Blogger Monday: When should you back up your blog content?

Last week I wrote my "Blogger Monday" blog post Sunday night and used the option to schedule it to post on the Monday. I went to sleep, content in having a new blog post under my belt. I have been on Blogger, Google's blogging platform, before it was even owned by Google. Yes, more than seven years. I have always composed my messages directly into the blog, hit "publish" and never had a problem. Until last week.

The next day I went about my day, and it wasn't until late morning that I thought to check in to the blog. Much to my surprise, the new blog post was not there! I went into the dashboard on the back end. Perhaps I had done something wrong? With the WordPress blogging platform, for example, if you leave the category "uncategorized" checked off, the post does not appear publicly.  No, nothing there. I checked draft posts, I checked scheduled posts, and I checked all posts. Nothing. I tried searching the posts from the back end, again nothing. I spent a couple of stressed hours. I remembered largely what I had written, but who wants to spend another hour rewriting a blog post?

I checked Google's help forum and discovered a few others had experienced the same problem recently, but no one was offering answers as to why and how to recover. I vented a bit on Twitter, and got a bit of sympathy but again no real answers.

And then I got a message from educator extraordinaire, Diane Bédard:

Backup? Ummm...hrm. I had never thought to back up an individual blog post. I always thought once it was accepted as post I would be safe. Apparently not!  My first reaction was to say "I could never write off-line and then post to a blog! Blogging directly into the blog platform is part of my creative process!". I have to admit to being a bit huffy about it. And then I realized that (as is always the case) Di was right.

Backing up individual blog posts

So, my compromise is to write directly in the blog platform, but then to copy down the content at least until the post goes up publicly. That way I always have my last post at least in draft "just in case."  I am getting used to this new addition to the workflow, but here is what I do:

• Go to the HTML editor for the blog post and copy all content (using "select all" in the browser).  This way I capture all the HTML coding. 
• I then copy it into a text editor rather than Word so that extra Word code is not added to the document. And...save.  
• If I need to reinstate the blog post later, I would copy from the text editor document, and paste into the HTML editor screen.

So how did I get the post back last Monday? After putting it aside for a couple of hours, I came up with an idea: what about my browser history, was there a link there? I went in, and was very fortunate to somehow (mysteriously) be able to pull open the blog post. It appeared to somehow still be in Blogger, albeit lost. I copied from the HTML editor and then went to the blog in a fresh screen, started a new blog post, and pasted the copied text back into the HTML editor.  I was extremely lucky all of this actually worked.

Backing up all archived blog content (i.e. exporting)

In addition to backing up individual posts, what else should you do to back up your blog content? It is a good idea to periodically back up your content in case the site goes down or disappears.

WordPress, for example, has an "Export" feature currently under "Tools":

Blogger has an "Export content" feature under "Settings" and "Basic":

Other considerations in backing up blog content

Other things to think about when determining how you are going to back up blog content:

• Think about the format you are exporting the content into. 
• What about the blog template, especially if you have customized it? On Blogger it doesn't hurt to grab the template HTML (copy from the Template > Edit Template page). In WordPress, keep track of the plugins you have added.
• What about blogger profiles? And other pages added such as with WordPress?
• Will the content you capture allow you to sufficiently replicate the blog later? Move to another platform?
• Where will you store the backup versions of the site? Think about the measures you typically take to back up important content. You may wish to do the same with your blog content.
• How often will you back up content?  It is a good idea to stick to a regular schedule. Will you back it up daily, weekly or monthly?
• Who will be in charge of backing up the site? Who will fill in if that person is away?

I have to admit being a bit cavalier with my own blog, but after last week's incident am starting to realize how much personal equity I have built up in this blog and how I should be making a more concerted effort to back it up. And of course if you are administrating a blog for work or business purposes, you may have even more important reasons to back it up consistently.

When updating blog templates or layouts

Finally, it is a very good idea to have a separate development or test site for making changes to the blog template or plug-ins. Set up a copy of your blog at a separate URL to test out changes. That way if you mess something up, you haven't destroyed your good work on the main site. This is something I see others doing. In the past I would have just tweaked the template of this blog on the fly; however, especially with something like WordPress, code and plug-ins can interact in unexpected ways. As I start to think about changing the template to this blog, I am giving thought to setting up a separate test site so I can play around with options and not risk losing my hard work. 

Blogger Monday: Kickstarting an Old Blog

I know I keep harping on about the things I learned at AALL 2011, but there is indeed more. Last week I attended the blogger meetup hosted by the CS-SIS (Computing Services Special Interest Section). We were fortunate to have Meredith Lindemon, owner and operator of Meredith Group, join us. Lindemon is a consultant who specializes in launching the web presence for organizations as well as business development.

She sat with each of our tables and gave us individual advice about our blogs. I have to admit, I didn't expect to learn much since I have been blogging so long and even written a successful book about blogging. But I was pleasantly surprised!  I explained to her that I have been blogging for over seven years, help other people to blog, and even consult in this area. But, I was struggling to keep content going on my own blog. I have been a stuck thinking about how I would like to change the look of this blog, and feel this has kept me a bit hung up on posting.

