How Can Proxies Help You Scale Your Business?
Proxies offer numerous benefits to companies, from restricting internet access to corporate devices and balancing website traffic to preventing data leaks and breaches. However, their capabilities extend to many more applications, including scaling a business.
Before learning how a proxy server can help scale your business successfully, check out what proxies are and why companies use them.
What are proxies?
Proxies are server applications securing connections between internet-enabled devices and websites. Think of them as middlemen between web browsers and target websites’ hosting servers, sending requests and delivering resources on behalf of users.
Here’s how that works.
When you visit a website, your browser sends an HTTP request to the site’s server, asking for HTML files to render the necessary content. The server delivers it after authentication or relays an error message if it detects an IP address in a restricted location.
When you use a proxy server, that application sends all HTTP requests on your behalf, utilizing an IP address from its server network to reroute the traffic.
It delivers HTTP responses to your browser regardless of your location since the target server can’t detect your actual IP address. That’s perfect when accessing websites that restrict users in your country.
Primary uses of proxies
Various proxies have different applications. For instance, rotating proxy servers are best for web scraping and avoiding IP blocks. Regardless of the type, they share several purposes.
Concealing your IP address
Proxies send HTTP requests from their pools of IP addresses, hiding yours to make you anonymous online and enhance data security. IP masking is ideal for keeping potential cybercriminals at bay.
Bypassing geo-restrictions
A proxy lets you choose a server from its network according to location. That enables you to access any geo-restricted website since its hosting server won’t detect your actual IP address.
Filtering network traffic
Many paid proxies use a firewall to monitor and filter incoming traffic, ensuring unauthorized users don’t intercept your data transmissions. It prevents external connections from receiving data packets from your network, safeguarding your sensitive business data.
Facilitating network sharing
Sharing an internet connection with other devices on your internal corporate network is a breeze when you use a proxy. It’s an excellent way to protect all connected devices from potential cybersecurity threats and reduce your operational costs.
Accelerating data transfers
Proxy servers use caching to save website copies, helping you quickly access all frequently visited sites. They don’t need to resend HTTP requests so your browser can render the necessary content. Faster data transfers will also cut your operational costs.
How can your business scale better with proxies?
Scaling your business requires in-depth insight into your target market, including customers and competitors.
Whether you wish to expand to a new market or increase production to meet high demand, you need accurate, up-to-date market information to supercharge revenue without drastically increasing costs and resources.
Extensive market research is the key to successful scaling operations, and proxy servers are your best allies on that journey.
They can enhance your web scraping efforts, helping you identify and close market gaps. You can use them to monitor trends, turn competitors’ weaknesses into your strengths, and adapt products or services to address customers’ pain points.
You can extract relevant data to compare and optimize prices, improve marketing strategies, verify ads, and test how your app works across locations. This service comes in a variety of price ranges (see an example of pricing information here), but it’s worth investing in as you can gain critical business intelligence to facilitate long-term growth.
Top proxy use cases for scaling a business
Here are the top use cases of proxies supporting the benefits above.
Market research
A proxy can streamline your market research, helping you access any website, regardless of location. You can harvest data for a competitive audit, price comparison, and other business and sales intelligence analyses without facing geo-blocks.
You can also avoid IP bans and blocks for sending multiple HTTP requests from a single IP address. For instance, a rotating proxy will generate a new IP for every HTTP request and TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connection with target servers.
SEO monitoring
Proxies are excellent for scraping SERPs across locations to assess search queries and retrieve unfiltered information. You can also monitor brands in your niche to discover their high-converting keywords and gain a competitive edge.
Your proxy will bypass anti-scraping measures like CAPTCHA tests and ensure you don’t get an IP block.
Customer review monitoring
Monitoring customer reviews is essential for maintaining or improving your online reputation. A proxy can help you scrape multiple sources to learn what people say about your business and other brands in your niche.
You can discover their pain points, preferences, and desires regarding your products or services. You can identify areas for improvement, adapt to meet their needs, and develop something unique to stand out.
Conclusion
Implementing a proxy server into your corporate toolbox can help you drive long-term business growth. It’s a brilliant tool for gathering real-time market insights to facilitate scaling operations without encountering geo-blocks, IP bans, and other anti-scraping obstacles.
