Back up your blog.

 After reading Peppers recent post about reasons as to why people delete their blogs, I noticed a few people had mentioned some blogs had "changed", and were now flogging sunglasses, cameras, etc. I'd noticed a few blogs like this in the past year, this happens when a blog is hacked to steal the followers, basically they gain a free audience on the back of the hard work of the original blogger, nasty.  I also wondered if the host site might accidentally delete a blog, that does actually happen occasionally according to angry bloggers I found in a google search. So I thought it would be a good idea to backup my blog regularly, replacing the last copy with a new copy etc.

  It also means if you delete your blog for whatever reason, you'll still have a copy of it.  I've gotten rid of things in the past, and there is nothing worse than regret...Someone else is sitting on my great grandmothers chair right now!

Here's a little handy pictorial guide for those who need it.  I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only one who has never thought of backing up my blog, and you've all been doing this for ages, but if I can reach one blogger like me, it's worth it :D

Starting from your blogger dashboard, where the reading list is etc, follow the arrows and click

Export blog.....Delete option is FAR too close for my liking, it should be on the other side of the page somewhere in the corner! Keep a steady hand on the mouse...and click on Export blog, wear glasses if you need them :D

The download will contain each post consisting of all words, photographs and comments but not the template. ie, your background, etc.

After you download your blog, it will be somewhere on your computer, you might even want to rename it so you can find it easily. Hopefully you will never need it, but...at least it's there for peace of mind.  I feel so much more relaxed now! :D

P.s. The file will be in XML format, and won't make a bit of sense, but if you were to import/upload it to blogspot, they will reconfigure it back to sense.