Whenever a visitor comes to your website they are redirected to your web hosts server for accessing the contents. The server of a web host company belongs to a fixed location. If the traffic volume becomes high, it can overload the server which leads to a slow loading site. Only possibility to overcome this problem is to allow the website to load from different servers depending upon the visitors location. This can not be done without the help of a Content Delivery Network. Content Delivery Network allows a website to load the static contents from cloud servers rather than the default hosting server. CDN is a network of servers that deliver cached static content from a website to the visitors based on the geographic location of the user.

If you are running a content heavy site, it is advisable to use professional Content Delivery Network like MaxCDN or Akmai. But, if you are searching for a reliable as well as free CDN, then you must try Cloudflare. You need to follow a simple procedure to setup CloudFlare CDN for WordPress.

Setup Process for CloudFlare CDN

1. Sign up for a CloudFlare account by providing your Email address, picking up a username and password.
2. In the next step you will be asked to add your first domain. Type your domain name and click on ‘Add Website‘ button.
3. CloudFlare will automatically start to scan your  DNS setup before continuing to the next step. After completion of scanning process you will be asked to click on ‘Continue‘ button.
4. In the next step you will be provided with the list of DNS records that CloudFlare has extracted through scanning process. Check for missing records and if necessary add them. After confirmation click on ‘I’ve added all missing records, continue‘ button.
5. Now it is time to choose your plan. If you do not want to invest, just choose your plan as ‘Free‘. Set performance to ‘CDN Only‘. Set security option as ‘Medium‘. Set Automatic IPv6 ‘On‘ and SmartErrors ‘On(Partial)‘. Click on ‘Continue‘ button.
6. In the next step you will be instructed to update your Name Servers. Login to your domain name registrar account and proceed to domain control panel. Launch the DNS manager and replace the default Name Servers with the new Name Servers provided by CloudFlare. After changing the Name Servers click on ‘I’ve updated my nameservers, continue‘ button.
7. Now download the CloudFlare Plugin for WordPress and install. From Plugins Menu open CloudFlare. Enter CloudFlare API Key and CloudFlare E-Mail and update the options.

Final Words

You have successfully performed all the necessary steps for setting up CloudFlare CDN for your WordPress site. Within a short duration your website will be loaded from CloudFlare CDN. It will definitely boost the website speed by loading static contents from cloud servers depending upon the visitor’s location. If you are using shared hosting from hosting providers like GoDaddy, you are definitely a victim of slow loading issue. To overcome this problem it is a better idea to allow your site to load contents from CDN rather than the default server.
Tips for improving site speed on GoDaddy Hosting : WordPress Running Slow on GoDaddy Hosting – How To Fix