As I told you today, I am going on a vacation with my friends for two weeks. It’s a very great experience and I really looking forward to those weeks and nights with my friends. But what about my blog?

Of course I couldn’t let my blog suffer from my vacation. The blog is the thing online where I spend most of my time: working, designing, reading, editing, moderating or writing. To loose visitors while I am on vacation was not my goal so I decided to take a couple steps. You might have the same problem, so what should you do to keep your blog alive and running while you are getting away from your computer?

There are four things you should definitely do before you step out of your door:

1. Scheduled posts
2. Comment moderator
3. Guest Articles
4. Backup your installation

1. Scheduled posts

My preparation wasn’t all that great. The week before I would leave I had to work 40 hours and I did not really have the time to write some posts in advance. Therefore I had to work the last day full time to getting articles done in time.

With a good preparation things will get easier for yourself. I experienced that and you should not make the same fault.

2. Comment Moderator

Very important is to have your comment moderated in the time you are away from the computer. The commenter takes the time to post his thoughts on a specific article that might need a reply. It is not fair to them to not let their comment show up because it needs moderation first. They can’t help it you are on vacation, right?

Therefore you should always make sure you have a comment moderator. The only task a comment moderator has is to check if a comment is legitimate and to click the approve or spam button. Anyone with a bit of knowledge of the English language can do that! Ask your friend, your mother or girlfriend. I asked my good school-buddy Frank Verhoeven to help me out.

3. Guest Articles

If you haven’t had the time for a proper preparation, the time is there to call for help. With guest articles, you can get the guest-poster some visitors from your blog and yourself a blog that is still running. A win-win situation for both. Not always, but in this case, guest-bloggers are a great solution.

When you run a some-what bigger blog, you always have guest-bloggers available, but with a smaller blog like this one, you have to look for them. That’s not too hard; Ask your online friends to write about something in your niche, or give them a subject they could write about. You could always offer that you could return the favor when they are on vacation.

4. Back-up before you go

Another thing I did is backing up my WordPress installation right before I go on the trip. I’ve placed the backup on a USB stick and putted it away in my journey-bag. Just in case your house burns down and your hosting company get blown away by an hurricane. Do you get the point? Save what you have, don’t think it doesn’t happen to you, because it can.

Nice vacation

That’s it boys and girls. Have a nice vacation. This guide will tell you how you could go on vacation without letting your blog suffer from it!

I guess I am prepared a bit.