{Guest Post} How to Prepare Your Blog for a Vacation

Hello friends! I'm in Georgia soaking up some quality time with my family, so I've enlisted some help from a dear bloggy friend to entertain you. I love all of Anne's blogging How-To posts, and this one fits in so perfectly! Enjoy!

Hi there Knock On Wood readers! I'm Anne, the blogger behind Love the Here and Now. While Amanda is away and enjoying time off I thought I would step in and take over for the day.

We have all been there. We relish the idea of taking a vacation (like Amanda is right now!) from not only our daily lives but also from our online responsibilities as well.

In my opinion, one of the best parts of going on a vacation is the change of routine. Oftentimes I go about my days as if I am in autopilot. Between my family, work, and blogging my schedule is pretty full. Before going on vacation there are always a few things you should do....hold the mail, set timers etc. Have you ever thought about preparing your blog for a vacation? Here are a few tips that have helped me get ready for my blog vacations.

Schedule Posts Ahead

If you can, and so choose, work ahead and schedule your posts for the duration of your vacation. This definitely takes time and effort to do ahead. Not only can you have your posts scheduled but you can also schedule your social media promotions as well (thanks to some of the great resources mentioned here).

Guest Bloggers

I decided to add some variety to my blog and opted to have some guest bloggers. To me this is a win/win. I get to have a bit of a break and they get to share their material with a new audience. Out of respect to the guest bloggers, be sure to give them enough advance warning and set a deadline of when you would like to have them submit their post. I allowed my guest bloggers to either share new content or repost a favorite post of theirs. After all, they are doing me the favor and I wanted to make this as easy on them as I could.

Notify Sponsors

If you plan on taking a break from promoting your sponsors it is only fair that you notify them of this. As a token of my appreciation for my sponsors' understanding that I wouldn't be promoting them as much as I normally do, I will be extending their ads for a week.

Notify Your Readers

If you are a blogger that keeps a consistent blogging schedule and opt to not blog at all, you may want to alert your readers to the fact that you won't be present. This will keep your readers from wondering if you dropped off the face of the Earth.

What if I have a few spare moments to devote to my blog while I'm away?

Create a To Do List

Perhaps you don't want to step completely away from your blog. If you plan on having some down time, make a list of things that you would like to tackle. Want to freshen up your sidebar? Create new blog buttons? Make changes to your blog design? Create blog graphics? This is the perfect time to tackle the housekeeping projects and the behind the scenes work on your blog that may get lost in the shuffle of day to day blogging.

Work Ahead

If you're anything like me, there are quite a few drafts waiting to be assembled into posts. Tackle a few of those and schedule them for your return. The aftermath of a vacation can cause some disruption in your schedule so knowing that you have a few blog posts scheduled may help alleviate some stress.

Brainstorm

I sometimes feel like a deadline stifles my creativity. I plan on using some time to brainstorm new post ideas and store them as drafts. If writer's block should ever strike I will have an arsenal of ideas at my disposal (perfect since I may be able to use some of my existing drafts as noted above!).

No matter what you decide to do, the key is to relax and enjoy your time away. You may find that a break from blogging may leave you inspired and motivated to try new things and share new experiences.

Have you taken a break from blogging when you went on vacation? What did you do to prepare your blog for a vacation? What tips do you have to share?

6 Tips for Better SEO on Blogger

SEO. I know it freaks me out a little too, but it is so very important. Christine from The So-Called Homemaker recently hosted a Blogger Pow Wow and taught us all a little about SEO. However, she's a WordPress blogger and it's a little more complicated for them. Being a Blogger blogger, Google takes care of a lot of it for us, but there are a few things you can do to give your blog posts a little boost!

For your individual posts:

1. Labels/Tags

These are the easiest things to use. Just click the "Labels" option in the right sidebar of the Post Editor Screen and add some labels or tags that apply to your post (you'll need to separate each one by commas). These labels are displayed in the footer of your posts (if you have this option turned on) and can also be used for grouping together similar posts, like recipes, for a Categories button on your sidebar.

2. URL

Sometimes you have a clever title that doesn't describe your post fully. This is where the custom URL comes into play. Say you titles your post "Here's lookin' at you kid" but your post is really about classic movies that everyone has to see at least once, then you'll want to change your URL to match the theme of your post rather than your clever title. Here's how you change the URL.

In the right sidebar of the Post Editor Screen, choose the "Link" option. Chose the "Custom Permalink" option and enter the last part of the URL you want your post to have. Then click Done.

3. Search Description for Your Posts

This little gem will help you in a couple of different ways. Firstly this will be the text that will be previewed when a search engine pulls your post. You'll want to include key words and phrases in this little snippet for those search engines. This is also the text that will show up when you post or share your blog post on Facebook.

If you don't already have the "Search Description" option available in the right sidebar of your Post Editor Screen, here's what you'll need to do to get it:

From the Blog Overview page, you'll want to choose the "Settings" option in the left sidebar. Under settings you'll see several suboptions, choose "other". Make sure the following selections are chosen:

Allow Blog Feed = Full
Enable Title Links and Enclosure Links = Yes

Now you want to choose the "Search Performance" suboption. Here you want to make sure your Meta Tags have been enabled. Then click Save Changes.

Once this is done you should see the "Search Description" Option in your right sidebar of your Post Editor Screen.

Photos and Images within posts:

4. Image Titles

These are basically little titles for your photos that search engines will use to filter results. Here's how you add them.

Add your photo to your blog post, then click on the photo and choose "Properties" from the little menu that pops up.

Add the title for the image in the "title text" box using a "_" in place of the spaces.

Add the title of your post or something similar according to what your post/image is about in the "alt text" box.

5. Image Links

If you have a "Pinable" image for your posts, like for a recipe or DIY project, then you'll really want to make sure that the image link is changed to the link for that particular post. So when your readers pin the image, it will link back to your post rather than the image itself.

To change the image link you click on the photo and choose "Edit Link" from that little blue menu this time.

Then paste the URL of your post in the "Web Address" box. If you haven't Published your post yet, you can grab the URL from the "Links" menu on the right sidebar of the Post Editor Screen.

For your blog as a whole:

6. Search Description Blog

Remember when we enabled your Meta Tags? Well there was a text box there. This is where you'll want to put a very brief description of your Blog overall. Think like a Tweet type description. Like the post Search Description, this text is what will show when search engines pull your blog in a list of results, so make it good.

And there you have it! I hope this helps explain a little bit more about how you can use SEO to help your blog stand out.

Is there anything I missed??