All bloggers have a life outside of their blogs.

Unfortunately with blogging being such an addictive hobby, bloggers often wonder how they can keep their blog alive if they go on vacation or just need a blogging break.

When I took ten days off, I was totally unplugged. I used the What Would Seth Godin Do plugin and explained to my readers I would be away until a specific date. I used that opportunity to suggest reading older posts, checking out the blogs I’ve showcased and/or visiting the blogs of my loyal commenters. Although I did see a drop in my visitor counts, it gave me the opportunity to not worry about the blog, enjoy my vacation and make memories with the family members we were visiting.

Today’s Lesson

What I did worked well for me, however, there are other ways to keep our blogs alive when we need a break. Listed below are several other options.

1. Line up guest posts and let the guest poster(s) deal with the comments

This technique will keep the conversation going, however, unless we give the guest poster(s) access to our blog (behind the scenes), comments that go into moderation won’t appear until we approve them.

2. Put up a “closed” sign – Write a short post alerting our readers we’re away from the blog.

Depending on how we word the “closing”, we could confuse our readers. If we’re uncertain how long our break will be, it’s best to say we’ll be gone “indefinitely”.

3. Don’t do anything. Let our latest post “sit there”

If a blog has a loyal following and an established community of fellow bloggers, leaving our last post up for an extended period of time can cause worry for our loyal readers. This also raises an issue we discussed previously in a post titled, “Why Didn’t You Say Good Bye?”

4. Ask a blogging buddy to blog sit

Often a blogging friend will be more than happy to monitor our blog while we’re away and keep the conversation going. To keep our blog flowing seamlessly, it would be necessary to allow the other blogger to have access behind the scenes.

5. Post date articles, and close the comments

This is a great way to keep our blog alive and not have to worry about answering comments. Although some may be upset because we closed our comments, it does help to keep the content fresh.

6. Post date articles, leave the comments open, let the commenters know you’re away, and not worry about comments in moderation until you return

Again, this will provide new content for our readers, however, those comments that do end up in moderation will stay there until we return.

7. If we’re vacationing, we can travel with a laptop or other communication device and monitor our blog from afar.

Taking time off from our blog can do us good, therefore, staying connected may defeat the purpose of taking a blogging break.

We all know, our blogs will wait for us, as will our loyal readers. A drop in our statistics can be disheartening, however, that’s a small price to pay to when we’re in need of a break from it all.

Today’s Assignment

When you take a blogging break, what technique(s) do you use?

Do you need a blogging break, but fear losing readers?

Raise your hand and share what works for you and/or if taking a break from blogging is on your “to do” list.

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Good Day Class,

It’s great to be back to the blog and to see you all after my short break.

What a pleasant surprise we have today. Ms. Tess Marshall of The Bold Life, our substitute teacher (guest writer), will not only be sharing fabulous ideas for blog post material, but will be passing out some yummy treats at the end of the lesson.

Without further ado, I will turn the class over to Tess.

Please take your seats.

Ms. Marshall, the floor is yours.

Hello class.

Welcome to summer school!

There is a rumor going around that some of you are in a blogging slump and in need of fresh and dynamic content!

I’m here to remind you of the abundance of stories, news and amazing ideas not only in your life but in our world. And you have access to them all!

Get out your writing tablets and take notes. You won’t want to miss a thing.

This is your opportunity to set your blogs on fire, sizzling with the hottest ideas under the summer sun!

Let’s get started.

Today’s Lesson

21 Resources for Creating Content that’s Hot, Hot Hot!

Inspirational stories

Find little or unknown stories about other bloggers, athletes and everyday heroes. Write about ordinary people who push the limits and beat the odds.

Television or news

I heard about the country of Bhuton on “60 Minutes” a couple of months ago. This country with a population under 700,000, located between India and China measures Gross National Happiness vs. Gross National Product. Interesting, eh?

Use personal photographs.

My camera is always with me so I don’t miss anything interesting or unusual. Adding personal photos builds trust and connection.

Quotes can immediately spark ideas for new content.

Albert Einstein said, “The most appropriate response to life is “Sacred Awe.” What do those words mean to you?

Children view the world as if everything is brand new.

They give everything old new meaning. They aren’t afraid to express themselves. See the world through the eyes of a child.

Friends and family members are always up to something.

Ask your father or cousin to do an interview instead of the latest guru.

Magazines are great resources.

I fly South West and always read their “Spirit” magazine. You too can catch the “spirit” and like them become number one!

