Whether it's a hobby or full-time work, managing a blog takes time. Coming up with content, researching your target audience, optimising it for SEO and marketing content are just a few aspects of managing a blog which all require both effort and persistence. The last thing you would want after putting in all of this work is to have your blog successfully attacked. Not only can it be a great inconvenience, but cyber-attacks can also cause a lot of damage. As with anything valuable, protecting it goes a long way in alleviating the need for damage control in the future. On these premises, this article is going to explore five reasons you need to secure your blog.
Your Content is precious
Coming up with content requires a great level of time and creativity unless you happen to be a content genius. Latest reports found that on average, it could take a blogger nine hours and forty-five minutes to come up with a 3,000-word blog post. If you think about it, this is roughly the same number of hours, if not more, that are dedicated to a 9-5 job on a daily basis. It is, therefore, in your best interest to consider protecting your hard work from hackers and cyber-attacks. Not only can they completely wipe out your content, but they could also infiltrate it with spam and viruses which can be both frustrating and devastating.
To Protect Sensitive Data
Many times, a hacker's primary objective is to find valuable information on your computer or inside of your inbox by using viruses, malware, or email scams. They could potentially be looking for email information, virtual goods, and account as well as financial credentials. In 2017, 59% of marketers were said to have chosen email as the most effective way of generating the highest revenue, therefore, it is no surprise that hackers seem to target blogs and business related websites. The last thing you want is for your mailing list to be obtained and your subscribers to be put at risk as well. To prevent this, it's best to look for a company that offers cyber-security such as Paranet. You'll want to be on the lookout for an affordable deal as well as a service provider that's reliable. You can Visit the site to get a better understanding of how to protect your blog from such attacks and how cyber-security actually works.
For Consistent Traffic
Not only can cyber-attacks compromise your content, but they can also affect the inflow of traffic you have coming onto your blog. Research shows that on average, buyers typically tend to read anywhere between three to five pieces of content before potentially engaging or starting the sales process. It means that if the end goal of your blog is to sell services and products, a hack could deter prospective buyers. Even if your blog is solely content driven and you're creating content to drive traffic, a hack, likewise, interrupts this objective. If your site isn't secure, it also puts visitors at risks of contracting viruses and ultimately gives them a bad customer experience on your site. For most bloggers, the sole purpose of building traffic aside from getting people to engage with your amazing content is to start monetizing the traffic you get. Losing traffic on these premises can translate into losing money.
For Consistent Subscribers
As mentioned in the previous point, getting hacked can greatly affect your traffic until your blog is restored back to its normal state. A blog tracking firm called Technorati discovered that an estimated number of 175,000 new blogs, as well as over 1.6 million blog updates, go online every day. Towards the end of January 2007, Technorati was said to be tracking 63.2 million blogs which reflect exponential growth. In this case, you can't really afford to lose traffic as you've got steep competition. If you have a mail subscription list, some of your visitors may include those who have subscribed and are now part of your community. If they were spammed as a result of a hack on your end, this could lead to people unsubscribing or you losing your mailing list altogether. Ultimately, this could end up setting you back and is definitely counterproductive to your goal of becoming a mega blogger.
To Avoid Damage Control
Once hackers have infiltrated your site, it can be very stressful to get them out depending on your approach. Some of the things you might have to take action on include: changing your passwords, verifying your account details and notifying all of your contacts about the hack. You may also have to verify your former posts via social media or your blog site to ensure there aren't new ones and check for new accounts that may have been created in your name. If the damage is beyond you, however, you may end up having to call in a professional to do damage control. It could result in you coughing up money that you didn't intend to spend which is never a pleasant feeling. In order to prevent the need for damage control in the first place, consider getting a secure server, choosing extremely difficult passwords for entry into your blog and email, or getting some cyber-security as suggested above.
Time is valuable and is also one of the few things that cannot be redeemed or bought. It takes your intellectual capacity, diligence and your precious time to successfully build and maintain a blog. You, therefore, owe it to yourself to try and do all that you can to prevent it from being destroyed by hackers. Not only will the process of trying to undo all of the damages caused create unnecessary stress, but it can also be discouraging. It's especially true if you end up having to start all over again from scratch. Consider securing your blog site in the most reliable way possible. As it is often said, prevention is far better than cure.
