5 Ways To Keep Up Your Pet Blog While You Travel
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I know we’re supposed to be talking about puppy training, but every once in a while I like to talk about what’s going on behind the scenes at the your favorite pet blog: PuppyInTraining.com
If you remember way back at the beginning of February I decided to make 366 posts to my pet blog as a challenge goal for 2012. The goal was about consistency. I wanted to produce content daily for my PuppyInTraining.com dog blog. Unfortunately, my string of consecutive posts ended last Friday night when the internet connection at my hotel went down while I was on vacation 🙁
The streak ends at 44 posts, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still reach my goal of 366 blog posts. Even though I was on vacation I was still creating blog entries, but instead of posting to WordPress I saved the posts in a Word Document locally on my computer. So, fortunately I have 2 extra blog posts that I will post this week thus giving me the opportunity to reach my 366 posts.
After this past weekends debacle I wanted to reach out to other pet bloggers to find out what they do with their pet blogs when they travel. In the future these are 5 ways I plan on using to keep my pet blog up to date while on vacation.
5 Ways To Keep Up Your Pet Blog While You Travel
This is the first time I made a concerted effort to keep posting to my dog blog while on vacation and unfortunately things didn’t go quite as planned. I had time sectioned off during my trip specifically allocated as personal pet blogger time. I was able to stick to this schedule, but internet connectivity did not agree with me and I didn’t have time, vehicle, or motivation to search out other possible internet connections.
So what could I have done differently to keep my string of consecutive blog posts alive?
- Scheduled Blog Posts – I was only gone four days so I could have created a few blog posts beforehand and scheduled them using WordPress to be released on specific times and dates. This was actually the original plan, but I was so busy the week leading up to my vacation I didn’t have time to pre-write my blog posts.
- Blog While On Vacation – My plan was to just allocate some personal pet blogger time while I was off on holiday. Before traveling I made sure I could get an internet connection at my hotel. I then made sure to bring my laptop with a few blog post ideas relating to my trip. Finally, I started pet blogging late Thursday night starting with a post about dog boarding. Things went wrong on day 2…no internet for the next couple days…thus ending my consecutive streak of blog posts 🙁
- Guest Pet Bloggers – Bring in guest pet bloggers to write for a few consecutive days. Unfortunately, I don’t have the relationships at this point to pull in pet bloggers I know and trust to create riveting pet blog posts. This is something I’m going to work towards this year.
- Use Your IPhone 4S – Create blog posts using your smartphone. I have the original Droid and it’s gotten to the point where the battery really only lasts about a half day. I actually thought about using my Droid to create blog posts for my Puppy In Training blog while on vacation, but alas it seemed way to difficult especially with my outdated equipment. Now if I had a newer smartphone like the IPhone 4S or maybe some other high end Android smartphone I may have ventured into the world of pet blogging from your phone…definitely a possibility unless I go to option 5…
- Use Your “New” IPad – Create blog posts using an IPad or Android tablet. I don’t have an IPad, but maybe it’s time to get one because if I had the “New” 4G LTE IPad then I could have easily written up a few blog posts and posted them using the built in wireless connection to the internet.
Those are 4 possible options to keep your pet blog alive when you’re on vacation. However, I’m sure many of you out there have other strategies you use to keep your pet blog rolling right along while you’re on vacation. If you’re a pet blogger then please tell me what your do with your pet blog when you go on vacation. Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below.
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Hi Popcorn,
I have a difficult time creating content with my phone and I think I’d feel the same using an iPad. I really like my trusty laptop. Right now I’m trying to decide if I should get the high powered MacBook Retina or a more portable MacBook Air.
I kinda failed at the 366 posts for 2012. I kept it up for about 2 1/2 months and got a little discouraged with the quality of my posts. I’m now doing about 2-4 posts a week. I guess I could still catch up to 366, but not likely. After 5 years of blogging I’m still trying to find my natural posting rhythm.
Thanks for stopping by!
Colby
Hi Colby, I kinda use the Word doc way, except i type my post on WordPress and save it as drafts. I also use my iPad and my handphone too. I like to blog about Popcorn everyday, but sometimes (like now).. I can fall behind schedule. But since I’ve already gotten the content ready, now it’s just about putting the posts together, photos/ videos etc. 😀 Good luck with your 366 posts for 2012!
Xoxoxo Popcorn!
@Pamela, He wouldn’t be allowed to stay in the play areas because of strict guidelines from his guide dog school. I was thinking about having him stay in the room during parts of the day. It would be nice for him to work on his socialization, but I’m going to wait and see. Thanks for letting me know some of the pet friendly details about the BlogPaws Conference it makes my decision a bit easier on whether or not I should bring Apache.
I’m not bringing Honey because I have to fly and Honey is too big to fly in the cabin with me.
As for bringing Apache, they have play areas where you can leave him if you think it’s a good fit (we find it a bit rambunctious for Honey) and he can probably sleep in your room during sessions but you can have him with you for the more social parts of the event.
@Pamela, creating time to blog is a good subject. Are you planning on taking Honey again this year? Whether or not I bring Apache will depend on Apache. He still acts like a puppy so when I’m out socializing him I really have to concentrate on his training. I don’t want to devote all my time to working with him and miss out on important parts of the conference. If he progresses over the next few months I’ll feel much better about bringing him with me.
I’d urge you to bring Apache. It would be a great socialization experience with lots of people who understand what it means to have a puppy in training.
I took Honey last year and she did great.
You’ll also meet quite a few traveling cats and even a few ferrets.
I’m working on a presentation with Robbi Hess. My topic of interest is creating time to blog. I’ll post more about it soon over at Something Wagging.
@Pamela, I’ve been in a real nice rhythm with my blog posting and I really wanted to keep that up while I was on vacation. I’m still a little bummed out that bad internet connection broke my string of consecutive days. Oh well.
Yep, one of my goals is to attend BlogPaws this year. I’m still trying to decide whether or not I should bring Apache, my current guide dog puppy in training along with me. Have you brought any of your dogs in the past?
That’s awesome that you’re speaking at BlogPaws! I’d definitely like to meet up while I’m there. Do you know what you’re going to talk about?
I appreciate your discipline to post every day. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing to take time off. Especially if you let your readers know you’ll be offline for a little while.
That said, I try to blog during my vacation because I enjoy it and it helps keep my rhythm up. But I usually post on something a bit unusual. Last year, for instance, I highlighted some of my favorite bloggers. This year, I’m hoping to run some interviews.
BTW, I saw somewhere online that you are planning to attend BlogPaws. I’ll be speaking and I hope we get a chance to meet while there.