Life happens, and if your blog is not your primary (or even your second or third) source of income then there’s a chance that blogging will take a backseat while your focus is diverted to the things that pay the bills. However, if you’re like me and use your blog to interact with like-minded individuals then you can’t stay away forever.

So what do you do? Do you write a heartfelt apology to your loyal readers or gloss over the fact that it’s been weeks since your last post and continue writing as if nothing had ever happened? Well, that was exactly the question that I was faced with and after a lot of digging on the Internet I decided to compile an article on how to resume blogging after an absence. You may never need this information, but then again, I never thought I would either. It may be something that you want to keep in your back pocket…just in case.

Avoid Catchy Taglines

The first thing that you need to do is avoid writing catchy annoying taglines like “We now resume our regular scheduled broadcast” or “Regular programming will commence shortly”. Simply put, these phrases are annoying, and I’ve unsubscribed from several blogs in the past because of this. Don’t use them. You’re back, now begin pumping out the content that attracted us to your blog in the first place.

Apologize To Your Readers

If you have over 100 RSS readers subscribed to your blog then I suggest writing a brief apology. These people are your core audience. They are the ones that are most likely to actually interact with your blog through the comments, and if you lose them then you have to start from scratch. Do you remember how hard it was to get 100 readers? Yeah, it’s probably better if you didn’t have to do that again. I’ve written my brief apology below:

“Truebluetitan subscribers: I apologize for my absence and thank you for sticking around. As an entrepreneur attempting to make it on his own, much of my energy has been devoted to building my businesses instead of writing about it. I’m now at a point where I believe that I have established a strong enough foundation to where I can begin blogging about what I’ve been up to and what the future has in store for me. Again, thank you for sticking around and I look forward to once again continuing on the journey with you to becoming an Internet Entrepreneur.”
-Rob Schultz

Individually Thank Readers That Continue To Interact

I have never understood why some blogs do not allow user interaction. That’s the most important part for me. I remember when this blog was just starting out and I would get so excited when someone would leave a comment. It was a little bittersweet when I found out that it was my mom and all she said was “Nice post!”, but it was a start. Without your readers your blog means nothing. So if you’ve been away for a while, take some time to thank your readers that keep coming back. After all, they are why you do this. Once you’ve personally thanked your readers for a while, I recommend reading this article on how to automate the process with the WordPress plugin, Comment Relish.

Participate In Other Blogs

Chances are that if you haven’t written on your blog lately then you probably haven’t participated on others either. Now that you’re back get out there and participate again in the blogosphere. Show the world that you still got it and leave useful comments on blogs participating in the same niche as you.

Don’t Make A Habit Of It

Lastly, don’t make this a habit. If you want to blog, then commit to blogging. We all understand that life has hiccups and you sometimes need to divert your attention, but don’t leave us hanging. We’re all looking for ways to trim down the amount of blogs in our RSS reader, and if you’re not actively providing content that I feel is useful then you’re not going to make the cut. So stick with it!

Compiling this list was helpful for me, and got me really excited to begin blogging again. I was quite surprised at the number of people that sent me emails asking if I was OK and wondering when my next post would be written. It takes a lot of time for me to write a post that I think is worthy of being published and I really appreciate the fact that some of you notice that. Is there anything else that you would recommend to those of us getting back into blogging after a hiatus? Speak up. I really think that this list can be useful for those recreational bloggers looking to make it pro.