How to Decide Whether Your Site Needs a CDN

While content delivery networks (CDNs) have been around a long time now, most of us aren't totally clear on what they do, how they work, or whether we need one for our site or business.

What is a CDN?

There is a lot of confusion over what a CDN does because they have multiple important uses. Some use them primarily to reduce page load times which is an increasingly important factor in search engine rankings. But increased speed is not the only primary reason to use a CDN. Other important uses are:

• Load balancing of high traffic
• Enhanced security through blocking scrapers, spammers, fake Google crawlers and other bad bots
• Possibly reducing bandwidth consumption (depending on your traffic)
• Protection from DDoS attacks

All of us use CDNs everyday. Over half of all internet traffic is already being routed through CDNs. So the question is, should you be using one? To better understand when a CDN is necessary, refer to the The Essential CDN Guide published by Incapsula Imperva for more details. Let's discuss some reasons you might want to use a CDN.

What Sites Most Need a CDN?

Does your site have high traffic? Do your visitors come from all over the world? Would having your site go down result in major financial losses? If any of these are true for you, seriously consider using a CDN. If it is essential for your site to never go down, you need your entire site to live on at least two separate servers in different locations. Your CDN can automatically switch all traffic from the failing server to a backup server. The ability to do this is known as Failover service. Online gaming and multi-player role-playing sites can use CDNs to reduce latency and speed up play. The faster your games run, the longer your users will continue to play. Speed is also a factor in how well your site ranks in Google. Improving site load times is the #1 reason cited for looking into using a CDN. By caching your content on a server closer to your visitor, pages will load faster. It is even possible to leverage your CDN to cache "uncacheable" content.

When a CDN May Not Be Necessary

The number one reason you may not want to use a CDN is when you have many very large video files that get very little traffic. Paying for the bandwidth to download each video to each server location even when viewers only watch a few seconds can result in having your bandwidth consumption go up instead of down. This can make using a CDN very expensive - especially for people with long videos. If your website is for a local business and almost all of your visitors are located near your geographic area, you won't see much benefit as far as page load times go. The less traffic you have, the less need you have for a CDN for speed purposes. You may still want one for security, however.

Different Types of CDNs

Be aware that there are multiple types of CDNs. Each of them has pros and cons. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each type before making your decision is important. Newer CDNs are not just static or dynamic - they are multi-purpose. Some are stronger regarding security while others focus primarily on page load speed. Many of the factors involved in choosing the best CDN for your site are highly technical, so you may wish to consult an expert before deciding.

CDNs Are Easy to Install

If you had to configure your own servers and CDNs it would be quite complex and time-consuming. Fortunately, using existing CDNs is fairly simple. In most cases you simply repoint your DNS servers from the server where your site is hosted to the IPs for the CDN company's servers. It isn't really necessary to understand all the technology behind a CDN; you can leave that to the experts and just enjoy the protection, page load speed, reliability, and security using a CDN can bring.

How to Make a Living as a Tech Freelancer

Are you using your technical skills to make a living, or at least extra money? Thanks to the internet and technology, it is easier today than it ever has been before. And it doesn't hurt that attitudes toward letting people work from home and live anywhere as long as they get their work done have evolved.

How to Get Started Freelancing

Whether you're just getting started as a freelancer, have experience, or don't know where to start, check out the new Due.com Freelancer Guide. This is what you can learn from it:

• What is Freelancing?
• Pros and Cons of Freelancing
• Setting Up Your Workplace
• Branding Yourself
• Creating Your Portfolio
• Setting Estimates and Rates
• Marketing and Promotion
• Where to Find Work
• Working With Clients
• Project Management
• How to Get Paid
• Final Words of Advice

Did you know 80% of employees surveyed said they would like to make additional income freelancing? The sooner you get started, the faster you'll be making money.

Kinds of Tech Freelance Work

Make a list of all of your skills from installing hardware or software, to coding apps, to teaching how to use devices. The longer your list, the better. Do this first so you don't forget anything. Then use your list to search for job ideas on sites like these:

• LinkedIn Job Search
• Job aggregator sites
• Freelancing sites

New freelancers often start on a freelancing site. Two of the most popular freelancing sites oDesk and eLance merged and rebranded as UpWork. This video explains how to use the new UpWork site:

Be sure to optimize your profile on any sites you use and also on LinkedIn as many people will search for you there. If you have many connections or recommendations on LinkedIn, you may even be able to skip using freelancer sites altogether and get work by referral. Established freelancers will often subcontract work to newer freelancers. As they charge on the higher end of opportunities, they also refer clients who can't afford them to others. Find out more in my previous post How to Make a Living as a Gadget Freelancer.

How To Make Sure You Get Paid

This is my favorite topic and I have some advice based on years of being a freelancer. If you have the reputation and examples of your work, charge 100% cash in advance via PayPal. Freelancers who don't want to become collection agents should charge in advance - provided they know without a doubt that they will deliver on what they promise. If a new client isn't comfortable paying up front, suggest that they pay a percentage down and as each portion of a project is completed and delivered. Another way to ensure you will be paid and they get their money's worth is to use the escrow feature on a freelancing site. We do have some clients who pay 50% down and 50% upon completion. Be consistent with each client and have a process for keeping track of your work.

Create a Workflow Process

The most successful freelancers are those who are the most organized. Some use a CRM or an online tool like RememberTheMilk, notepads, and spreadsheets. Unfortunately, cobbling so many different solutions together often resulted in missing deadlines or tasks falling through the cracks. The good news is there is now an all-in-one solutions to keep track of your client's contact information, your projects, to-do tasks for each project, time tracking, and invoicing. It even includes a dashboard showing totals and any overdue invoices. Murray Newlands and John Rampton created the Due.com online project management and invoicing solution for their own use and have now made it available to freelancers and small businesses. They offer a totally free tier so everyone can use it. When you grow your business, simply upgrade to the paid version to increase capacity.

Online Meeting Solutions for Training

Telcommuting is fast on the rise, according to The New York Times. While many assume teleworkers are primarily women with children or people working for themselves, the reality is different:

"The typical telecommuter is a 49-year-old college graduate — man or woman — who earns about $58,000 a year and belongs to a company with more than 100 employees, according to numbers culled from the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey."

The desire to telecommute and the number of companies offering that ability is also rising:

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Online Training Webinars Voted Most Effective

Wondering how to get people's attention and hold it? Video webinars given live and then edited for use as inbound content are most effective. According to a 2013 MarketingSherpa marketing benchmark study determined, webinars are the most effective marketing solution:

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