Why We Install Cloudflare on Every Website We Build | EP 659

Why We Install Cloudflare on Every Website We Build

1. WPGears.com 00:37
2. CloudFlare Features 01:51

Read the full episode transcript below:

00:25 David Blackmon: Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of WP. The podcast brought to you by Wpgears.com. I’m David Blackmon

00:35 Tim Strifler: And I’m Tim Strifler.

00:37 David Blackmon: Today episode 659 we talk about why we install CloudFlare on every website we build. And before I let Tim dive off into this topic, you may have noticed a little bit different intro on our, um, You know, openings. The last few episodes I have been giving the full URL for WPGears, WPGears.com, go over and check it out. We’ve got a lot of new and exciting things going on with, you know, at WPGears.com, Tim and I are, are going to take and just make it a WordPress content producing podcast and, and learning platform for all things. WordPress business marketing. So if you’re not on our email list, head on over to WPGears.com, sign up for our email list because we put out a tremendous amount of free content that can help you benefit you in building websites for clients, or just grow in your own business. So WPGears.com. Go check it out, Tim Dive into the topic. Why do we put CloudFlare on every single website we built?

01:51 Tim Strifler: Yeah. So CloudFlare is sort of a content delivery network. It’s a lot more than that. Um, but basically, uh, it’s a way to speed up your site as well as that security enhancements. Um, so for example, It’s it’s free. I mean, there’s pro versions. Um, but most of the sites I put on, I just use the free plan. It will speed up your site, um, because it’s going to load everything through the CloudFlare network, uh, specifically some of the heavier parts of your, your, your website. Uh, so it’s going to speed up your site. The second thing it’s going to do is add, gonna add some security enhancements. And so, uh, because CloudFlare is so widely used, they know. The IP addresses that are spammers hackers, stuff like that. And so they’re going to automatically block a ton of bad traffic to your site. And so right off the bat, just by using CloudFlare because of the popularity and how many sites are using it. You’re going to be your website is going to be a lot safer. Um, now I’m kind of giving you a very elementary, uh, definition of kind of these key things here. There’s a lot more to it. There’s a lot of different tools that are built into CloudFlare. Um, one of them is really fast DNS. So DNS is basically, uh, for your website. You tell the internet where. Your website’s hosted. And so when you update your DNS records, you’re telling the internet that, Hey, my website’s now going to be found over on this server here. And so when you use CloudFlare, you are basically using their DNS and that’s how they do everything. Uh, and so what I love about it is it’s really fast DNS. So if I, I am changing from one server to another server, I can update the DNS records in CloudFlare to point to the new server and it’s instant because of their CloudFlare network in the way that it works compared to typically when you host DNS with your hosting company or your domain registrar, it might take 24 hours to propagate. And so for 24 hours, and you’re not sure if your users are going to the old side or the new site with CloudFlare, it happens. Instantly seamlessly. And so kind of my launch routine, when I launch a new website, whether it’s for a client or for myself or whatever, I’ll make sure I get that a website site on CloudFlare 24, 48 hours in advance before the new site launches. So when I’m ready to launch, I flip the switch. Uh, by changing the DNS records and then it’s done, it’s live everywhere. And so those are some of the reasons why we love CloudFlare and why we put it on every website that we build and why you should too. Um, again, I’m just kind of scratching the surface here, uh, and I definitely do not play into or claim to be a CloudFlare expert, because there’s so much there that you can do. And, I’ve really only scratched the surface, but for those, those key features, I’ve gotten really, really good use out of it.

04:42 David Blackmon: Do not let Tim fool you. He’s a CloudFlare expert. He is our CloudFlare expert. That’s for sure. That’s why he talks so much on all of our CloudFlare issues or, or, um, episodes, not issues. Uh, tomorrow. We’ve got another great topic page cacheability and why it matters for WordPress? I think, I think I just scrolled over. Um, yeah. Hold on a second here. Let me get you the topic. Why it matters for WordPress page speed, man, that, that one was kind of half Tim and I have a spreadsheet and I’m throwing myself under the bus obviously. And it was half on the tab and not so I could only read half of it and I wasn’t prepared. So I apologize tune in tomorrow to find out why page cacheability and why it matters. And WordPress with a page speed, Tim, I’m giving up, man, let’s go to the next episode. We’ll see you all tomorrow. There we go.

05:41 Tim Strifler: Take care. Bye. Bye.