Top Technical Tips for Dedicated Bloggers

You may know a lot about marketing and content creation as a blogger. Successful bloggers also know about their chosen topic like the back of their hand. While you might comfortably grasp concepts of content creation, how great are you with the technical aspects of blogging?

Most bloggers focus only on content creation and the marketing aspect of blogging. But if you want to make your blog successful, you cannot overlook the technical aspect that keeps your blog up and running at optimal levels. Here is a list of essential tech tips all bloggers should be aware of:

6 Technical Tips For Dedicated Bloggers

1. Learn the Basics of HTML

Thanks to the rise of user-friendly content management platforms like WordPress, bloggers no longer need to have a knowledge of coding to design a website. Nowadays, you can even find drag-and-drop CMSs, like Wix, which simplifies the blog design process even further. Though designing a blog is now more convenient than ever before, professional bloggers shouldn’t completely overlook HTML.

It’s highly rewarding to learn at least the basics of HTML and familiarize yourself with the language of the web. Don’t be intimidated by the coding aspect. HTML is relatively easy to learn. As long as you understand basic math, catching the commonly used aspects of HTML wouldn’t be too hard or time-consuming. As your blog grows more complex, you can put this knowledge to good use.

2. Invest in a Speedy Computer

Bloggers certainly don’t need fancy computers to type away. A computer capable of internet access and word processing usually suffices. Then again, bloggers should think ahead. Your 10-year old computer might be able to handle a small blog, but what happens when the blog gets bigger? When you need to edit and upload photos and videos, you would need significant amounts of computing power.

Therefore, do buy a good computer with more than 4GB of RAM and a processor equivalent to Intel Core i5 or higher. You can rely on either an HDD or an SSD for storage (this is speedier), as long as you also have backup storage options for keeping all those large photos and video files.

Keep in mind that if you plan on editing videos, you would require a speedy computer with a high-end processor and at least 8GB of RAM. The price range of such computers falls in the middle. If you are confused about what to pick, gaming computer. These machines are intended for gaming, which means that they come with great graphics cards, upper-end processors, and plenty of RAM capacity and storage. Semi-professional bloggers can use a gaming computer for blogging, editing, and web hosting easily without overspending.

Also read: Computer Monitor Buying Guide: How To Choose The Best Monitor

3. Keep Your Computers Performance at Optimal Levels

Buying a great computer doesn’t necessarily guarantee speedy performance if you are negligent about maintenance. Storing too many files and not cleaning up disks on time could negatively affect the performance of your computer. Additionally, you should have the computer’s cooling fan cleaned at least once a year to avoid overheating-related performance issues.

Get advice from a professional IT person as to how you should keep your computer functioning optimally performance-wise. This is important for updating and editing your blog in a timely manner without running into tech problems.

4. Do Some Light Readings on How Search Engines Work

All bloggers are familiar with the basic concepts of search engine optimization. SEO has become essential for promoting blog content. While you may understand things like site rankings, keywords, and speed tests, do you really know how search engine algorithms work?

Having a general idea of how search engines like Google work will help you understand SEO marketing better. It may even help you make good decisions when crafting SEO strategies. There are plenty of online resources, some of which are free, for understanding the basics of this. You can rely on these resources to educate yourself and become an SEO expert.

5. Familiarize Yourself with Hosting Options

Hosting your blog on a web server can become quite a headache for bloggers. There are certainly plenty of hosting options available today. But the trick is to find the hosting solution that best suits your site’s needs. To find the best hosting option, you may need to understand some facts about your blog first.

Gather statistics regarding how fast your blog is growing, the type of content that’s becoming popular, and how bulky the site is becoming, among others. You can use these to find the hosting plan with the right bandwidth, scaling options, security, and price. If you are a tech-minded person, use a mini-computer like a Raspberry Pi to build your own web server if all else seems unappealing.

6. Stay on Top of Online Security Issues

Cybersecurity is one of the major concerns of the modern internet—a problem that affects both bloggers and readers. The last thing bloggers want is to have their site hacked and worse, user data stolen. Readers and subscribers would want to know that the site they are visiting regularly is not infecting their computers with malware. As a blogger, it is your responsibility to keep the blog space safe.

Issues like cybersecurity may go over the heads of many bloggers who don’t specialize in the IT field. Even if you don’t really understand how hacking works, refer to online articles and advocacy programs to familiarize yourself regarding the online security threats we all face, in particular, small businesses like yours.

You can also look up online guides to understanding the type of security measures you should take to protect your blog. Reading about cybersecurity may not be the most fun thing in the world, but it is essential for keeping your blog safe.

The above tips should offer bloggers quick solutions for common technical issues. Once you are familiar with these, you would be able to tackle anything as a blogger.

Author Bio

Ollie Mercer is a professional tech blogger based in NYC. He’s been blogging for over a decade now. Ollie frequently travels overseas, often in search of interesting topics to blog about.