For many families – and your customers – the refrain for this yuletide season would be “There’s no place like home for the holidays.” We can’t think of a better year in which it has been more essential for businesses to plan and execute a seasonal marketing strategy to reach out to their target audience who will be looking for ways to celebrate at home.
Much of the anticipation for the holidays is driven by the eagerness to find a certain normalcy, the anticipation for distraction, and the need to plan a budget through the rest of the year and beyond.
Whatever your business can offer to support your customers’ needs for a comfortable and safe holiday season is commendable at the end of a very challenging year. D6 Interactive, your local Dallas SEO company, hopes that these SEO tips for the holidays will help you make better connections to your customers well into the brand-new year.
1. Plan as early as possible
Assess and work on your holiday content strategy. Having a good game plan will help you attain your goals. Focus on some core areas of content, using redirects when necessary and updating existing posts when appropriate. Keep in mind that it takes some time for content to rank – around 45 days to be on the safe side. It’s always best to start preparing as early as possible.
If your business publishes local content, be sure that it includes outdoor-oriented events where possible and takes social distancing into account.
2. Learn from your past performance
Take some time to review last year’s content performance. What content served you well? Check your analytics to determine which pages had the most traffic, which pages had the highest bounce rate, and which pages your readers spent the longest time on.
Striking the balance between popular and broad topics and local and niche posts can help you capture both short- and long-term revenue gains and traffic.
3. Survey customers
What do your customers want? Your business must have an insight as to how much your customers’ needs have changed the past few months by conducting a survey of the following:
- Which products or services do they want the most?
- Which products or services are they having trouble locating?
- Which hours of operation are most helpful?
- Which payment methods are their top choices?
- Which safety measures are non-negotiables or must-haves for them to transact with a business?
4. Be accessible
Be sure that your lines of communication are open. Make sure that your customers know what your brand offers, as well as the friendly aspects of how you operate across these channels:
- Website
- Social channels
- Local business listings
- Forms
- Phone
- Local news, TV media, magazines, radio
Be there with accurate (and abundant) information anywhere a customer might be looking for what you offer. From blog posts with holiday content to setting special hours for your locations, make your biggest communications effort this season. It’s equally important to provide intuitive, fast, and an inclusive experience to engage your customers.
5. Anticipate trends
Get ahead of the trends this season by identifying the things that are relevant to your readers. You know your audience best! For inspiration, we recommend that you follow the news, check industry search, and when in doubt, you can always conduct a survey by asking your audience.
Here are the top opportunities to keep in mind:
- Choose DIY keywords carefully. There are many keywords out there but they can also be very competitive.
- Gift guides for family or friends are very popular, but be sure to update them every now and then throughout the season to capitalize on shifting topics.
Stay flexible
There are plenty of unknowns this year, so do your best to stay creative and get sharing. Consider the concerns and issues you are facing this holiday season and use that for inspiration.
In these uncertain times, people are trying to plan further out. Be ready to be flexible and nimble should you require a change of course.
We hope that these SEO tips for the 2020 holidays will help you plan and implement this season’s marketing strategy effectively. We want to close by wishing everyone a peaceful, profitable, happy, and safe holidays. Please let us know how we can support you and your business. If you need in optimizing your SEO strategy, do not hesitate to contact us!
