[Hot] Seasonal Online Marketing: Three Simple Tips
For many online businesses, the holiday season presents a unique opportunity to attract and convert new customers. Single-day shopping holidays, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, promote increased traffic--and sales.
2018 proved the point: As CNBC reported earlier this week, Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales "surged to new highs," to $6.22 and $7.9 billion, respectively (Source).
Cyber Monday sales increased by nearly 20%, proving another point: "Though foot traffic at some malls and stores was down over the holiday weekend, more and more shoppers have been turning to the internet to hunt for deals."
As Retail Dive reported, some brands, sparked by Amazon sales, saw phenomenal growth on Cyber Monday--800% (in the case of AncestryDNA), 350% for Tomofun's, and 550% for Tea Forte, which "saw its biggest sales day ever, selling thousands of items."
Anecdotal reports do not tell the whole story, but they do indicate possibility. So how did your online business perform during these crucial shopping holidays? Did you see a significant increase? Do you believe you could see an 800% increase in the future? If so, start planning now.
Successful online brands begin planning for seasonal marketing campaigns weeks or months in advance. However, many brands focus on paid ads, neglecting the elemental importance of organic SEO. This presents an opportunity, of course, for enterprising brands: A focus on organic SEO can increase profits and attract a new target market.
Below we offer three exceedingly simple (two organic and one paid) seasonal holiday optimization tips for smaller brands. These can help you create a successful and enduring SEO campaign that will produce results on any given day. Just remember: To create a successful seasonal marketing campaign start planning months in advance.
Discover: Seasonal Keywords
The judicious use of carefully targeted words and phrases can increase traffic on any given day--especially on a day like Cyber Monday, which itself is a powerful keyword. Ditto: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Christmas.
Of course, to optimize for the season, you'll want to think about the use of common keywords like "deals", "gift guide", "top gifts for men", "top gifts for women", "holiday shopping"--you get the point!
But more importantly, you'll want to think about keywords specific to your industry. As we've noted before: "Precision is the core of SEO. We research and utilize precise keywords to attract a specific audience to a specific product or service. This is SEO. It really is that simple."
Read: "SEO 101: Industry-Specific Keywords"
In a sense, keywords can help you clarify your seasonal offering. As we've noted before:
"You can clarify your offering, first, by thinking about keywords. Imagine you are an Internet user searching for your product or service. What keywords would you use to search for your product or service? Think precisely about the exact keywords that best describe your product or service."
Once you've clarified your offering, your success will be largely defined by the content you create to support that offering.
For more info on keywords, try Google's Keyword Tool. Or read our post on keyword research.
Create: Seasonal Content
Adding precisely targeted keywords to your website can drive traffic, but to compete you need to create content that complements your keywords--and coverts customers.
The easiest way to create seasonally-specific content is to write a blog. Think "Top Ten Gifts for Dad," or other appropriate listicles.
This strategy can be effective for any holiday, yet as Forbes notes: "It’s very important to publish content at the right time -- when your audience is searching for it."
"You need to adjust your focus as the search intent changes," writes Kelly Shelton. "For example, after Halloween, the Halloween-theme content is shelved until next year and we move the focus to the next holiday."
Equally important to seasonal blog posts is seasonal landing pages--specific, static pages devoted to your optimized keywords. These pages may collate your best "Christmas items for Dad," in much the same way as your blog. Yet static pages can be optimized with paid ads or email marketing.
As we noted above, though, you must remember one simple fact: The key for all content, seasonal or otherwise, is conversion. So make sure your content works--if not, try again.
Read: "SEO 101: Conversion Rate Optimization"
Promote: Google Shopping
You may already have a viable paid ad campaign. Yet many small businesses do not take advantage of Google Shopping, which allows users to search for products and compare prices between different vendors.
If your products are already well-optimized on Google, you might not need this service. However, if your products do not enjoy first page rankings, the service can offer you a chance to compete against those that do.
For pricing and information, visit Google Shopping.
Don't Wait Until the Last Minute!
Of course, you can use some of the tips here to immediately boost traffic. More importantly, however, is how you can use these tips to boost traffic today and tomorrow. SEO is a strategy ideally suited for the long-run. To create a truly effective campaign, one must display patience and resolve--and plan for success.
Seasonal Online Marketing with Stepman's SEO
If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites for specific seasonal shopping days--such as Cyber Monday, Christmas, or Valentines'--we suggest contacting our sponsor, Stepman's SEO: 215-900-9398.
