Does the thought of taking a content break from your blog make you feel bit anxious and nervous? Or is that just be me? It takes consistency to build up the momentum it takes to grow your audience. And taking a break? Feels like you might lose some of that momentum or, worse yet, backslide.
So if you’re experiencing any anxiety or fear about stepping away from your blog and content, it’s completely normal. It can be really hard to let go of that feeling – especially when you’ve been kicking butt on your content lately and are finally starting to see some traction in terms of growing your community, visibility and engagement.
I've been there – so afraid of losing your audience or getting out of the habit of posting content regularly that I feel like I can't ever take a break—even when I know it’s exactly what I need to get reinspired and recharge.
The best way to overcome these feelings? Feeling like you’ve prepared so that it looks like the machine is still running even though you’re not at the wheel.
Keep on reading for my 5 best tips on how to take a break from your blog!
The whole purpose is to get you prepared to take a guilt-free, stress-free vacation from your blog and content and to use that free time however you choose. And since we're getting closer to Summer, may I suggest delicious afternoon naps, weekend getaways and roadtrips, or sipping margaritas by the pool (send some my way, please?)
My 5 Best Tips for Taking a Content Break This Summer From your Blog (or Content) ↓
Content Summer Break Step #1: Plan Ahead of Time
Feeling like you’re well prepared ahead of your break does wonders for easing the potential guilt and anxiety you might feel at the thought of stepping away. And chances are, if you’re prepared, your audience won’t even notice you’re gone because from the outside looking in, everything runs and posts as usual.
The first thing to take a guilt-free content break is to plan ahead of time. Don’t leave it to the last minute.
Here are some questions to answer for planning out an intentional content break:
- How long do you want to take a break for?
- Are there any offers you want to focus on promoting while you’re away?
- What channels will you keep publishing on while you’re away?
- What do you need content-wise? How many blog posts do you need? How many emails? How many social posts and what types?
Build out an editorial calendar with your content publishing dates (read the next before deciding on exact posts and topics though!)
Another tip? Go Dateless!
On your blog that is!
Why unintentionally turn your audience off of reading posts that you published in the past that are just as relevant today? It also helps when you’re taking a break from blogging so it doesn’t look like you’re one of those people who posted for awhile and then vanished into thin air! It’s an easy setting to turn off in WordPress and for most themes. Look up instructions for your specific website builder if you’re using something else.
Content Summer Break Step #2: Theme Your Content into Campaigns
Just because you’re taking time off creating and sharing content in real time, it doesn’t mean that sales have to dry up and stop.
The best way to keep the sales coming is to group and theme your content into campaigns. This might look like 3-4 weeks of free content (blog, email and social) followed by 1 week of sales invitations and promotional content.
The exact timing of your campaigns will depend on how long you’re planning on being out-of-the-content-office and how much content you have at your fingertips to make pulling these campaigns together quick and easy.
Here’s a little guidance on how I’d approach it:
- Away for less than 3 weeks: Just plan and schedule the free content part of your campaigns to keep your audience nurtured, growing and engaged until you get back in the swing of things to run your regular promotion and marketing calendar
- Away for 3-5 weeks: Do a single campaign with 1 week at the end reserved for “selling” and then rest for your free/nurture content.
- Away for 6-8 weeks: Do 2 campaigns of 3-4 weeks each. With 1 week for selling and then 3-4 weeks of nurture content.
- Away for 9-11 weeks: Do 3 campaigns of 3-4 weeks each. With 1 week for selling and then 3-4 weeks of nurture content.
Once you’ve decided your content campaign breakdown, add the specifics of your campaigns to your editorial calendar (when you’re running each theme and your sales weeks).
Content Summer Break Step #3: Repurpose Where Possible
Taking a 4-week break? Maybe it feels like you have to write 4 blog posts with corresponding newsletters and social media. And then you get into a downward thought spiral about how much work that’s going to be. And then what about the content you’ll need when you get back? Shouldn’t you have something pre-prepared for that too?
You don’t necessarily have to create new content for each slot – but can pull from your existing content assets, either sharing them as is or repurposing them into a new piece.
I always recommend having a content bank set up make finding, sharing and organizing your content easier. You can grab my done-for-you template and systems kit here.
The best part about grabbing existing pieces of content is that you can usually find other content you used to promote the post such as original emails or social media posts. Grab these to when you’re building out your summer break content calendar.
Take action: Add specific topics and posts to reshare to your editorial calendar and get them scheduled
Content Summer Break Step #4: Get Creative to Fill Editorial Gaps
Now that you’ve built out your editorial calendar with your content campaigns and old posts to reshare, you may be left with some gaps to fill with new content.
Here are 5 of my go-to methods for creatively filling those gaps:
- Interview Yourself: Create a new post using the Content Interview Process which helps you quickly draft a brand new post and turn it into blog post gold with the 4 phase editing method.
- Host Guest bloggers: Know some people who would be a great fit for your audience? Ask if they’d like to post something or go into a Facebook group and pose the question: “I’m looking for guest posters on [insert your website]. I write about x, y and z. Please comment below or pm me know if you’d be interested!” Schedule their posts for the days you normally publish. You get coverage, they get exposure and your audience gets a new post. Wins all-round!
- Created a webinar or presentation? Transcribe the best parts and structure into a blog post.
- Created a pdf or opt-in? Write a blog post around that by pulling out the main parts. Then your opt-in becomes the content upgrade. Filling your content calendar and building your list at the same time? Win-win!
- Interviewed for a podcast or guest teaching spot? Pull from there to create a blog post to share.
Just a note that if you have a lot of gaps to fill, maybe rethink your campaigns so you can use more or what you already have OR scale back to a biweekly publishing schedule so you need less content to fill your calendar with.
Take action: Set aside a day to work on any new content you’ll need to fill missing gaps in your editorial calendar using one of the methods above. Then go ahead and schedule these too. Double check your calendar to make sure you’ve got all your weeks covered.
Content Summer Break Step #5: Give Yourself a Buffer
The final step is actually for when your return. But I would 100% recommend preparing content for the week you get back too (learned the hard way).
So whether this means adding an extra week to your campaign or making the “sales” week the week you’re back, having everything scheduled ahead of time will make your return to content or office much much easier (and prevent a trickle down of work piling up and making it harder to get back into your content routines).
If scheduling content feels like too much, at least create a day by day “what I’ll do to get back on track” plan. For example: Monday: Write next week’s post and send a free resource email to my list; Tuesday: Tackle social; and so on.
You’re Invited: The “Take Back Summer” Challenge!
In desperate need of a summer vacay from your content? This free challenge is the perfect place to get prepped for a stress-free and streamlined content vacation.
