a strictly localized business and the majority of your targeted audience belongs to your locality then using a CDN might actually make things worse. That’s because it will add an additional unnecessary layer of CDN servers which is not needed since the actual web server is within the reach and does not require another resource to deliver the content.

Popular CDN Providers & Setup Process (Step-by-Step)

There are many companies which offer CDN services and have different packages to choose from. We suggest doing your research before investing in a provider. You may consider the following to begin with.

CloudFlare KeyCDN StackPath CDN77 Incapsula

In the past, it used to be a bit of challenge to integrate CDN to a WordPress site as it required to be configured in many places. Things have changed now with the advent of modern plugins; adding a CDN to WordPress site is only a matter of few steps.

CloudFlare CDN Setup Process

The next CDN we will be integrating to our WordPress site is CloudFlare. This CDN too is very popular among the WordPress users because of its performance, security and FREE subscription.

To set up the account, simply visit their website and create an account.

Once the account is created, you will be asked to Add a Site.

Enter your website URL and click on Add Site button to proceed.

On the next screen, select the subscription plan you would like to have with CloudFlare. In this article, we will be using the FREE version.

After confirming the subscription plan, the website will scan your DNS record.

Click on Continue to receive new Nameservers.

Replace your existing Nameservers from the Nameservers provided by CloudFlare and click Continue. It can take around 24 hours to make the switch and once it’s done you will see the status activated and the content of your site will be delivered from CloudFlare servers.

To integrate any CDN to a WordPress site the processes are pretty much the same. However, it is important to analyze which CDN provider can serve you better before investing in it. The main objective might be the same but they all come with different features and pricing.

KeyCDN

This is one is a high-performing and widely used CDN. You may try out their service by signing up for their trial version. For this article, we will be using their trial version as well.

Visit their official website and create an account. Once the account is created, a confirmation email will be sent to your email address. By confirming the email your account will be activated and you will be able to access the dashboard.

Navigate to Zones from the side menu to add a zone for your website and to generate CDN URL.

Click on Save button to save the changes. It will take a few minutes to activate your zone and once it’s activated you will see the Status as Active. Next step is to Purge from the Manage drop-down menu under Actions.

Copy the Zone URL and save it for the next step.

Installing a Plugin

In the step above we successfully generated CDN service for our WordPress site. Now we need to configure our WordPress site so it can work with CDN service properly.  To do so, we have to require one plugin to be installed on our WordPress site.

Log into your WordPress dashboard and Add New plugin from the Plugins option. Search for Breeze – WordPress Cache Plugin.

After installation, activate the plugin and go to its settings. Click on CDN tab and paste the Zone URL you have already copied from KeyCDN dashboard.

Click on Save Changes to implement the CDN.

That’s it! You have successfully integrated CDN to your WordPress site. To confirm the integration, browse your site in any web browser and access its source code. If the integration was successful you will see the files are being downloaded via KeyCDN servers.

Benefits of Having a CDN in WordPress

WordPress is a content management system which consumes a fair amount of both static and dynamic data. Typically a WordPress site is built on a template or theme and harnesses some of its functionalities through plugins. Content such as header, footer, banner images and menu does not change very often and can be cached by CDN service. Besides caching CDN offers other benefits as well:

Saves Bandwidth:

Since CDN caches the content and supplies its own copy without actually fetching from the web server, it will save you a lot of bandwidth. This may not sound big but it can save big bucks in server expense for high traffic sites.

Security:

Security is one of the highest issues for WordPress users but it can be addressed by using a CDN on a WordPress site. CDN hardens the security as it is optimized to identify notorious security threats like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack and spamming activities using bots and scripts.

Tackle High Traffic:

Websites with high traffic volume can leverage the network of CDN servers. The cached content is readily available for the end user even if the web server is loaded with new requests.

Speed:

It improves page loading speed significantly as it reduces the latency effect by supplying cached content stored in one of the many servers located around the world. This contributes to user experience and also reduces the bounce rate as users tend to spend more time on your website.

Final Thoughts

In this article, we discussed what a CDN is and how it works. We also looked at some of the popular CDN providers and investigated how to integrate a couple of them to a WordPress site. We also understood the benefits a CDN can bring to a website and the kind of businesses which are already using CDN on their sites for better user experience. Share your experience with your CDN provider.

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