Being a content creator is one of the modern jobs that has not existed merely fifty years ago. This means that the occupation is relatively novel, and the platforms they use are not as well understood compared to everlasting jobs such as chefs and doctors. Naturally, this brings about a level of uncertainty and ambiguity on how one should go. However, the exponential growth of the digital era and the internet is something that the newer generations have become acclimated to or even born in. This implies that it may come natural for them to know about the ins and outs of a content creator, but this might not be the case for older generations.
A content creator also means a lot of things: are you working in the video space? Are you a blogger? A vlogger? Or a writer for another company? Such things should be cleared up before we talk about our main topic: Content Delivery Networks, or CDNs.
As the name suggests, a CDN has direct ties with the job of a content creator. There are a lot of things to consider in entering the job, and a CDN is one of them. Understanding what a CDN is, choosing between the competition like AWS CloudFront vs. Fastly, and so much more. Let’s dive right into the topic and talk about CDNs.
Content Delivery Networks and Content Creators
A content creator aims to have his or her content consumed by as many people as possible. This is how they earn, profit, and ultimately succeed in their niche. Of course, they may do many things, such as write about specific areas in sports, record a video about their daily life, or even write things for a third-party company. Whatever the case may be, their content shouldn’t only be of high quality but also has ease of access. This is where content delivery networks come in. CDNs aim to deliver your content as quickly as possible, with little delay and friction to the end user.
Imagine a situation where you’re assigned a task to manage an e-commerce website. Your job is to lay out fine images with high-resolution quality. You’ve done a good job on the design part, but when accessed from a computer, the e-commerce website loads painfully slowly. Your images take forever to buffer, and navigating through the website is even longer. What this means is that you’d probably lose potential customers due to the loading time alone. This is especially true for the current generation, where everything moves so fast, and the average attention span of a person is going down. Therefore, you must employ everything you can as a content creator to have your content delivered and consumed with as little friction as possible.
As was discussed, content delivery networks do their jobs by speeding up your content on a website. They essentially handle the hosting and loading of big files before spitting them back out to the end user. What this means is that the end user will use up much fewer data and resources, all the while having your website load so much quicker than when you’re not using a CDN. Another advantage of a CDN is that you don’t need server-grade and commercial-level equipment, you simply avail of their services, and it’s off to the races.
Should you use a CDN?
It depends. If you’re a freelancer that focuses on writing for your own pleasure and treats content creation as your hobby and passion, then you don’t need to avail of one. However, in most other cases, it makes sense to employ CDNs. As was previously said, having your website load faster for your clients would give you better chances of retention, consumption of your products, and a larger profit overall.
