Tomorrow and Wednesday I will be doing a presentation/workship for the International Internet Marketing Association (IIMA) with Tris Hussey on Blogging.

The first night we’re focusing on Blogging 101 - what is blogging, why should businesses participate, and the basics of getting a blog up and running.

The second night we go into more of a Q & A period on Advanced Blogging, for people who know what a blog is and may already have one. This includes some of the more advanced uses of blogging, and how you can tap them for more. We have some demos planned, like understanding metrics and getting custom feeds. More or less we expect to get a lot of business application questions, and that’s great.

Both nights are really hands on. We have a computer lab, some slides, and are ready to dive into some great demos. Should be very interesting. Not enough events of this type are put on.

I’m looking forward to presenting everything and meeting some new people. The second event is sold out, and the first one almost booked up, which is great news! It’s a cool turnaround from last year, when I first presented with Tris, and Roland of Bryght, on blogging for business, and really started to break into blogging.

At that time I was still in the corporate world doing marketing, and a blog, and not long after that I broke off into what I do now. So, it’s cool to turn around a whole year and see what I’ve accomplished, what’s happened in the blogging world, and where my confidence and understanding now are.

So, we’ll probably be posting our slides online after the event. I think some Vancouver guys might be event blogging it too, so we’ll have to wait and see.

So, I’ve been in the middle of more blog launches. Still in the middle, actually. But, the blogs are not mine :)

A couple of months ago I decided to try out a few different topics on the side, to see how they would perform. More or less things I thought would do well, even without my “interest” in the topics. ;)

Well, you all know that I hit something with my entertainment blogs. Knowing what I know of them, and their behavior as a set, and of networks in general, I decided I wanted more. But wasn’t really up to writing a dozen more myself, nor was I organized to start up a whole new network. Besides, what’s the point?

So, I approached the b5 guys, and in no time my blogs were merged over and I became Channel Editor of all Entertainment blogs. Of course, I immediately put out a call for bloggers and started the task of refining everything down. Over the next two weeks, the channel will grow to 20 blogs, which is a great start.

This is my first go at “hiring” bloggers, and I absolutely love it. It’s so much fun to work in this way - spinning out ideas, and getting things rolling. Been a great experience. I’ve got quite enough on my hands for a couple of weeks, but once I get settled with all the launches, who knows where it will lead.

If you follow my other blogs, you know I’m actually on vacation right now. And preparing for it, blog wise, was a big deal. Sure, not every blog was worrying me. I knew some could go a week without content and be ok. But others I have obligations to: some are just starting, some are b5 blogs, some are paid, and some of my own are the key revenue earners. So, preparing to go on a blog vacation was a big deal.

How do you prepare your blogs for an extended absence? Well, there are several ways.

1. Guest bloggers - if you have a fairly well-read blog that thrives on new content, you would be best to invite bloggers to temp at your site. You can get one or a whole bunch. Darren Rowse did this when he went away for a few weeks.

2. Advance post - if your blog platform supports advanced posting (setting the publish date for one in the future) then you can write your daily quota of content beforehand. This works well with WordPress sites.

3. Write from the road - if you aren’t worried about a decrease in post volume, and you expect to have internet access while away, blog from the road.

4. Announce you are going away - if your absence is going to be noticeable, let people know you’re away. This is particularly important if you have a high volume of comments and won’t be able to moderate or respond in a timely manner.

I’m doing a little of the last 3 options. I wrote about 7 days’ worth of posts for my b5 blogs and a few in my own network (boy was that a lot of work), and I’ve written more timely posts whenever I’ve had access. Some blogs have not been getting content at all, and that’s just a fact I’ve had to deal with. Other blog platforms do not support advanced posting, which has turned out to be kind of sucky since many of the hotels we’ve stayed in have not had internet access.

Overall, however, it’s worked out well. Our income level has not changed noticeably, and the traffic levels are staying up in most cases. So, when you go on vacation, take care of your blog. It might be some extra work, but it’s peace of mind.