Protect Your Blogging Activity With a VPN
Bloggers understand how much research goes into creating unique, authentic work that informs and entertains readers. You end up visiting many websites, reading other posts, and looking for legitimate resources to keep your work credible.
As is the nature of the internet, there are many challenges bloggers can face when operating online. These challenges revolve around privacy when accessing many online resources and keeping your website safe from attacks.
VPNs keep your internet activity anonymous and secure and can solve some of the core security concerns you might have regarding your blog and all related online activity.
What Is A VPN, And What Does It Do?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It might sound unclear, but it means exactly what the name implies. A VPN is a private network you virtually connect to through your existing internet connection.
Data shows that around 30% of internet users use VPNs for various reasons. These reasons include remaining anonymous, ensuring safer communication, and accessing restricted sites.
VPNs Have Two Primary Functions
Technically, they do many complex things behind the scenes. Invisible to the user. There are also many levels at which a VPN protects you, often listed as benefits, which you’ll read further down.
But at its core, most of what a VPN does can be explained, summarized, or understood by looking at its two primary functionalities. Remember that these aren’t unilateral but a combination of multiple functions.
- Hiding IP Address
Whenever you browse the internet, your device is assigned a unique IP address—an online ‘identity’ that links to you, your device, and your location. Many don’t realize that every website you visit can see your IP address.
This also involves geo-spoofing, which means a VPN hides your location by ‘changing’ it to a false pseudo location. For example, using an India VPN while in India could allow you to access sites that would be blocked within the country.
- Encrypting Data
A VPN encrypts all data you send and receive, adding an extra layer of protection to your internet usage. Without encryption, the data is easily accessible to every router or packet switch your network runs through.
How Using A VPN Benefits Bloggers
- Keep Your Identity Safe
One of the primary concerns for all internet users is remaining anonymous online, especially with many websites and connected apps being a medium for data mining.
VPNs protect your IP address, which keeps your location and identity anonymous. You’ll also be protecting your network connection, which helps prevent malicious internet users from accessing your network and gaining access to sensitive information like your blog site admin credentials.
- Remain Safe Across Public Networks
It’s no secret that public Wi-Fi networks are some of the least secure and most vulnerable internet connections available. There’s a significant chance that the public Wi-Fi at your local mall or coffee shop lacks substantial security.
In other words, anyone connected to that Wi-Fi can easily access your browsing data and personal information. Connecting to a VPN encrypts your data and keeps it private from other users on the network, keeping your activity confidential and safe.
- Hide Your Online Activities From Your Network Provider
Internet service providers are notorious for tracking browsing history and using it to surveil their clients. Truthfully, there’s a chance that every internet access point your signal passes through can see what you’re doing. This can be used to track information related to your blog and may be accessed by hackers and used in an attempt to steal your blog.
Using a VPN masks your IP and hides your browsing history. For most premium VPNs, not storying or monitoring user browsing history is part of their core values, ensuring your data isn’t accessible to anyone.
- Access Geo-Blocked And Localized Sites
As mentioned earlier, geo-spoofing is a feature supplied by most of the top VPN services. This feature could prove incredibly valuable to your blogging career if you travel or need to access information regarding other locations.
Changing your virtual location using a VPN would give you access to sites that could be geo-blocked in countries you might want to tour. Alternatively, some sites localize their content and language depending on the visitor’s location. You’d be able to leverage or bypass this with a VPN.
Conclusion
Now that all’s said and done, it’s clear that having a VPN would benefit a blogger. If you’re concerned about broadcasting your location and browsing data to every website you visit and across every network, you connect to, a VPN is for you.
Fortunately, using a VPN for blogging is the easiest part. All you need to do is choose one, sign up for a membership, install it, and start using it through its provided interface. Look for what’s available to you, evaluate your options, and choose the VPN that suits your needs.
Finally, beware of free VPNs. These are often free at the cost of collecting and selling your data, which may contradict the point of using one altogether.
