Cloudflare can do a lot more than sit on default settings. I configure it as the front door of your site, so real visitors pass through cleanly and junk traffic is handled at the edge, not on your hosting.
DNS, firewall rules, performance, and traffic insight, written down clearly so you are never guessing what has been switched on.
You run or support an SME, charity, or community project. The site is not a toy. People rely on it for information, bookings, trust, or funding decisions.
You want sensible protection and visibility without signing up for an enterprise security contract or learning a new discipline.
Cloudflare was set up by a previous supplier and never touched again. Or someone clicked through the setup wizard and now nobody is quite sure what it is doing. You might already see strange traffic, scrape attempts, or uptime alerts you do not fully trust.
You want someone to own that layer, explain it, and leave you with clear notes.
Check every DNS record for your domain, remove stale entries, and make sure the right ones are proxied through Cloudflare. This is the base layer everything else sits on.
Keep MX and other service records stable so email and third party tools carry on working as expected.
Build a tuned ruleset that separates obvious rubbish from genuine visitors. Known good bots are allowed through, repeat offenders are challenged or blocked, and your more sensitive paths get extra care.
If you want to see real dashboards and examples, there is a detailed write up in Cloudflare security rules in action.
Switch on caching and optimisation where it makes sense for a small site. Avoid experimental toggles that can break pages or make debugging impossible.
Keep your site fast without turning every change into a cache clearing exercise.
Configure views and basic logging so you can see where visitors come from, which rules are doing the work, and how often your site is being scanned or copied.
For higher attention work I can pair this with fingerprinting and Edge Tracker to give you evidence grade records.
The screenshot below is a genuine Cloudflare security overview for ki-ki.co.uk over a normal twenty four hour window. Most of what hits the zone is filtered out quietly. The front end stays calm. Visitors see a normal site.
This is not about bragging with numbers. It is a reminder that even modest sites attract scans, scrapers, and background noise. The question is simply whether your setup notices and filters it.
The full breakdown sits in the security rules in action article, along with redacted firewall views and more examples from The Reasonable Adjustment.
No. You get screenshots, short notes, and clear labels instead of raw JSON. If you never want to log in to Cloudflare you do not have to. I can simply send you summaries when something important changes.
Yes. I can audit your zone, tidy DNS, remove risky or pointless rules, and bring things into a cleaner state. You keep ownership of the account and can move on at any point with the notes I leave behind.
DNS changes are made carefully and tested. MX and other records are checked so email delivery and third party services keep working as expected. If a change carries any risk you will see it explained before it happens.
For most projects yes. Cloudflare provides a standard baseline of security and performance that is difficult to match at the same price point. If there is a solid reason not to use it, we can plan around that during the first conversation.
Whether you already have a noisy dashboard or have never heard of Cloudflare before, we can map out where you are and decide what is worth changing.
Flat monthly rates, tuned to your size and how much ongoing care you want. One off reviews are welcome if you only need a clean audit and some fixes.