With the end of the year approaching the web surfing habits of the average web user changes. The way you position yourself now in the weeks leading up to this period can mean you’re ready to capitalize on some of these changes.
I noticed this last year particularly when analyzing how people arrived at my sites via my statistics – particularly when looking at the keywords that people used to arrive at my sites.
Without giving away all my secrets (a guy is entitled to a few) it doesn’t take a genius to work out the type of words people typed into Google when searching for gifts for friends and family.
Here’s an exercise – think about your blog’s niche. In the next couple of months what seasonal things might be searching for that relate to your topic? Brainstorm a list of topics and words that people will use – then write some content that fits with this.
For example I once had a client who had (and has now sold) a website for holiday houses here in Australia. At this time of the year (summer here) he wanted to position himself for summer vacationers. As a result I encouraged him to start writing posts that related to searches like ‘summer holiday houses’. He wrote a series of tips posts on how to find a summer holiday house, the best locations for summer holidays etc etc etc.
Other examples
- a friend of mine last year wrote a series of posts on ‘how to buy an MP3 player’ which did exceptionally well at getting readers into his site in the lead up to Christmas.
- my post on halloween photography did really well in the lead up to Halloween
- I wrote a post earlier in the year on the ideal Digital Camera for a Mothers Day Gift which did well
This was the final part of the How to Fine Tune your Blog for Christmas Series.
Darren,
If you can then write about the ideal gift for bloggers during this Christmas. There are now thousnads of bloggers in the world (pro and hobby bloggers). They deserve some special gifts just customized for them. So, please write about this matter in the coming days.
Thanks for this series. I’ve been thinking about what to do with my blog for the holidays. Every year I host a Best books of… series, which has become popular. Some authors who win the honor use it as a book blurb. I get a great deal of traffic. But after reading this entry I have some fresh ideas that I want to try this year.
That’s a good tip. Planning has always been a good secret to keep a blog improving. Problem is, do you have the time to do all this “behind-the-blog” stuff like when you have work, studies and other things to get done. Then again it all becomes part of the blogging process.
Darren, this series IS a good idea and helps to keep us bloggers audience-focused and our copy timely.
I wanted to mention that it stirred up in me my annual grumble about corporate gifting (not the focus of your post at all!)
As I keep up with the blogs and discussion lists I read in coming weeks, I’m bound to see the annual discussion of who gives what to clients for the holidays. The topic turns my normally mild-mannered self quite churlish.
Thanks for the topic (which I haven’t seen anywhere else), though. It may help me rethink my own point of view on holiday-relevant blog copy.
Katie
[…] I was just reading an article about Writing Seasonal Content for Christmas at Problogger, one of my favorite blogsites. Darren’s post got me thinking in a different direction though. That being the annual corporate gifting extravaganza. […]
[…] Most bloggers probably notice that as the last quarter of 2006 approaches, the habits of web surfers change. Meaning, more and more people are participating in online shopping or simply browsing for reading materials, for entertainment, business, or educational purposes. As such, there is no wonder why Darren Rowse emphasized in his blog entry at problogger.net that is is best to profit on such changes specially on the significance of the upcoming holiday — Christmas. […]