Blogging is a journey, not a destination. Here are some of the steps I’ve taken recently to get The Computer Mouse off the ground.
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Context
I haven’t been the brightest bulb in the pack. Instead of staying consistent over the years, I made the mistake of renaming my site a few different times and updating search engines on the changes. Bing has had no problem with our changes; however, I must steadily climb back up again in Google.
Humble beginnings
As well as having computer-related content, the original site had a popular Samsung Galaxy Note Series ROMs section. Being also into smartphone customization at the time, I used to compile lists of up-to-date custom ROMs for myself and other customizers over at XDA Developers, where I was a Recognized Contributor.
As my need to customize smartphones waned, I decided to stop updating the ROMs lists and focus on the computer content. Since renaming the site The Computer Mouse, the ROM pages have resided in the Archives section. A fair few visitors still visit those pages today.
The road ahead
There is plenty of stuff to do to get this blog into shape. That’s the enjoyable part! Last year, after changing the domain name to the computer mouse, I switched hosts and finally changed to WordPress. I don’t intend to have unsightly ads here. However, it’s OK for any writers or devs who contribute to link to their own page if they want, plus include a computer-related affiliate link to recommended apps, hardware, or services.
F5 – Refresh
Instead of posting a new post per site update, I’ll probably just be updating this page. So, refresh or revisit this page if you’re curious about this noobie blogger’s technical fumblings or what goes into setting up a blog.
Steps taken
With the above honesty out of the way, here are some steps I’ve taken to get this blog off the ground.
We updated our legal documents.
For years, blogs and sites have needed documents like a Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions page. I’ve had a couple of essential free legal documents in the past, but this time a kind legal professional via Fiverr.com provided the ones here.
I tinkered with Awesome Fonts Pro
I’ve happily used the free version of Awesome Fonts before, mainly depending on the WordPress themes I’ve experimented with in the past. In my quest to improve the page speeds here, I went with Pro to help keep the font collections small.
As it happens, though, I haven’t implemented Awesome Font yet. I’m still testing it and other options (SVG, other font families, etc.) from a page speed (and visual) perspective. Anyone who likes to test page loading speed knows that it can get quite addictive, even if it is rather pointless a lot of the time.
I’m very happy I bought WP Rocket.
The WordPress plugin WP Rocket is a paid caching plugin that instantly improves page loading speed. Before that, I used a popular free plugin to get reasonably good speeds, but as the saying goes, `You get what you pay for.’ See How to Make Your Website Faster!
I decided not to waste an old video.
I uploaded a short and quick video, Building Computers – An Introduction for beginners (video montage), to complement the Building Computers page. We filmed it a long time ago but recently decided not to waste our filming efforts, and put it to some use.
We introduced our Friends and affiliates.
I don’t want to have unsightly random ads on this site, but I’d like to introduce you to tools, apps, and services that my peers and I use. So, I’ve added a Friends and Affiliates page, to which I’ll be adding a few more essential partners over the coming months. So stay tuned for those.
I welcome our first volunteer writer, CJ Miller.
I like writers to bring their enthusiasm, expertise, and personality here, and they have the freedom to write about their favorite and relevant topics. CJ is a fellow computer enthusiast passionate about tech writing, especially in Web 3.0 and Cryptocurrency.
We are on Pinterest.
OK. I’m the first to admit that I’m not into social media. However, thanks to the services of arditaardi (Link), we have a presence on Pinterest now.
I’m looking for partnerships.
Please get in touch with me if you can offer our readers any apps, services, discounts, or giveaways. I enjoy giving stuff away (especially to those involved in the comments), and I’m sure you might like the extra exposure.
Feel free to pass on your advice.
I’m always on the lookout for advice. Even more so from a design or SEO perspective. Hence why I use Fiverr.com for some of my needs. You can help by leaving a comment here and there, or maybe you’d like to write a post or two. I’ll find ways to reward community members for their support.
We are keeping things simple.
One of the goals here is to have easy-to-read and easy-to-find content related to enjoying computers and evolving online. I like to keep up on tech news, so I follow several tech sites. Get in touch if you’d like to know which ones. The Computer Mouse is not a news site, however.
Thoughts about having ads on this site.
I don’t want posts hidden amongst a sea of affiliate links or ads. Therefore, I’ll only have select ads on this site for things that I recommend and use myself.
Check back for updates.
I will update this page from time to time. If you can offer any opinions or advice, feel free to leave some comments around the site. I’ll give away a few things to helpful contributors. Thanks for your time.
We don’t use AI to write content.
We don’t use AI to generate content. AI seems to be taking off for people trying to push out as much content as possible for their blogging business. However, I prefer to create genuine content from the heart. After all, computers are a passion, and talking about them, plus our blogging journey, is something we do naturally.
How’s your blogging journey?
Grant is the webmaster here and a longtime PC enthusiast. He likes talking about computers and seeing other people enjoy theirs. When he’s not working or tinkering with this site, he enjoys playing Apex Legends. Grant lives in Japan as an English teacher and vegetable farmer.
