In today’s world, everyone is looking for ways to improve their business’s performance, and one way that many companies do this is by shifting their focus to the internet. The World Wide Web (or simply “the web”) has become an integral part of our lives, with more than two billion people using it daily to access content from around the globe.
However, while the Internet has given rise to countless opportunities, it also comes with some inherent challenges. For example, your business can suffer from slow loading websites or even downtime if you’re not careful.
One of the most important things to remember is how much website traffic you expect to receive. If you plan and know what kind of traffic you’ll need for your site, you’ll be better prepared for any eventuality.
That said, there are still other factors that you should consider when designing your web infrastructure. Here are five areas that every company needs to address before they move forward with their project.
1. Speed
The faster your website loads, the more likely your users will be able to stay engaged with your content. Several aspects of the web affect how quickly pages load, but one of the most significant contributors is bandwidth. A fast connection means fewer seconds spent connecting to the server, which results in faster page loads.
You might think that a high-bandwidth connection would cost more money, but this isn’t necessarily the case. In fact, many users now have unlimited connections through their ISPs, and most hosting providers also offer these options. So, if you don’t already have a high-speed connection, you might want to upgrade your current ISP to one that offers higher speeds.
If you’re unsure whether your bandwidth is sufficient, ask your hosting provider for a quote. They should be able to help you determine whether you need to upgrade first and, if so, what kind of package will be best for you.
2. Security
Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly common, and they can cause significant damage to your business. However, even the slightest breach could potentially result in millions of dollars lost. One of the best ways to prevent these attacks is to ensure that your website is secure.
To start off, you’ll want to make sure you use HTTPS whenever possible. This ensures that all data transmitted between your website’s visitors and servers is encrypted. It also prevents others from viewing your website without being logged in. Additionally, you should implement a firewall to protect your customers from malicious software.
3. Scalability
Scalability refers to the ability to grow your site as your business does. If you expect an increase in traffic over time, you’ll want to design your site to accommodate this. One way to do this is by adding more resources, such as increasing the number of CPUs or RAM that you allocate to your servers.
However, if you’re only looking to expand your website temporarily (for instance, during a promotional campaign), then you may be able to accomplish the same thing via redirects. Instead of changing the URL, you can direct visitors to another location on your domain, where they’ll land on the new page.
This adds additional features to your site quickly without changing the address bar. Of course, you’ll want to monitor traffic after implementing this technique. If you notice a decrease in traffic coming to your site, you’ll know that you’ve gone too far.
Similarly, you must choose the web development platform accordingly. There are multiple options, including ColdFusion, Java, .NET, and PHP. Some platforms may have scalability issues; for example, ColdFusion has a reputation for not being very scalable. For more information, check out the following guide on Coldfusion development by BANG! Look for services like a multi-location or franchise website builder to ensure you have access to scalable designs and templates.
4. Capacity Planning
When planning your site, you’ll need to consider how many visitors you expect to get each day. By doing this, you’ll be able to determine how many servers you’ll need to host your site. Each server handles requests from different clients, so you won’t need to worry about scaling up until you start receiving massive amounts of traffic.
If you don’t know how many visitors you’ll get each day, try conducting a small test run first. Once you know how many hits you’re getting per hour, you can estimate how many hours you’ll need for each server. In addition, you’ll want to factor in how long it takes you to upload files to your server.
As a general rule, you should aim to create three copies of your site for redundancy purposes. Even if you experience downtime, at least one copy will remain available.
5. Cost-Effectiveness
While you should always strive to build a robust website, there’s no reason why it has to be expensive. Fortunately, there are plenty of inexpensive solutions that you can use to build your site.
One option that you might want to explore is Cloudflare. Although this service doesn’t provide much functionality, it comes with free SSL certificates that can protect your visitors from cyberattacks. If you have a WordPress blog, you can install CloudFlare’s plugin to set up your site automatically.
Another option is to utilize a shared hosting service. Most of these services allow you to pay monthly instead of upfront, saving you hundreds of dollars. In addition, many affordable Linux hosting packages are available, including everything you need to run an essential website.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve discussed five critical tips that you should keep in mind when building your website.
By following these tips, you can ensure that your website is scalable, cost-effective, and can handle many visitors. Do you have any other tips on building a successful website? Let us know in the comments below!