Comments on: 7 Things to Do with your Blog when you take a Vacation

By: neon

neon — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:42:40 +0000

Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Your website is very useful. Thanks for sharing.

By: holidays in Larnaca

holidays in Larnaca — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:25:25 +0000

Yeah ,the most useful i’m always doing is to make an advance post then enable comments so there’s always an update.Guest bloggers make my blog active even i’m on a vacation or i’m not around.

By: sprittibee

sprittibee — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:41:58 +0000

I’d love to hear more about the open mic method. I wouldn’t even know how to set that up. I have done the Guest Blogger series and enjoyed it a LOT. It was fun to read what the friends came up with while I was gone. I had minimal input and sent them back photos and they did their own thing. Truly rewarding and I was able to be on the road and out of pocket entirely. Best way to vacation!

Most of my time away has been just NOT posting, though – which I have not felt so great about.

Another thing I tried over Christmas break was a photo-themed series that I set up… the 12 days of Christmas. That was fun. I just had to find the 12 photos up front and write a short snip about each one… which was a lot easier than writing an entire post out. It also gave the readers a lighter side of my blog that they might not normally see.

Who am I kidding? I do that sort of thing often when I’m in a block or too busy to keep up. I get more comments sometimes on the whimsical stuff than I do on some of my heavier and more lengthy posts, though. I think it is important for your readers to see your human side – quirks and all.

PS – I have to say that I enjoy reading your tweets and your articles are really thoughtful. Thanks!

By: Dr. Mike Wendell

Dr. Mike Wendell — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:57:58 +0000

Advanced posting is nice but Wordpress has this annoying bug that’s never been figured out where advanced posts will occasionally not show up. Keeping on your blog or site while gone is a requirement, just to make sure things are working fine.

By: ganesh

ganesh — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:56:12 +0000

Saying that I am on a vacation, is better than to mess up with the quality of the content.

Advance posts are the safe option out. Yet another good option, is opening up a contest or free giveaway, based on reader inputs.

The day you return from vacation, it will be a good read and also you would have accrued many a inputs and in a way to celebrate the holiday season could give away the freebies to your readers.

By: Rodger Johnson

Rodger Johnson — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 03:29:35 +0000

I think it’s okay to, in a post, tell your readers you’re going on vacation. That you’ll return on such in such date. People understand we all need vacations, so I think that works too.

By: krissy knox

krissy knox — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:52:56 +0000

I celebrate the holidays, yet keep on posting. I’m going to do a post tonight in a few, and one tomorrow (Christmas day).

Thanks for a great post! It gives us food for thought and good ideas.

Krissy :)
visit my main blog: http://sometimesithink-krissy.blogspot.com
visit me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/iamkrissy

By: The Geared Investor

The Geared Investor — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:24:23 +0000

I just switched my blog to Wordpress this last week and I am going to take advantage of the advance posting feature. I’m also going to write some posts that are timeless, therefore I don’t have to worry about the posts not being up to the minute and out of date. Happy holidays to everyone!

By: aftercancer

aftercancer — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:07:32 +0000

Since my site is so niche related I usually advance post. We’ll be having company at the house over Christmas so blogging while they’re here just seems rude. I’ll likely be back to live work over New years.

By: ATLANTA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

ATLANTA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:59:20 +0000

Momentum is the key. It takes a lot of work to build a readership and if you take a few days of your readership may think your not contributing anymore. Readers like to go around and see whats “happening.” If nothing is happening “posts” then there is no reason to stop by. The fist blogs I go to are twitip and problogger b/c I know they will have a few posts throughout the day. I need to follow the same example.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:22:25 +0000

Typically I like to do a holiday-related post a day or two before a holiday and then just moderate comments.

I’m newer to blogging so I don’t have as much reader-related action quite yet, but I like some of the ideas in this post. I think using some of them and then just keeping an eye on comments should keep the work-load down while still maintaining some control.

By: Bryan Murley

Bryan Murley — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:12:35 +0000

In the market where I blog (college media), most everyone is shut down for the two weeks around the holidays, and I have blogged during those holidays previously, only to find that there’s not a lot of traffic out there for the content.

Anyone who deals with education-related issues will probably want to keep in mind that even if you post, there will likely be less readership as professors and students don’t necessarily read as much work/school-related stuff during the breaks.

By: Gabriel Robledo

Gabriel Robledo — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:58:15 +0000

Well, this will be my very first holidays and then a few days later I will go on vacation. I was planning to leave the blog inactive but I think that an advance post will be the best.

Thanks for the tip!
Gabriel

By: Serge Van Cauwenbergh

Serge Van Cauwenbergh — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:15:39 +0000

Well, I give myself a short holiday by closing the blog for a few days. Most people have other things on their mind between Christmas and New Year. Most bloggers that I follow are also lowering the amount of articles in this period. And I also need a short break :-)

By: Jesse Liebman

Jesse Liebman — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:31:45 +0000

I really like the idea of guest bloggers. I like the idea in general, but it’s a great way to freshen up your content. I guess it depends on the theme of your overall blog to begin with as to which strategy you can engage in. It’s also important to make sure your guest bloggers are consistent readers of your blog to understand your style and what people are looking for in general.

By: Gina Chen

Gina Chen — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:53:48 +0000

on my work blog, I tend to do a combination – schedule posts and blog during my vacation. I end up with fewer posts them when I’m working, but at least readers won’t be frustrated with nothing new.

By: David Kamatoy

David Kamatoy — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 01:15:21 +0000

I think that there is a big opportunity in the search engines in the next few weeks to gain some ground on the vacationing competition. Let’s face it most people will not be writing for the obvious reasons.

We are talking about just this on a conference call today and thinking about strategy.

Thanks for the post man. Perfect Timing.

I welcome subscribers =) lol http://www.davidkamatoy.com

By: diamondTearz

diamondTearz — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:49:38 +0000

I’ll be going through and making collections of some of my prior entries that are buried too deep for new readers to ever come across but still relevant.

By: Philippa

Philippa — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:22:24 +0000

Thanks for the suggestions. Writing my holiday posts now to come out later.

By: Kimberly/Mom in the City

Kimberly/Mom in the City — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:41:50 +0000

I’m doing “1. Give your Blog and Readers a Vacation” for a week and a half over the holidays. I hope that my readers will be focusing on their families during that stretch of time!