She gave me three pieces of advice to get started again, some of which I apparently have been taking:

1. Give up on the old blog and start fresh with a new one on a different topic.
2. Get into the habit of writing each day for just 20 minutes.
3. Pick a theme for each day of the week and write to that theme. For example, Mondays could be about law librarianship, Tuesdays could be interviews with mentors.

While I felt that the first suggestion to be sage advice, it is not good for me. My blog has been wide-ranging and has developed over time as I have developed my own interests. I want to keep blogging about what I am learning professionally, so don't see a need to start on a new topic or a new blog. That being said, at some point the look will get revamped.

But the other two pieces of advice hit the nail on the head, I think. Writing each day for 20 minutes is a low time commitment, and yet should get me back in the groove of blogging each day. I do a lot of writing throughout the day (Twitter, Facebook, email, blog comments, and of course client reports) so this should not be a stretch.  

I am mulling over the idea of a theme for each day. Behind the scenes I have in the past put together series of blog topics only to feel less than inspired when it came time to write the full blog posts once I had completed the outlines. No doubt there are skeletal blog post remains littered all over the place. So, it will be important to pick themes I can sustain. No doubt the best plan of action will be to start with themes I am already addressing, and allow those to flourish. I am still giving some thought to this. 

I do like the idea of making one day dedicated to the topic of blogging since I have written substantially in this area. Therefore, I am kicking off the themes with "Blogger Monday". What do you think? What sorts of topics would you like to see covered with respect to blogging?

And what about the other days of the week? What should I cover then? I have some ideas but haven't set fingers to keyboard yet, so there is still time to get your suggestions in. 

Thank you so much for joining me in this journey to get this blog rolling again. I think it is about time! I really do hope you will consider participating and adding a comment or two to the blog. That would be some real encouragement!

Cheers,

Connie

Photo credit:  based on "Kick Start" by BotheredByBees made available for use and adaptation under Creative Commons.

I Know What I Did This Summer

....and what a summer it has been! No doubt you have expected me to have been in vacation mode, with my blogging taking a back seat to summer sun. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth. Summer 2007 has been unusual in that I have not slowed down as I usually do to enjoy the season. I have been pushing through on a number of projects. I now finally get to report back on a few of them:

• First and foremost has been the 4th Northeast Regional Law Libraries Meeting ("NE2007") being held in Toronto October 17 - 20, 2007, which I have been co-chairing along with Steve Weiter from Rochester, NY. Our conference title and theme is Libraries Without Borders II, playing off the last conference held in 1996. Working on this has been a bit like working on a large train. It took a little while to get going since we started working on it 3 1/2 years ago, but now it is full steam ahead! I am just trying to hold on and not get crushed. hahahaha!! We have a fantastic program lined up. I strongly urge you to have a look at the website http://www.librarieswithoutborders.net . News is being posted at our blog http://librarieswithoutborders.wordpress.com and we've created a wiki for participants to post and interact at http://librarieswithoutborders.pbwiki.com . I will be blogging more about this in future posts as I cajole you into attending. ;-)
• I have been teaching a one-day social networking tools course at the Professional Learning Centre, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto. The deal is I was supposed to promote it via this blog, but it filled up so fast I didn't even get a chance to tell you, dear readers, about it before it was full. Much to my surprise! We have run classes on August 9th and 23rd. The next one is slated for September 14th and I believe that one is now sold out as well. Wow! More about that later.
• To be able to teach that course, I have been immersing myself in social networking tools such as Facebook, Google Reader and del.icio.us. If you have been in those spaces you may have seen me. I hope to have some links and observations to share with you as I go along. In some ways at least two of these have started to replace my link blogging over at Connie Crosby Links. This was not part of any sort of purposeful web strategy, but a natural progression. I still have to consider the implications for this blog site.
• I have been participating in the ebb and flow of life and "microblogging" over on Twitter. If you would like to follow along my "tweets", please feel free to find me--I go by connieblogger. (Hint: if you want me to reciprocate and follow you on Twitter, you need to put something meaningful into your profile so that I recognize you or see something we have in common).
• It has been a hectic summer at work. We have been re-evaluating our projects and services at the same time as welcoming articling students into our orientation program mid-summer. Not an easy feat!

My co-workers deserve a lot of credit, working with me and putting up with my periodic comings and goings as I take time off for teaching and meetings. I've done my best to be very present this summer during our changes. If anything has suffered, I would say it has probably been my blogging. Getting home in the evenings, I have barely had the energy to fire up the macbook much less think about putting two words coherently together.

Which reminds me, I have been also neglecting my column on LLRX.com. Owner/editor Sabrina Pacifici has not only been patient and understanding with my many excuses, but also been a strong personal support to me. I have at least a column or two buzzing in my brain after this summer of working and thinking, so I hope to rectify that shortly.

So, now, back to our regularly scheduled program! Happy reading, and I hope to be a little more connected all of you going forward.

Cheers,
Connie

Canadian Bloggers Being Challenged

Posted over at Slaw earlier this evening: Canadian Bloggers Being Challenged - discussing a fantastic Mathew Ingram article from Saturday's Globe and Mail discussing some of the legalities about blogging in Canada.

Canadian bloggers should read the full article.

Hat tip to Judy Gombita for passing this along to me.