Blogging Tips

Between traveling, holiday parties, gift shopping and your regular every day activities, the entire month of December can be a blur. Don’t let blogging become a point of stress. Prepare for the holiday season as far as your regular blogging goes, and you will find yourself a ease with all the other things you need to deal with. Check out these survival pointers for blogging during the holiday season:

Write about the big stuff.

It’s the holiday season. We don’ have much else to talk about, and a lot of people don’t even care to talk about much else anyway. You might as well take advantage of the overflowing holiday spirit and get some additional traffic. Sit down and think of some relevant posts for the holiday season, which can be done no matter what your religious beliefs are.

Aside from the traditional aspects of the holiday season, the end of the year is a major point of interest for retailers and businesses. These are also topics you could cover on your blog, as they still pertain to the holiday season but don’t necessarily reflect any religious sticking points.

Check the news on a regular basis to see what’s still going on in the world, and use this as your inspiration for various articles that will pique interest with your audience and spur discussion. The holiday season is also a great time to bring in some personal blog posts, sharing stories from your own life in order to make a point. These types of articles can be written further in advance than those that pertain primarily to current events.

Prepare for Travel

If you plan on traveling during the holiday season, you’re going to want to prepare for it. Whether you’re flying or driving, you can ensure that your blog won’t miss a beat while you’re en route. Start by stockpiling some articles, and schedule them for your travel time. This way you won’t feel bad if you don’t get anything published in time.

If you’re doing any interviews for your blog articles, schedule them early. This leaves you plenty of time to research and complete your write up without having to worry about the interviews interfering with your holiday errands and events. If you find you’re still cramped for time, set up some email interviews that require no phone time at all. Send off your questions to the person being interviewed, and post a Q&A style interview on your blog.

Wireless access to the Internet is also important. Get a mobile wifi card if you don’t already have one. This will keep you from losing time while riding in the car, or sitting at the airport. If you will be racking up frequent flier miles, it may be best to sign up for an account with whichever wireless provider is used by your airline and/or airport. This is a cost-effective way of avoiding pricey one-time use fees for Internet access.

For car rides, you can create your own mobile office as long as you’re not doing the bulk of the driving. Invest $50 in a good power inverter that plugs into your cigarette lighter and allows you to keep your electronic devices charged, even during use. If you are traveling to a destination or will be taking a cruise, check on Internet access and business center options, as some places still charge for these services.

While You’re Away…

Set up your “away” email auto-response. This is a no-brainer, but it’s also very easy to forget. If you don’t think you’ll have ready access to your email accounts and will be late in responding to incoming messages, then setting up your auto-response can help you manage your inbox.

Additionally, many smartphones have rather robust mobile Internet usage these days. You can do a good amount of blogging work from your phone. Bookmark the necessary web pages you will be frequenting from your mobile device for quick access. Install any necessary apps, such as WordPress, for easy mobile blogging and redistribution of your work across your entire social media platform. Bring an extra battery if you have one.

image credit: WebMD