Are your affairs in order, blog-wise? Meaning, what is your plan of action if for some reason (heaven forbid, knock on wood) you were suddenly unable to attend to the affairs of your blog? I’ve got some thoughts on the matter and a few reasons for why you should be thinking about it as well.
A blog that is run by a team of people would easily be able to carry on if “the face” of that blog became temporarily (or even permanently) incapacitated. A blog like that probably has several persons familiar with its inner workings. But what about a one-person operation, as no doubt many blogs are? Shouldn’t the time and creative energy you’ve invested in your blog’s success be protected? If it sounds like I’m trying to sell you some service or E-book, I’m not. My only reason for this post is to share my thoughts and ideas on this topic.
Are Your Affairs In Order?
Has the idea of a contingency plan for the disposition of your blog in the event you can no longer manage it ever crossed your mind before? And what about the social media accounts, or email lists, or subscription services associated with your blog? Those thoughts have definitely come to my mind, due to both personal experiences as well as being an outside observer. But even so, I hadn’t thought to develop my own such plan before my mastectomy (if you search the blog using the keyphrase “breast cancer” you’ll find my posts on the subject) despite the steps The Husband and I took to get our personal affairs in order. I imagine that very few people are eager to face their mortality and are likely to put off formalizing any after-life plans to “sometime in the future”.
About the situations I’ve observed, a couple of months ago I’d decided to shift through the Instagram accounts I was following to see whether they were still active or not. I also checked to see if those in my general niche were following me in return. According to an article I’d read about the latest changes to the Instagram algorithms, a lack of engagement from accounts that follow you can reduce the exposure your posts get. Being followed by a lot of inactive accounts would proportionally reduce your account’s level of engagement. So I may or may not have spent a bit of time looking at the accounts following me to check when they had last posted. Don’t judge.
I found several accounts without a new post in over two years. If the account had a link to its associated blog in the bio, I also checked the blog for recent posts or some other indication of activity. It was an eye-opening endeavor as I also came across accounts that I follow but for some reason, I hadn’t seen their recent posts. There were a few bloggers that seemed to have abruptly stopped posting in the last 6 to 8 months which made me wonder if something unfortunate had happened to them. I even ran across one where the blogger’s daughters had posted a notice of her unexpected death which, in part, is what had got me thinking about this topic.
Reason 1 – You Want To Protect Your Digital Property
At some point, maybe you’ve thought about making a will, giving thought about who you’d like to receive some of your personal belongings. Depending on your personal and financial circumstances, setting up a living trust might be appropriate. If either of these is true, then you’ve designated someone as an executor who will see to it the disposition of your “estate”, no matter its size. Your digital property, that is any information about you or created by you that exists in digital form (and whether it’s online, on your computer, or in a cloud account) should be given equal importance as the physical items in your estate. Even your login names, passwords, and answers to security questions used to access your online accounts are assets to be protected after your death.
Even while you’re still alive, it can seem like a neverending challenge to protect your digital property. Just today I came across yet another Instagram account that was using photos taken from several of my posts (and my original captions, too). For this reason alone, you should seriously think about what would happen to your blog and social media accounts if you could no longer tend to them.
Reason 2 – It’s Not As Easy As You Might Think
If something happened to you without warning, who would the tasks of closing out your digital accounts fall to? Without some instruction or guidelines, if that person is a non-blogger, they would not be aware of all that is associated with creating and maintaining a blog. And email accounts and lists. And social media accounts. Often, it’s more than just a login name and a password.
As you may be aware, most (if not all) platforms have privacy policies that will prevent survivors from accessing your accounts unless they already know the login and password. Even if they can get into your accounts, someone unfamiliar with blogging may not know the difference between a domain and a website. Or that typically, each is paid for separately. Some of the support features may also have a separate login and password. Should your untimely death be the reason you can no longer tend to your blog, it will make things much easier for your survivors if they have how-to instructions and a clear statement regarding your preferences as to whether profiles should be deleted or left as a memorial. This leads me to the last reason.
Reason 3 – You Have A Final Message To Share
Like that case of the blogger whose daughters had posted a final tribute, you might want to let your followers know what has happened. Perhaps in detail or just a short message. And the reason for this type of message need not be because you’ve died. It could be as simple as telling your readers that you want to step away from blogging.
Perhaps it depends on the nature of your blog and how much personal information you’ve shared in your writing. If part of your intent has been to connect with others, the closure that a final message provides would be appreciated. Whereas your family and friends would be aware of your passing without an announcement on your blog, your readers might not. Anticipating one’s own passing and making contingency plans may seem unnecessary and morbid. While there is no need to dwell on the matter, it doesn’t hurt to give it some thought.
Truth Bomb(er) Jacket Part 2
On a lighter note, this is that second look for a bomber jacket that I mentioned in the post from last Saturday, Fresh Focus: Bomber Jacket. I’m wearing the same dress as in that post. Truth be told, the photos were taken on the same day in the same general location with just a quick change of shoes and jacket. The bomber jacket in these photos is from a Q2-2017 WhoWhatWear collection but I couldn’t find any photos of me wearing it previously. My faux-croc mules have appeared before on the blog, most recently in Would You, Could You? Camo Joggers.
