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The Problogger guest blogging experiment: good or bad?

The Problogger guest blogging experiment: good or bad?

Duncan Riley> I’ve had the honour (or honor) over the last couple of weeks of guest blogging at Darren Rowse’s blog Problogger and I’ve pondered the question here: The Problogger guest blogging experiment: good or bad?, but I must add that the question applies to all bloggers: what to do when you go on holiday, or even better: can you actually afford to go on an extended holiday. Darren is fortunate that his blogs are widely read and there was a willing pool of people to guest blog. Whether the blogs are better or worse for that is something that no doubt Darren will discuss on his return to Bleak City (Melbourne…hi inlaws!) next week. But we don’t all have this luxury. If you were going away what would you do? I’ve always had a theory that a blog can last for about 1 week without posting before it’s seriously affected. Would you pay someone to post in your absence, or would you try to post whilst you are on holiday?

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  • Whenever I go away I always leave a post explaining the fact and giving a date when blogging will resume. That way people know what to expect. I’ve found my hits generally return to their old levels within a few days of my return.

  • Hey, Bleak City! Melbourne born and bred … personally I’d try to post while away – although my last holiday was Mauritius 1998! These days it shouldn’t be too hard. I have my feeds on Newsgator Online so half an hour a day while on holidays to find some interesting stuff and post shouldn’t be too hard … but then a holiday is all about getting away from it all …

    With the guest blogging experience at ProBlogger overall it was a success – imho, lets say 90% of it was good. But Darren has a certain style to his writing which I think we’ve all become quite used to.

  • Hello Duncan,
    Honestly, if I had to go on vacation, I think I’d use a combination of self-posting and having guest bloggers.

    I’d plan ahead and create a number of ‘informational’ type posts and future date them to appear every couple of days and also have a few people I trusted to report on the ‘late breaking’ news while I was away.

    I’m also in accordance with Limey, I’d also let my readers know that I’d be away for a few weeks or what have you and let them know when I could be expected back.

    Overall, I believe Darren’s guest blogging was a success, but I’m glad he’s home and I’m looking forward to everything going back to normal :).

  • Now there might be a niche site for Weblog Empire. A blog with a choice of feeds on various topics, which bloggers on holiday can get to post automatically on their blogs for a fee. If the pieces were newsy and informative it would keep the blog ticking over while the usual denizen sat in the sun. I don’t know how feasible that would be technically, or if there would be real demand, but someone should try it.

  • Hey Duncan,

    I know it sounds crazy, but I’m pretty new to blogging and until I read some of your posts on ProBlogger I hadn’t even heard of the Blog Herald ; ) too funny, considering how poular it is!

    Anyway, I thought it was a great success, and it was a lot of fun to read so many different points of view, etc. I made some really great contacts, too. I AM glad Darren is back, because it just wasn’t the same without him, but I wouldn’t mind reading a blog similar to what ProBlogger was like in his abscence, either. The influx of ideas made for an interesting read : )

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