Anxious to help your website's visitors get into the holiday spirit? One way to reach your customers and build your brand is to spread a little Christmas cheer. Here are some tips to help you make the most out of the holiday posts on your blog.
- Set Company Guidelines
Are you nervous about writing something too personal or too religious? Before you figure out what you'd like to share with your website's visitors, take a few minutes and set some simple guidelines. Examples of things you may not want to post may include pictures of employees partying. It may sound silly, but by figuring out what you don't want to write about you'll be able to focus on what you do. Try to avoid looking at your traffic to make these decisions, because your website traffic may change. Instead, focus on what's best for your brand and your company goals. Let your brand shine.
- Focus on the Positive
From blogging about how much you appreciate your clients to talking about the success you've had over the past year, focus on the positive aspects of your business. The trick to staying positive is to write your posts with a more personal touch. If you have some accomplishments you'd like to point out, don't be afraid to leverage that information in an end-of-year press release. Your holiday blog posts are a great opportunity for you to reach out to and engage your customers in a more down-to-earth way.
- Keep Some Information Offline
Do you know if your competitors are subscribed to your blog or your newsletter? It's pretty common for competitive businesses to keep a close eye on one another. Whatever you decide to disclose online about the success or progress of your business, keep that in mind. Rather than talk about changes that haven't happened yet, write about what's in the past. Turn your holiday blog posts into a celebration of what's happened this past year instead of using it as an announcement for what's coming. If you do provide insight into what's happening next year, do it in a way that doesn't give away too many details that your competitors can use against you.
- Favor Consistency over Frequency
The holidays is a perfect time for businesses to reflect on what happened during the year. It's also a great way to offer holiday-related promotions by staying relevant to what your visitors might expect. To make the most out of your great content, set up a calendar and blog consistently. The volume of posts isn't as important as when those posts are published. Try not to blog eight times in one week and one time the next, unless of course you have a special promotion you've scheduled. We recommend looking at a calendar and leveraging the data from your website analytics. If you get the most reads every Wednesday, for example, then schedule your most important posts then to ensure your readers see your new content.
- Use Keywords When Appropriate
Have an idea for a blog post but not sure what the keywords are? While search engine optimization is a great tool for your blog, not every post has to have keywords in the title or the post. There are, however, some posts that can reinforce your overall SEO. One way to infuse keywords into your blog, would be to create Top 10 or Top 20 lists of posts that were previously published. Simply pick a keyword theme and use your "Search" functionality or your website analytics to find your previously-published blog posts that are relevant. Another idea would be to review your website rankings and see what keyword rankings you want to improve. Then, write a post (or a series of posts) to strengthen that particular keyword on your website. Regardless, when you're writing with SEO in mind, be sure to do it in a way that makes sense without sacrificing the quality of your holiday content.
To learn more about tips to make the most out of your holiday blog posts, don't be afraid to ask us at Webstix for help. It's not too late to get into the holiday spirit and ring in a New Year!
