Content
delivery expectations today have reached a whole new level. Consumers
expect businesses to act and respond with the same speed,
personalization, and efficiency as humans do. This has put enormous
pressure on brands to deliver exceptional customer experiences to
meet rising demands.
In the world of digitization, the
Internet is where users like to buy and shop. Having a website that
loads and delivers content quickly is critical to meet these new
standards of customer experience. One way to achieve this is through
a content delivery network (CDN).
A CDN is comprised of a
group of servers that work together to provide fast delivery of
Internet content. They are known as the “transparent
backbone”
of the Internet in charge of content delivery. Whether you know it or
not, behind nearly every website today lies a CDN.
What
can CDNs do for your brand? In this article, we will cover the four
ways to which using a robust content delivery network can drive
growth and results for your business.
Increase
Your Visibility
Yes,
website
speed impacts SEO.
Something that may be worth looking into is the server hardware your
business is currently relying on. CDNs are nothing new or fancy to
the game of IT infrastructure, but they can help to improve your
rankings on Google.
By ranking higher on Google, your
business will experience a higher probability of generating more web
traffic. More web traffic means more possibility of people seeing
your product or service offerings. More people able to come in
contact with what your company has to offer increases the chances for
sales. On top of this, your business will enjoy the greater brand
presence, opening doors to create thought leadership in your
respective market and have the audience to receive it.Reduce
Your Bounce Rate
Another benefit of having a content delivery network is the ability to reduce bounce rates. A bounce rate is the percentage of users who visit your website and leave without exploring another page. It’s common knowledge that a high bounce rate is seen as bad, whereas a low bounce rate is typically good.
Why do people leave websites? Many times, it’s due to the laggy page loading. Think about a time when you were really excited to watch a video online and suddenly, the page takes forever to load the content. That’s not only annoying, but you’ll probably leave the page altogether. What does this mean for businesses’ bottom lines? Marketing guru Neil Patel shares that for an e-commerce site making $100,000 per day, a 1-second page delay could cost $2.5 million in lost revenue every year. Yikes!
Since a CDN’s job is to reduce the latency on a website, using a CDN to optimize website speed and loading times is an excellent way to lower your bounce rate.
Mitigate Issues Related To Downtime
Without the proper IT hardware in place, surges in website traffic can cause a weak infrastructure or website to crash. Think of a one-time popular event that could do this, like the Superbowl, for example. This is where CDNs come in handy.
For websites using a single origin server, these large traffic spikes can result in outages or downtime. CDNs allow you to handle large traffic surges by load balancing requests across a large, distributed network of servers. You won’t ever have to worry about unplanned system breakdowns again with a content delivery network.
Increase User Retention
Lastly, the main reason why people use a CDN is to increase user retention. Recent Gartner reports show that CMOs consider customer experience (CX) one of three main priorities in marketing. One of the ways marketing professionals are meeting a new standard of customer experience is by optimizing their websites.
Using a CDN to bring a website up to speed has a much greater chance of delivering a better user experience (UX). Greater UX for the customer drives up the likelihood that users will explore the site past the first page, along with return in the future.
Summing It Up
Content
delivery networks aren’t the newest and fanciest technology, but
they are growing in importance. The global CDN industry is projected
to reach a whopping $24.9
billion
by 2025. This signals a few things: first, the growing demands of
customers for lightning-speed customer experience; second, the
pressure on businesses to deliver; and third, at what length these
businesses will invest to meet those expectations.
Using a
CDN for your business is a sure-fire way to boost the growth and
scalability of your business. Not only will your business enjoy the
four benefits listed above, but efficiency
and cost savings
are reported when using a CDN as well. By leveraging this unique
piece of technology, your website is in a better position to service
customers in the way they deserve.