Disconnecting from the internet and blogging is actually a very good thing to do every once in a while—especially vacations.
Also, once in a while I will take a necessary weekend off from it all just to relax and get the creative juices flowing again. This is really important—to be in it for the long haul you must learn to disconnect once in a while no matter how 'painful' LOL. Vacations are not only beneficial for your off-line work but for your on-line longevity also.
(Picture of Yosemite Valley via Wikipedia)
Strategies for Vacation and Time Off
Here are a number of different ways to take care of your blog or website while you’re on vacation:
1. Do Nothing –Take a vacation from your blog also
Quite a few bloggers do this. Some will post a vacation notice and others like myself will let it ride. This is not problem for casual bloggers or for blogs like this one that are posted to once a week or so. However, it can be a problem for popular blogs that are posted to daily. Also, professional bloggers literally can’t afford to let it go.
-Downside: Loss of traffic, decrease in subscribers, and lost revenue (If blog is monetized)
-Upside: A real vacation –even from your blog
2. Continue Posting
I love to blog. Most of my summer vacations are two weeks long with lots of leisure time so I bring the computer along in the motorhome and keep on posting –usually first thing in the morning before we get started on the day or late into the night after we've gone fishing.
-Downside: None for the blog but sometimes you really need to get away even from posting if you are in it for the long run.
-Upside: Nothing changes
3. Prepare and Pre-post
One good way to take care of your blog while you are gone is to write some posts ahead of time and schedule them to be posted while you’re gone. This is a favorite strategy for most serious bloggers.
-Downside: A lot of work just preparing to take a few days off.
-Upside: The blogging will continue while you’re gone and your traffic and subscriptions will not suffer.
4. Guest Bloggers
Most professional bloggers sign up guest bloggers to post for them while they’re off. If you have a lot of traffic on your blog it is relatively easy to find volunteers who will be happy for the exposure. Otherwise find a friend or fellow blogger to help out.
-Downside: Very little downside unless the posts are not the same type or quality that your readers are use to.
-Upside: You actually do get a vacation after all and bringing on a guest post might even be a plus for your blog and could actually increase the traffic depending on the writer and the topic.
5. Buy Posts
As incredible as it sounds there are a number of sites which offer blog posts by professional writers for sale. It is not something that I would choose to do but obviously somebody buys these articles. I would make sure however that they haven’t already been posted somewhere else online.
-Downside: Only if they have been posted elsewhere under a different byline.
-Upside: Same as guest posts potentially.
I have tried all of these strategies in the past except the ‘Buy Posts’ one. Which vacation strategy is the best for your blog or website depends upon a number of different factors including the type of site you have and your normal posting frequency. Plus your goals and objectives for blogging or having a website in the first place.
It also depends upon the type of vacation you are on and whether you easily have access to a computer or not. The worst scenario is to have your entire family impatiently waiting on you while you perfectly edit that post before you all can go sight-seeing. Note, it can be very expensive to post from a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean – I know, I have done it and paid for it in the end.
Sometimes it is necessary and beneficial just to take a vacation even from your blog or website if you want to keep on keeping on.
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