Blogging On The Go: Things To Be Considered

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Blogging on the go can be impossible to avoid if you either have or want to have a successful blog. It can take a lot of time and determination in order for your page to become popular amongst viewers, so taking some time off for any travel plans might not be a possibility. Popular blogs can sometimes bring in revenue for their owners, which is particularly appealing because you can do something you enjoy that will also be able to put some money into your pocket. But it takes a good amount of work to get to that point, and it also requires that you update your page regularly, no matter where you are at the time.

Blogging On The Go

Blogging On The Go: Things To Be Considered

If you find yourself needing to keep up with your blog while on the go, there are a few things you might want to consider:

Safety First

Any time you are surfing the net away from home, you’re most likely using a public WiFi connection; although public WiFi can sound pretty cool (especially if it’s free!), it can come along with some not-so-lovely security risks. The seemingly nice guy sitting at a nearby table in the café you’re at could actually be browsing through your laptop without your knowledge. Although we’d all love to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, you never really do know if those sharing a common space with you are trustworthy.

Sometimes the hacker won’t even be in the café, but out on the park bench. As long as he can gain access to the public WiFi you’re using, he’s pretty much set as far as getting into your personal information goes—unless of course, you have your laptop properly secured.

How to Achieve Security

What makes a laptop secure anyways? Well besides the usual things such as setting up password protection and installing an anti-virus program, there are a few other things you can do to ensure security. Using add-ons for your web browser is one; Mozilla Firefox has a heap of these for you to install that not only help you secure your web browser, but also customize it. A few good ones include NoScript Security Suite, Adblock Plus, and Blur.

Other than add-ons, you can install a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to keep hackers at bay. A VPN encrypts your internet traffic so that you are always on a secure connection, even if you are using public WiFi. An encryption makes you extremely unappealing to hackers of any kind simply because it would take too much effort on their part in order to hack into your system. Instead, they’re more likely to move on to the next person because they will know that your device is secured and not worth their time. Why hack into someone’s laptop if it’s going to take hours, days, or even longer, when you can just hack into an unsecured one in a matter of minutes?

The added bonus of a VPN is that you’ll be able to make it appear as though you are in different cities or countries, so websites will be unable to track your actual location. Besides that, the IP address will be that of the VPN instead of your own, making your online session anonymous. Lastly, if you ever notice websites being blocked or restricted in any way because of your location, you can unblock them with ease; it only takes a few clicks!

Choosing a VPN service is as simple as reading a few reviews and downloading the application to your device. Some options are compatible with multiple operating systems and will allow you to utilize the VPN on several devices for a small subscription fee.

Additional Things to Consider

With security covered, there are still some other things that could benefit you when you’re blogging on the go. First, if you haven’t already backed up your files, do so as soon as possible. You never know when a mishap could end up costing you all of your hard work.

It’s wise to keep at least two copies of your backed up data on more than one device. Not only should it be stored on your main laptop, but also on a flash drive, external hard drive, or even another computer.

Safety aside, it’s hard to stay organized while blogging away from home. When you have to keep track of topic ideas or information to add to your blog posts, traveling becomes more of a hassle. You might be storing these ideas on your phone or various pieces of paper, or you may find that you’ve become more interested in finding public WiFi hotspots than actually enjoying your trip.

In that case, there are a couple of apps that can help you stay organized and increase your ability to peacefully update your blog while on the go:

Evernote

Evernote is a free app that makes it easy for you keep track of your notes, documents, and photos. It syncs between your computer, smartphone, and tablet, and you can arrange your files by assigning tags to them and storing them in digital notebooks on the app. You can also create checklists which can help you stay on top of the topics you have already blogged about and which ones still need to be written.

This handy app also has some additional features that may be useful: you can scan business cards, track your expenses, and discuss your notes with others. If you decide to go for their premium version, you can utilize all of these features offline as well as online and even add a passcode.

Buffer

If your blogging activities also include regularly posting on social media sites, Buffer is an app that you shouldn’t go without. When you’re traveling, it can be difficult to stay on top of your social media accounts, especially when you also have to remember to update it with links to your blog posts. With Buffer, you’ll be able to have the app post on your behalf at specific times of the day.

You can easily create your posts on the app and schedule the times you’d like them posted at and on which day. Buffer will post to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest and also keep track of analytics for you, so you can see which posts were the most popular. The app itself is free to download, and there are 4 different paid subscription plans to choose from. Though I’m a big fan of free, the cost is well worth it considering the features provided.

Get Going

Enough about blogging, it’s time to go! You can figure out the rest later; just keep these tips in mind any time you’re away from home and reaching for your laptop or smartphone. Blogging on the go can be both easy and enjoyable if you stay organized and take the proper security measures.

This is a guest post by Cassie Phillips published on Blogging House.

About the guest author: Cassie is a technology and internet security enthusiast and blogger for Secure Thoughts. That’s an excellent resources for important and relevant internet security information. One of the popular posts on Secure Thoughts is “Express VPN Review“.

 

Abdul H.
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