Phillip Dews and I in Hammersmith, London
15 years ago I did not know SEO from a CEO.
I didn’t even know what a blog was.
I was a laid off security guard. Save scanning Facebook I did little online.
Facing the technical aspects of blogging scared me.
How could I figure out how to set up my blog?
What could I do if something went wrong with my blog?
15 years later, here I am.
Far from being a technical wizard – most of it still confuses me on some level – I overcame a common new blogger stumbling block to be where I am now.
What is the problem?
Many new bloggers deeply fear the technical aspects of blogging.
Technical Blogging Phobia
From setting up a WordPress blog to fixing problems surfacing in your blogging back office, most beginners worry about how to navigate these challenges.
I had no clue what to do or who to turn to as a new blogger.
But I figured things out eventually by following a few simple steps.
One such step was connecting with Phillip Dews 14 years ago, my friend and dinner mate today in beautiful Hammersmith, London.
Phillip designed the Blogging From Paradise theme and has been handling the web development aspects of this blog since its inception in 2014.
After finally meeting him and his wife Louise in person for the first time today I wanted to dive into the common tech fear hamstringing so many bloggers.
Tech Phobia
Some aspiring bloggers never buy their domain and hosting to begin blogging for tech phobia seems to paralyze these individuals.
Don’t throw away an opportunity to free yourself just because one aspect of blogging intimidates you.
Following a few simple steps helps you to overcome this seemingly daunting foe.
Hire a Professional
I decided to work with Phillip a long time ago to help me through my tech phobic ways.
Phill is a skilled, kind and dependable web designer and developer based in Birmingham, UK.
He puts out WordPress back office fires when I have no clue what appears to be going on.
Unless you are a highly skilled techie you pretty much need to hire a web developer because wasting your time and energy trying to fix technical blogging issues is a fatal error in a fast-moving, dynamic online world.
For example, Phill handled various back office problems in hours when I would have wasted weeks or more spinning my wheels, said wasted weeks robbing me of precious time for creating long form content and building strong relationships.
I am a blogger. Bloggers blog. Bloggers do not spend weeks trying to be a web developer or web designer.
Hire specialists to complete complex technical work for you.
Think like a successful blogger early during your blogging career to lay the foundation for a successful campaign.
Learn Simple Technical Concepts
I spent a little time in tech school decades ago.
Blogging re-introduced me to coding.
I had a rudimentary knowledge of programming two decades ago, at best. As a blogging newbie I simply refreshed my memory to do some easy, light html work on my blog via blog posts, embedding a wee bit of code here and there to spiffy things up (Note; leave your theme work to your web developer).
YouTube serves as your best friend in this regard.
Watch instructional videos to handle basic technical aspects of blogging on your own. Working with various plug-ins, widgets and other light technical work is not all that hard if you spend a few moments to learn about each process.
In truth, some of what scares you in your WordPress back office is quite easy to fix.
Take notes after checking out helpful how-to videos on YouTube.
Solve easy blogging tech problems and conquer your tech phobia simultaneously.
Gain confidence in the process.
Accept Tech Stuff As Being Part of the Blogging Game
Bloggers often suffer for deluding themselves into believing that technical blogging can be denied, ignored or wished away.
I actually went through one such delusional stretch early during my blogging career.
My old blog crashed 20-30 times daily. Load times reached 60 seconds or longer sometimes.
I honestly believed that ignoring the issue would make it go away.
After finally looking at the situation honestly I addressed the issue by discovering that my web host at the time did not handle my increasing blog traffic.
Choosing another hosting company fixed the problem instantly.
Every blogger experiences technical issues from time to time because every blog exists based on technology. Code breaks, cheap hosting solutions become unable to handle heavy blog traffic and corrupt plug-ins wreak blogging havoc sometimes.
Technical problems arise here and there as long as you choose to blog.
Accept this reality to seamlessly handle tech-related obstacles.
Besides; that same technology can afford you a life of fun and freedom if you embrace it fully and build a successful blogging campaign.
Conclusion
Hire professionals to handle stout technical blogging problems.
Handle light tech issues yourself by watching simple tutorials to gain confidence and to avoid spinning your blogging wheels on easy to fix problems.
Accept that blogs run on tech and sometimes spawn obstacles.
Technical blogging problems are not as scary as you think.
Follow these simple tips to gracefully handle technical-related blogging obstacles as you amplify your blogging success.