Social events, workshops and conferences

Take your camera and be photographed with speakers and other bloggers. Mingle and network. Meanwhile you may catch the next big idea.

Your dreams and hopes for the future

Share your dreams and hopes for your future and the future of your blog.

Music

Attend a concert or symphony. Listen to a choir or Jannie Funster’s new CD!

Be inspired by the words and images that come to mind?

Special events

Write about your favorite birthday, a commencement speaker, a new gadget you received. As you leave an event ask yourself, “What has happened that is blog worthy?”

Photography blogs

Lose yourself and be refreshed and inspired by them.

Read best sellers and note titles of books and chapters.

Ideas are endless at the bookstore. Read the top bloggers in your niche. Expand on their ideas.

Your senses

Experience and enrich your life and your blog by using and becoming aware of your six senses.

Survey your readers to see what they want to know more about.

Invite them to send in questions and answer them in a post.

Interview a blogging buddy.

Choose unique and unusual questions and your interviews will stand out from others.

Use videos of yourself to create deeper connections.

Don’t try to sell anything. Be sincere and share your wisdom.

Talk show hosts

Check out the week’s topics. Is there a way you can connect the hot topics with your niche and readers?

Statistics

Did you know 80% of the people who have lost jobs are men? What can you write, do or talk about to fill the needs of this niche?

Be adventurous.

Learn a new hobby or skill unrelated to your blog. When you keep life interesting you keep your blog interesting.

Oh one more thing, everyone is allowed to wear shorts and flip flops to class tomorrow. We’ll be spending our time outdoors.

Today’s Assignment

What do you do to come up with inspiring content?

What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken with a topic?

What is the topic of your most popular post?

P.S. I brought fresh squeezed lemonade and cookies to share during recess, so until then, raise your hand and share your thoughts.

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Tess Marshall is a life coach and author who teaches others how to live a bold, fearless, and meaningful life in the real world as well as on her blog, The Bold Life. When she’s not sharing knowledge with her clients and/or readers, she can be found on Twitter and/or passing out copies of her Flying by the Seat of My Soul ebook (available for free download or for purchase of the paperback)

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Photo Credit: aloshbennett

When we start blogging, we often don’t think of WHO we’re writing for. We just want visitors.

Niche or non niche – it doesn’t matter.

Then, when we receive a comment or two, and the dynamics of blogging changes.

We want more of that interaction and validation from others so we begin visiting other blogs.

If done right, in no time we can build up a fair size community of bloggers who are reading our work, leaving comments, Tweeting and/or Stumbling our posts.

But we often forget to ask ourselves, “Are other bloggers our target audience?”

Today’s Lesson

When I started blogging, I was writing on two blogs simultaneously. This one, and Observation Mountain (OM).

For this one, I knew other bloggers would be my target audience, however, for OM, I saw the audience being more the “general population” – people who might be searching for unpaid product reviews, ways to get a more organized, how to…, and/or help with finding links to reliable sites. Knowing many of those readers are looking for information not interaction, I’ve learned to accept the fact that blog won’t be populated with a lot of comments.

Having two blogs that are so different, reminds me how as bloggers, we often forget to ask if we are reaching our target audience.

To do so, we can ask ourselves the following questions:

1) Who is our intended audience?

a) Is it other bloggers?
b) Is it people who aren’t apt to comment, or in some cases, don’t even know they CAN leave a comment? Or don’t know how to leave a comment?
c) Are we writing for a specific demographic? Or will our writing apply to anyone who may be searching online for our specific topic?

2) How do we measure the success of our blog?

a) By the number of comments we receive on a post?
b) By the number of visits, page views, our bounce rate, number of subscribers and/or our earnings (if we advertise)?
c) Or, do none of the numbers matter and success is an internal feeling?

3) How can we reach our target audience?

a) Should we be spending time courting other bloggers to visit us, or might our time be used more wisely?
b) Are we using SEO ( search engine optimization) to reach our intended audience?
c) Are we imitating what others are doing because it works for them, instead of testing other techniques and/or social networking sites that might work better for us?

Many bloggers wrongly assume blogging success is measured by the number of comments a blog/post receives, when in fact, a blog can be very successful without comments or a community of fellow bloggers.

What do you think?

Today’s Assignment

Do you know who your target audience is?

If so, do you think you’re reaching them?

Do you ever feel you are spending too much time socializing with other bloggers and not concentrating on reaching those whom you’re actually writing for?

Raise your hand and let’s talk about this.

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Photo Credit: mSkeet