Few things are more important in digital publishing than having assets that load fast, are always up and have some level of resistance to common digital attacks. These are the things you can build on to create a great online presence; so speed, reliability and security are some of the most important things to check, for example when choosing a web host or measuring the performance of a website. It is also why people decide to use content delivery networks or CDNs and installing Cloudflare for WordPress is something a WordPress website administrator should consider doing.
At this point, if you are considering using a CDN for your WordPress website and are following Cloudflare for this role, this is the place for you. Cloudflare is easy to set up – and it’s free – but we’ll still get you one step at a time. So hang around here and you’ll learn:
The main reason to use Cloudflare with your WordPress website is to take advantage of the many features of the CDN service. This isn’t the only service Cloudflare provides, of course, but it may be of most interest to the administrator of an existing WordPress website.
Cloudflare provides the basic CDN service for free. From here you can get more from Cloudflare using add-on services – Automated Platform Optimization you get with Cloudflare WordPress plugin a great example – or by choosing one of the paid plans.
The full list of features you get with Cloudflare is pretty extensive, but those most important to his CDN include:
Cloudflare’s CDN service consistently scores highly on websites like g2.com, TechRadar, and TrustRadius. You’ve probably visited websites that use Cloudflare, whether you know it or not. It’s one of the best CDNs on the market with an unbeatable zero-dollar low-cost offering, and as we’ll soon see, it’s pretty easy to use.
If you have a WordPress website that you want to connect to Cloudflare, your next step will be to create a Cloudflare account. as simple as visiting account creation page, and entering your email address and password – that’s all you have to do. You will be greeted by a home screen saying you don’t have any websites. Let’s see what we can do about it.
Add Website and Choose a Plan
On the home page of your Cloudflare dashboard, you will be able to see a list of websites you have connected to Cloudflare. If this is the first website you connect to, you should see the “Add Site” button which will take you to a page where you can enter your website address. Note that you don’t need the “HTTP” part of the address and you need to link to root domains, not subdomains.
After adding a site, you will be taken to the page where you can select the plan you want to use with that website. This is a great place to check out the offer.
After choosing the plan, you can proceed to the next step.
Examine DNS Records
After you add a website, Cloudflare scans the website’s DNS records. Note that the service cannot capture every single DNS record for your website. That’s why you want to review all records, make sure the settings are correct and also that no records are missing. Pay special attention to the root domain, subdomain, and email records.
If you notice that some of the records are missing, you can add them manually. The tool allows you to select the record type and access all the fields required for that particular record type. After adding all the DNS records, you can proceed to the next step.
Change Name Servers
The final step in setting up Cloudflare for your WordPress website is to change your website’s nameservers.. Cloudflare will let you know which nameservers you need to change and which nameservers to replace them with. This will effectively allow your web address to point to Cloudflare and let it do its job.
Changing nameservers is something you have to do either at the registrar or at your website hosting provider if you have registered the address. Here are a few things to keep in mind – you need to make sure you replace the correct nameservers with Cloudflare counterparts exactly as supplied to you. You should also make sure you disable DNNSEC for your domain.
Finally, know that you need to be patient as the nameserver change request takes a full day to process. Once completed, you will be notified by Cloudflare via email.
After connecting your website to Cloudflare, the first thing you need to do is go to the Cloudflare dashboard, go to the DNS section of the settings and scroll down until you reach DNSSEC. You will want to enable it in Cloudflare as you have disabled it with your registrar and this is an important security feature that protects your website from fake DNS servers.
Next, you’ll probably want to check all the domain settings Cloudflare recommends checking in their Quick Start Guide. You can enable automatic HTTPS rewrites or decide to always use HTTPS. The guide will also include some performance optimization steps you should review.
Even if you don’t intend to use APO, the Cloudflare WordPress plugin might be worth installing. It will bring some of the Cloudflare options to your WordPress website dashboard, probably saving you some time and clicking in the long run. Finally, you should wait and see how Cloudflare is performing, monitor the features you have at your subscription level, and make sure you’re posting great content for your website visitors to enjoy.
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