When you run your own blog, it can be challenging to keep up with it as it grows. You have made a full-time commitment to write, and now you have a following, which means that you have people waiting on you to deliver the next post each week.
For a lot of bloggers, this is a fantastic full-time commitment to have, but it means long hours in front of a screen commenting and networking, creating dreamy content and promoting everything about it. It also means interaction with other bloggers all day, and this all works together seamlessly to bring your blog together.
The time will come eventually that you will want a break from the relentlessness of blogging. And until you have your own blog, you won’t truly understand just how busy it can be to write your own content. It’s stressful to keep up with the demand of other people, and while you know you want to take a step back and have a break, the idea that you could go away and lose momentum on your blog makes you take pause.
Will your posting be affected? Will people notice that you’re not as engaged?
Will you miss out on comments that you know you should be replying to? Will your traffic die? There are so many questions surrounding your vacation that you end up not wanting to go – just in case, you lose all that you’ve achieved so far.
There is an answer to this, though. You can learn how to be a digital nomad.
You can still go and take a break away from your screen, as long as you are prepared to prepare yourself! You don’t want to spend a whole trip away keeping on top of your blog, though you may want to check in from time to time. You need to know how you can prepare yourself properly to stay active and blogging, but at a slower pace. With that in mind, we’ve got some tips for you to be able to keep your blog active while you go traveling.
Scheduling Posts: It’s A Thing!
Did you know that you can write your blog posts and schedule them to release when you see fit? Spend time writing a bulk of blog posts; let’s say seven a week for each week you are away. Then, use the posts as you would if you were home and schedule them at the right time. It would also help you to have one or two extras to tuck in once you’re back. No one wants to sit and write while they are recovering from jet lag.
Stop, Collaborate & Listen!
You may not have done it before, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t look into hosting guests on your blog. Not only will you be able to generate some conversation with newbies in your blogosphere, but you can also spark some activity in your blog without you having to write the content for it. Guest bloggers could be scheduled to appear a couple of times while you’re away, and you could ask your guests to submit posts to you in enough time to edit them before you go away. You can also specify that they respond to any commentary on the posts. If you know that there is interaction happening on your posts while you’re away, you’re going to feel more relaxed that you don’t have to deal with it.
In With The Old
There is nothing wrong with repurposing your own content. It’s good for the blogging environment, and it’s basically digital recycling. You can use your social media platforms to promote some of the old blog posts on your system that had the highest ranks. You can introduce some of your older content to newer users, and those newer users won’t find your content old at all. It’s a great way to promote some of the older posts and really dig deep so you can take a break!
Check In Occasionally
You can still enjoy your travels without being always online. You just have to check in on the comment section of your blog and update a status or two on social media while you’re away. Schedule a few Tweets and Facebook posts before you go so that they can be released sporadically. If you have a big enough following pass this task to an outsourced social media manager – they’ll handle it all for you.
Schedule To Your Peak
You will notice the patterns with your blog where people are logging in and reading what you have to say. If you post your articles during the peak times, you’re going to get far better results for all of your effort. There are plenty of apps you can use to figure the best times to publish your content, and you can spend your time wisely and enjoy the sights, rather than just on social media.
Optimise Your Travel Time
Whether you are on a plane or in the back of a very long bus ride, you can use your time wisely. Write your meta tags and descriptions, optimise your images and even video your vlogs. You must work out what content you can write without the use of the internet. If you are on the road, you can use doc apps to write the content ready for posting.
Enjoy Yourself
You won’t ever be able to 100% kick back and relax when you are on vacation: you are a blogger. Your mind will always be ticking along to figure out what content you could write next. You’re travelling to enjoy yourself, and you should do as much of that as possible. You can schedule posts and social media, and you can stay visible once a day. However, you need to give yourself a break, and that means sticking to a timetable of when you will be active online.
You can blog and travel and not let anything slip: just make sure you enjoy yourself on your trip, too!