Depending on your goals, getting your affairs in order needn’t be a complicated and time-involved process. As I stated at the beginning of this post, I’m not trying to get you to buy anything nor is this post sponsored by any entity selling that type of service. Also, I’m not an attorney nor should anything contained in this post be viewed as legal advice in any way.
Common sense tells us that being prepared for an emergency or potential catastrophic event is a wise course of action. The purpose of this post has been to start you thinking about how you might go about developing a contingency plan for your blog if you should suddenly not be able to look after it yourself.
Stay well and let’s keep in touch! Subscribe, tweet, follow, friend, pin … all options are available. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
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Note: This is an unsponsored post; however, some or all of the links to clothing items are associated with an affiliate program where I earned a few cents for each click.
14 Comments
Very enlightening.. We keep talking about needing to set up a will here especially because of having 4 kiddos!
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
That was a frequent topic of conversation for The Husband and me when our kids were young. You get so much peace of mind when you’ve set up a plan.
This was a good eye-opener and reminder, Rena, about ensuring that if something does happen to me that someone is able to give my blog closure. I just use Blogger, so I’m not paying anything or paying anyone to maintain – it’s all just me. My husband also blogs, so i should at least do him the favour of giving him the login and password, along with a message in the event of an emergency. Good food for thought. I’ve experienced some of those drop-offs here and there back when I started blogging and everyone and their dog had a blog (back in the late 00s). One person had been detailing her breast cancer discovery and treatment and then just stopped posting – many of us readers assumed she had died, and then she showed up again years later, all fine. It was a scary thing, as one gets very attached to regular bloggers.
Love your bomber jacket with the dress – what a great-looking outfit! Have a great weekend!
How fortunate that your husband also knows the ins/outs of blogging. That’s not the case for me although my daughter has some experience so it would probably fall to her. It is odd when a blogger just stops posting and doesn’t at least share that they’re taking a break.
WOW this post was very helpful RENA. Thank You.
I always love a monochromatic look made of black and white patterns. I love that the little bomber jacket is both sporty casual yet chic and dressy and those black loafers are so cool, elegant and unique!
Welcome by and join my Thursday Moda this week!
https://eleganceandmommyhood.blogspot.com/2021/03/thursday-moda-251-pastel-coats-and-ducks.html
<3 Ada
I’m glad that you found this post helpful and thank you for the compliments on my outfit.
It definitely is something to consider. I love that bomber jacket. It’s so unique!
I’m glad that you liked my jacket and that you found the topic of this post of interest.
I like the bomber jacket with the dress! 🙂
I have seen a few bloggers I used to follow just delete or stop posting on their blogs – I’ve been reading blogs a lot longer than I have been blogging. It’s sad when you realise they won’t be coming back. And as silly as it sounds, when I see a US blogger that has stopped posting in or around 2020 I worry it was the virus, it makes me sad.
I’ve thought a few times about setting up a draft post to go when I no longer want to blog, but haven’t done it. I like my little relaxing blog time and I’m not giving it up any time soon. My husband also wouldn’t be likely to post on my blog if something happened! While I don’t schedule social media posts I do schedule blog posts in advance, and I have a couple months of YouTube videos ready to go so it would be weird if something did happen as things would continue for a point, haha!
Hope your week is going well! It’s a rainy one here!
Oh my goodness, Rena, I was just talking to my husband about this a few weeks ago and was showing him what to do in the event that I could no longer attend to my blog! He was so confused! I told him to just get in there and type some kind of message for my readers so they don’t think I just disappeared! Or to go into my email and contact one of you for help! It is a morbid thing, but planning is necessary. Going through deployments and things like that, you are required to have plans in place should your soldier not return home. All kinds of things have to be filled out. I remember our extended family getting really upset with us as we were planning for Jeff’s last deployment a few years back. But it has to be done and you can’t get too emotional about it either. I love your outfit in these photos, by the way! Really great post topic, my friend.
Shelbee
http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com
I am on a mission to get our affairs in order after seeing several friends and family members struggle to do so after the unexpected death of a loved one. Bought a book called I’m Dead, Now What? and hope we can begin to get some accounts set up for the inevitable, get our will updated, etc. This is another thing I need to think about. Thank you for this food for thought.
And thank you for linking up for the #AgelessStyle linkup. I have a bomber jacket and had never thought of pairing it with a dress but you can bet I will be trying that now. Love how your bomber almost looks like like a blazer with your dress. Gives the whole look a very polished, professional feel. Bravo!!
It is important to have contingency plans and I’m glad to hear that you’ve been working on this. Also, I’m so pleased that you like the bomber jacket and dress combination. It is a bit unusual but like you said, the overall effect does have a bit of polish.
This is really important to consider! Thanks for sharing. Wonderful and Lovely Post dear! xoxo
Allurerage
Thetrendybride
I’m glad to know that you liked this post.