The Case of the Vanishing Blog

Well folks, the beautiful blog Uncommon Slice of Suburbia was taken down recently.  In an instant, *poof* it was gone, into a black hole.  Remember when Bambi's mother was shot down?  That's how this felt.

When I went to Kristin's bog, I saw this.  

She looked at her blog one minute, and the next minute, it was gone... just like that.  And the worst part is that she had never backed up her blog.  YIKES!!! (She does now.) 

And I know how she feels, because it happened to me a few weeks ago.  My blog just disappeared from the internet with no warning.  I was upset that something I had put my heart and soul into for almost a year could disappear so easily, without warning or explanation.  I had backed up my blog, so I knew that I could get the content back, but if I started a new blog somewhere else, how would my friends know where to find me?  It was very devastating to realize that one of my main modes of communicating was gone. 

If I started a new blog somewhere else, how would I get the word out?  I felt very cut off, and I think the hardest part was feeling like my connection to my friends in the blogisphere had been severed. 

My blog came back later the same day, but Kristin's blog was gone for about 24 hours.  I know several bloggers that use BLOGGER (the free place you can host a blogspot blog on Google) who have lost their blog at least temporarily.  Free is wonderful, but there is a price to be paid.  When you don't pay for the hosting, you are at someone else's mercy. 

If you have a blog on Blogger; I am hopeful these ideas will be helpful whether you plan to stay on Blogger or move to Wordpress. I am sharing my blog strategy here in the hopes that it will be helpful to someone, although I know many of you are already doing these.

1. Make sure your readers have an alternate way to reach you. How will you connect with your readers if you can't access your blog? How will you let them know you have moved, if your old blog is gone? I think Facebook is the best alternate way to reach people, so I highly recommend setting up a page if you haven't already done so. BTW, please like Cedar Hill Ranch's facebook page... well... just in case something happens to my blog, I will have a way to let you know where I am. Leave a comment here or on the ranch's FB page saying you "liked" Cedar Hill Ranch on facebook, and I will gladly "like" yours too.  

When my blog went missing, this is where I communicated with my blogging friends, and Kristen used her facebook page while her blog was missing.  I was such a comfort to me knowing that I had some way of still connecting.



2. Back up your blog . If you are on Blogger, it's under SETTINGS.  Select EXPORT BLOG. It downloads a copy of your blog to your hardrive.  It does not include your photos but includes the code from your blog posts that points to where your photos are.  I was backing up my blog once a week, but decided that I would start backing it up every time I had a new post.  Kristin covers these steps in her blog here. Another thing you can do is set up a new "dummy" blog on blogger.  Export your blog to your hard drive, then in the new blog, import your blog.  Don't publish it, just keep the posts in draft form.  Then you can publish the posts in your new blog if your old one ever goes down, or you can export the posts elsewhere. 

3. Start using Linky Followers. If you decide to move your blog to Wordpress at some point, I believe you can move your Linky followers with you, whereas, Google Friend Connect followers are no longer available on non-BLOGGER sites.  BTW, I am actually still seeing them, but Google said they were going away this month.  And even if you were to move to a new BLOGGER address, I believe you have to start all over with GFC followers.  The link to follow my blog by linky follower (hint, hint) and to sign up for your own free Linky Follow account is below.




4. Have an emergency plan. What will do you if this happens to you? When my blog disappeared, I was too stressed to think about moving my blog.  I wondered how I could possibly learn Wordpress and get my blog up and running in a week or so.  I wished I had done my research while I wasn't in a crisis mode. 

It was while my blog was missing, that I started working on a new paid Worpress site.  I am stilling working on moving my blog.  I'll let you know how that is going later, so you can learn from my mistakes.  I'll share the new blog address too, to be sure you can find me.


If you decide to move your blog, you can redirect your old blog to point to your new blog, sort of like how the post office will forward your mail to your new address when you move to a new house.  You can do the redirect, so long as your old blog is still there.  If your blog disappears permanently, you won't be able to redirect the traffic from your old blog to your new one.  (The has happened to a few bloggers, but usually the removed blog is returned.)  I am still doing research on how to make the move without losing readers.  I want to be sure I do it right. You don't want readers looking for you and finding nothing.

5. If you are considering Wordpress, Join a support group.  I am interested in joining/starting a group of like-minded bloggers to go through this process with me.  I want to be able to talk to others who have gone through this switch and others that are doing it now.  Let's help eachother. If you know of such a group that would welcome some newbies, please let share that info here in a comment.  Or if you are interested in joining a new group as a wordpress newbie or veteran, please let me know in a comment below or by email.  Bloggers are wonderful people so willing to help others and I appreciate that about you.