BLOGGERS : How to Keep Your Blog Running While You’re Away

 

Hey, we all have to escape sometimes, right? Whether during the Holidays or for a much-needed vacation you can’t be tied to your blog 24/7 nor should you be. The reality though, is that blogging can be a totally time-consuming process. Consistency is one of the most important factors to blogging 

success. Once your blog is established and especially if you outsource some help, it gets a bit easier, but for newbie bloggers and website owners the thought of going away on holiday and leaving your baby blog unattended can put you in downright panic mode! Here’s great tips on how to keep your blog running smoothly while away or over the holidays. 

Let’s face it, we all have holidays, events, family members, and other things to tend to. Life, after all should not be just about working, blogging, posting and constantly coming up with new content.

Currently, I maintain approximately 6 blog posts per month. In the beginning I was churning out 4 a week!

This level of consistency is super important and helps maintain for me a steady level of traffic.

When you decide to have a blog, remember, it’s operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

After all, your blog is your business and it should be treated as such.

So even though it’s producing passive income (and that’s the ultimate goal for you) it still needs tending to in many, many ways.

In this post, I will go over what you can do to ensure your blog stays fully functional and continues to produce tip top content for your readers along with income for you!

Tips to Keep Your Blog Running Smoothly Over the Holidays

Tip #1. Batch Your Content

Blogging requires laser focus and excellent planning.

Therefore, batching your content is the best way to ensure that your blog will have new fresh content for your readers.

You as a blogger are a master planner. Yes! Believe it!

Heck planning a well-deserved trip or vacation on top of all that is just a walk in the park!

Once you’ve booked that trip or flight it’s time to start generating content for the duration of your trip so you ‘set it and forget it’!

Here’s an example – I dedicate my Tuesdays and Thursdays for actual writing so instead of producing 2 content posts per day. I would use those 2 days to produce a week’s worth of content.

Nowadays I’m so busy with other aspects of running my blog I often outsource some content as well which frees up even more time and keeps me sane!

Tip #2. Use The WordPress Timestamp Feature

The WordPress Timestamp feature can save you a lot of time when it comes to creating and publishing your posts.

Let’s say that you have a day where you are feeling super inspired about several topics, you are full of energy and you have some great ideas just spilling over that you’re dying to share!

You have written 3 or 4 posts, but you would like to spread them out because you are getting ready to go on vacation, or have that looming deadline for a project at work that you must complete.

Using the Timestamp feature will help you to spread your posts out over a few days and publish them for you.

Here’s how it works.

1. Take a post that you have written and are ready to publish, including proper tagging, images, etc.
2. Go to the “Post Timestamp” on your post page and expand it.
3. Select the “Edit timestamp” by clicking on it, there should now be a check mark in the box.
4. Edit and select the date and time that you want your post published.

Now there is one important step left in editing your post for future publication.

You now need to click on the “Publish” button.

If you don’t do this and just click on “Save”, it will save your post as a draft and not publish it when you have specified.

This feature has saved me a ton of time and aggravation trying to write posts when I have an endless list of other things to do.

And as bloggers you know that list is endless!

Tip #3. Blog On Your Holiday

I don’t like to blog on my vacation or during the holidays because it defeats the whole purpose of a vacation and spending time with family and friends.

But I must be honest, I’m always surmising what I’m going to be writing about next and taking little notes as I go about the day…. and that’s okay.

As long as it’s not completely consuming you and taking you away from everything and those, you’re closest to.

If you do find though that you realize you’ve made an error that you absolutely must fix, thanks to modern technology, as long as you have a laptop or a smart phone with internet, you’ll be able fix it from anywhere!

Some of my best blog posts have been written on the fly!

Sometimes the change of scenery is just what you need to get those creative juices flowing!

It also allows you to experience the laptop lifestyle experience.

You see, a blog is designed for you to share information, but let’s not forget one important element.

A blog is designed to help you and your readers connect and engage.

So why not share your vacation with your readers?

By sharing a bit of your personal life, it helps build your blog’s relationship with your readers.

Share your images, your meals, your adventures. Some amazing travel and food blogs were built this way.

Tip #4. Outsource For Writers

If you absolutely cannot write please make sure that you get someone hired to cover your writing for you.

Yes, it’s going to cost you some, but the price will be worth it to not lose your audience!

Always look at the bigger picture.

Sure it will cost you some money to hire someone, but you can potentially lose thousands of readers if you don’t.

And after all the work you’ve put into your blog you don’t want that to happen!

Have some valuable content built up for sharing on topics that you’ve chosen that you know your readers will enjoy or find super helpful?

Tip #5. Allow Guest Posts

It’s not a bad idea to line up some guest posts for your blog.

Similar to outsourcing for writers, someone else will be doing the writing for you. The only difference between a guest post and outsourcing is the cost.

Guest posts are typically free.

Guest bloggers will write an article for you and in turn get a backlink which leads to traffic back to their own website. It’s a win-win for both bloggers and something you want to incorporate even when you’re not on vacation!

Food For Thought

It’s your blog and you can do whatever you want with it.

Some obsess over every aspect of control over it and some are way more relaxed. I tend to be the former:/…but I’m still learning that I cannot have 100% control at all times!

I do recommend you ensure your blog stays operational even though you’re not available.

Unless you’re at the stage where your blog runs on auto pilot or you have a team of virtual assistants working with you to handle things it only makes sense.

It’s not so hard to do living in the digital age we’re in. And the best thing is you can do it from virtually anywhere!

Remember, life/work balance is very important too.

The last thing you want to get is blogger ‘burn-out’.

You can still manage to make time to enjoy that holiday or vacay and be a successful blogger!