If you are a digital nomad and would like to ensure that you are building a long term business, you will have to ensure that you are keeping your assets safe. You might not have a business location and premises to secure, but your virtual domain is just as vulnerable as a physical office. You have to protect your content and ensure that you are not allowing other people to take advantage of your hard work or damage your reputation. Below you will find a few tips on how to get started.
Image via Corinne Kutz@corinnekutz
Backups
It is crucial that you back up all your files and get your host to do this. If you are using WordPress, which is the most popular blogging platform, you will need to add this service to your package. Manually saving every piece of post and content to your Google or other cloud based drive might also be a good idea. Learn how to recover overwritten files, too, so you can avoid losing traffic and money. You never know what is around the corner, and you would certainly want to restore your site as soon as possible before you lose all your search engine traffic.
Choose Your Host Carefully
When you start blogging, and you have a small site, it doesn’t matter that much which host you choose. However, once you have hundreds of posts, and your database grows, losing all the links and connections would have a devastating impact on your business. Check the reviews, and find out about the uptime of your host, so you can reach your audience all the time. You might want to upgrade your hosting package as you start getting more visits, as some hosting companies will have a bandwidth limit for basic accounts.
Prevent Spam and Member Requests Carefully
Spammers are everywhere, and they will try to get a link back from your blog. This is what bloggers hate the most. The more popular your site is, the more this will become a problem. Make sure that you have adequate spam protection on your blog, and you are able to review the comments before they are posted. Pingback spam is another common way of spamming your site, and some plugins will alert you before the whole thing gets out of control. If you offer membership or subscriptions, review every request manually.
Legal Disclaimers
Image via Damian Zaleski@zal3wa
It is crucial that you talk to a legal professional once you turn your blog into a business. You will need to have the right disclaimers, especially if you are working as an affiliate for a company. You will need to let your visitors know that you earn a commission every time they buy through your links. You should also have a cookie and privacy policy on your blog. This is a basic requirement when it comes to advertising on social media. Also, use reliable facebook advertising agencies.
Making the most out of your blogging business will not happen without keeping your assets safe. Invest in website security and backups and fight spam to maintain your reputation.