Don’t Abandon Your Blog! Mothball it to preserve your asset value

(Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes)

Are you tired of blogging? Finally ready to throw in the towel? But all that work you did… you feel ill about all your work going to waste. You don’t want to lose that work! Well, why not find a fast, easy, inexpensive way to keep every word you wrote?

Your writing is solid. Your web pages will gradually increase in value over time, so long as Google can find them when it comes to visit.

I know the temptation is strong, “Just walk away,” people say. Easy for them to say. They don’t have several hundred thousand words poured out of their hearts. And too easy for you.

Just walk away, abandon all your hard work?

No!

Don’t do it…

Years ago, when people wore wool and used things made of wood, clothes were stored with mothballs to prevent being, well, motheaten. Clothes were carefully cleaned, then hung in a closet with mothballs or folded and placed into a cedar chest. (Cedar putting the double whammy down, moths hate cedar too.)

You can do this with your blog as well.

Break from blogging

If you need a break – for any reason – wind down your blog and put it away for awhile. You never know, a few months, or even years later, you just might find your spark blazing again. You will be really glad you didn’t just walk away.

Here’s the backstory.

A blogging acquaintance of mine, S____, who I first met through Yaro Starak’s Membership Mastermind, is taking a leave of absence as a result of a health issue. It’s not a stupendously major health issue, she just needs to reduce her responsibilities and reprioritize. I can definitely relate. Blogging can be extremely consuming, body, mind and soul.

I’ve offered to help her “mothball” her site so that her existing work remains an asset increasing in value, rather than road kill on the Information Superhighway. I would ensure her WordPress is up to date with versions and plugins, ensure her hosting is secure for the next year, get backups run on a monthly schedule, turn comments and pings off, and whatever else needs to be done.

When she is ready to jump back in, everything will be ready to go, and she will pick up where she left off.

Here’s Justin Germino’s opinion on the matter of giving up, which I share: When Should You Give Up on Blogging?

Would you like help mothballing your blog?

If you’re about to take a break for a while, let’s help you get “ended” in a powerful way, such that you preserve (or increase) the value of your work, and be able to return to it any time.

I’m game to help up to three people mothball blog over the next three months. I’ll do it for free, fitting it into my schedule as needed. This will also fit into the upcoming Blog Maintenance Month. Once I mothball 3 blogs, I’ll write my experience up as a free Whitepaper. It’s not difficult to wind down a website, and everyone should have this information.

Pass the word!

Tagged as: Blogging business, Deadsite, Decommissioning, Mothballling