Blogging

Going on holiday? Here’s how not to abandon your blog whilst you’re away

September 4, 2017 /

You might have noticed that I’ve been on holiday for the past 9 days, and I’ve also published a blog post every day whilst I’ve been away. It’s not something I would normally do, but as I had been publishing every day before the holiday it was something I had to stick to.

So how did I do it, it was actually easier than I thought, but it does require a lot of work up front. Here’s how and my top tips……

Work out your content plan before you go away. Map out each day you’ll be away including the day you return so you know how many posts you need. You might only want to post two or three times whilst your away, which is absolutely fine.

Next work out where your content is coming from. I put a shout out on the UK Parent Bloggers and Parent Bloggers UK Facebook groups if anyone wanted to guest post for me whilst I was away. Guest posting is great for bloggers who are new and want to get their content in front of a larger audience, and it’s a great way to build your DA too. I managed to get three guest posts from other bloggers, and I loved promoting these and showcasing their content on my site.

Another brilliant way to get content for your blog is from those SEO companies who want content for free or very little money. Although I wouldn’t publish free content from an SEO or PR company for no or little budget every week, it’s a great way to publish content on your blog with minimal effort whilst you’re away.

Review your drafts. If you’re like me you might have loads of half written posts that you could finish off, this will save you time and won’t require any thinking up of new content.

Next up is to download the WordPress app. I’ve written a few quick blog posts whilst I’ve been away particularly towards the end of the holiday when I started to run out of content. The app makes it so easy to write posts on the go, or bash out a post before bedtime. What’s even better is that this is the first year that data has been included in my mobile package making it even easier to write without worrying about mobile bills. I think a lot of mobile contacts are going this way too.

Lastly once you’ve done all this, work out what is going live when, schedule in WordPress and make a note of it. I took my notebook with me and wrote down what was going live when. This will make it easier when you wake up after a late night for any promotion you need to do in the day.

For my social promotion I did all my Twitter scheduling in advance using Social Oomph, and promoted my new posts three times a day and then other posts for the rest of the day. I had on average 10 pre-scheduled tweets going live per day. I had to manually post all my content to Facebook, as I couldn’t get the image and title of an unpublished post to scrape into Facebook. This is something I need to figure out.

So that’s how I kept my blog active everyday whilst I was away. It was challenging and I’m really glad I did it. It is also to remember that this is my holiday with my family and that comes first. Pre-writing and pre-scheduling definitely helps to create the best of both worlds.

How do you manage your blog whilst you’re on holiday? I would love to hear from you.

Claire x

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26 Comments

  • Heather Keet

    September 6, 2017 at 8:08 am Reply

    I also map out my blog and social media before I go on vacation. I found that if I plan well, I can even participate in some of my link ups during the inevitable downtime or car ride while on travel. #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Vicky

    September 6, 2017 at 12:00 pm Reply

    Hi Claire! I’m new to blogging and I have learnt so much just from reading this. Interesting to see that you pre schedule everything – I am just getting around to that on my twitter. Never thought of guest posting, but thats definitely next one my list. Thank you for this helpful post xx

  • The Squirmy Popple

    September 6, 2017 at 12:25 pm Reply

    Impressive! I tend to just let my blog go when I’m on holiday so I can concentrate fully on just enjoying myself – I figure no one misses me when I’m not around! I do schedule tweets/FB posts sometimes but don’t do any new content. #fortheloveofBLOG

  • five little doves

    September 6, 2017 at 6:00 pm Reply

    You are so organised!! When I go on holiday, I go on holiday, and I DO abandon my blog. I think I just need to switch off and tell myself that a week away isn’t going to do anything whatsoever in terms of my stats or rankings. These are great tips though! #fortheloveofblog

  • natalie

    September 6, 2017 at 6:13 pm Reply

    I had two weeks away in the summer and honestly I didn’t give a single thought about my blog. It done me the world of good!! I would love to be more organised like you but for now I am happy to just take a break. #fortheloveofblog

    • The Pramshed

      September 6, 2017 at 10:00 pm Reply

      Thanks Hun I wish I could be more like you and switch off. I would feel worried that my blog was suffering after all the work I’ve put into it. Maybe I’m too much of a control freak and need to chill out a little x

  • Briony

    September 6, 2017 at 9:12 pm Reply

    Schedule, schedule. schedule!! I can’t enjoy a holiday if I think my bog is being abandoned so I make sure I’ve got content scheduled. Also a bg fan of the WordPress App #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Helen @Talking_Mums

    September 7, 2017 at 1:16 pm Reply

    You are so organised. I tried to get some guest posts before I went on holiday I had a good response but only one that responded actually sent me a post. I was pretty annoyed to say the least. Good idea about the SEO posts too x
    #Fortheloveofblog

  • Alana - Burnished Chaos

    September 8, 2017 at 6:57 am Reply

    I went away for a week at the start of the summer and managed to get a couple of posts scheduled to go out whilst I was away and set up socialoomph to share them but then from the day we set off till the day after we arrived home I didn’t touch my blog once and the break actually did me the world of good. Getting back into it again over the rest of the summer holidays was a bit of a struggle though!
    #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Ali Duke

    September 8, 2017 at 2:59 pm Reply

    We only went to Cornwall for a couple of days so it was easy to keep up lol. Scheduling pre written posts is something I do at bust times like Christmas so I am able to post and spend time with my family.
    #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Aleena

    September 10, 2017 at 6:18 pm Reply

    This is what I also usually do when we go away. We are often away at weekends, so the app really helps. I use it a lot to write when we are travelling (I don’t drive so I guess I have that luxury!) I also scheduled a lot of content in advance to cover the blog over the two weeks when we moved home last month. It’s such a huge weight off! #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Chloe

    September 10, 2017 at 6:22 pm Reply

    Hi, I also schedule whilst away but I now only post twice a week. I also love the WordPress app as you can add posts as you go. I think I may have to look at guest posts in the future #fortheloveofBlog

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