Stepman's SEO combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective SEO campaigns that can attract your ideal customer.
2018 proved the point: As CNBC reported earlier this week, Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales "surged to new highs," to $6.22 and $7.9 billion, respectively (Source).
Cyber Monday sales increased by nearly 20%, proving another point: "Though foot traffic at some malls and stores was down over the holiday weekend, more and more shoppers have been turning to the internet to hunt for deals."
As Retail Dive reported, some brands, sparked by Amazon sales, saw phenomenal growth on Cyber Monday--800% (in the case of AncestryDNA), 350% for Tomofun's, and 550% for Tea Forte, which "saw its biggest sales day ever, selling thousands of items."
Anecdotal reports do not tell the whole story, but they do indicate possibility. So how did your online business perform during these crucial shopping holidays? Did you see a significant increase? Do you believe you could see an 800% increase in the future? If so, start planning now.
Successful online brands begin planning for seasonal marketing campaigns weeks or months in advance. However, many brands focus on paid ads, neglecting the elemental importance of organic SEO. This presents an opportunity, of course, for enterprising brands: A focus on organic SEO can increase profits and attract a new target market.
Below we offer three exceedingly simple (two organic and one paid) seasonal holiday optimization tips for smaller brands. These can help you create a successful and enduring SEO campaign that will produce results on any given day. Just remember: To create a successful seasonal marketing campaign start planning months in advance.
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| The "Holiday Shopping" Season is Here! |
Discover: Seasonal Keywords
The judicious use of carefully targeted words and phrases can increase traffic on any given day--especially on a day like Cyber Monday, which itself is a powerful keyword. Ditto: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Christmas.
Of course, to optimize for the season, you'll want to think about the use of common keywords like "deals", "gift guide", "top gifts for men", "top gifts for women", "holiday shopping"--you get the point!
But more importantly, you'll want to think about keywords specific to your industry. As we've noted before: "Precision is the core of SEO. We research and utilize precise keywords to attract a specific audience to a specific product or service. This is SEO. It really is that simple."
Read: "SEO 101: Industry-Specific Keywords"
In a sense, keywords can help you clarify your seasonal offering. As we've noted before:
"You can clarify your offering, first, by thinking about keywords. Imagine you are an Internet user searching for your product or service. What keywords would you use to search for your product or service? Think precisely about the exact keywords that best describe your product or service."
Once you've clarified your offering, your success will be largely defined by the content you create to support that offering.
For more info on keywords, try Google's Keyword Tool. Or read our post on keyword research.
Create: Seasonal Content
Adding precisely targeted keywords to your website can drive traffic, but to compete you need to create content that complements your keywords--and coverts customers.
The easiest way to create seasonally-specific content is to write a blog. Think "Top Ten Gifts for Dad," or other appropriate listicles.
This strategy can be effective for any holiday, yet as Forbes notes: "It’s very important to publish content at the right time -- when your audience is searching for it."
"You need to adjust your focus as the search intent changes," writes Kelly Shelton. "For example, after Halloween, the Halloween-theme content is shelved until next year and we move the focus to the next holiday."
Equally important to seasonal blog posts is seasonal landing pages--specific, static pages devoted to your optimized keywords. These pages may collate your best "Christmas items for Dad," in much the same way as your blog. Yet static pages can be optimized with paid ads or email marketing.
As we noted above, though, you must remember one simple fact: The key for all content, seasonal or otherwise, is conversion. So make sure your content works--if not, try again.
Read: "SEO 101: Conversion Rate Optimization"
Promote: Google Shopping
You may already have a viable paid ad campaign. Yet many small businesses do not take advantage of Google Shopping, which allows users to search for products and compare prices between different vendors.
If your products are already well-optimized on Google, you might not need this service. However, if your products do not enjoy first page rankings, the service can offer you a chance to compete against those that do.
For pricing and information, visit Google Shopping.
Don't Wait Until the Last Minute!
Of course, you can use some of the tips here to immediately boost traffic. More importantly, however, is how you can use these tips to boost traffic today and tomorrow. SEO is a strategy ideally suited for the long-run. To create a truly effective campaign, one must display patience and resolve--and plan for success.
Seasonal Online Marketing with Stepman's SEO
If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites for specific seasonal shopping days--such as Cyber Monday, Christmas, or Valentines'--we suggest contacting our sponsor, Stepman's SEO: 215-900-9398.
Stepman's SEO combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective SEO campaigns that can attract your ideal customer.