This post was written by Jennifer
It’s not too soon to blog the holidays
I’m back. My move took WAY longer then I expected and other stuff happened like a nightmare cherry on the cake. But I’ll not bore you with that; Deb already covered some of the issue in How to Ruin Your Blog (Like We Did).
I’d rather talk about blogging. Right now it’s almost October, which means it’s past time to start blogging the holidays. No matter your blog topic, holiday posts are a big traffic draw from September to December. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and all the winter holidays are easy to cover and people want to read about all of them.
I usually start a little early when it comes to blogging the holidays, because frankly, I don’t see the point of a post titled “Ten perfectly green Christmas gifts” two days before Christmas. That’s not very blog reader friendly. Right now my focus is Halloween and although my blogs cover an array of topics, I’ll find a way to incorporate the topic at each and every one of my blogs.
Examples:
At Tree Hugging Family: How to green your Halloween costume
At Declutter It: How to organize a scary Halloween party
At Green Home Tips: Recycled Halloween decorations
At Pregnancy & Baby: 5 great baby Halloween costumes
At Offbeat Homes: 6 spooky homes you never knew existed
And so on…
By the time Halloween hits, I’ll have moved on to Thanksgiving, and well before Thanksgiving I’ll start covering the winter holidays (because people like to shop early.)
If you’re stuck in a blogging slump the holidays are a perfect time to get over it, because so many possibilities abound. You can try gift product recommendations, crafts, recipes, decor tips, or even go the sentimental route with topics like “how to have a peaceful family holiday” or “downsize your gift giving.” You can also work in some self-help posts like “dealing with your evil in-laws at Christmas” or “eating right during the holidays.”
I know some bloggers who skip holiday season posts entirely, maybe because they don’t celebrate or they feel like everyone else is already blogging them, but I don’t think it’s a smart move. Holidays provide free traffic ready material, and this is one time when you never need to wonder, “What the heck can I blog about?” so why pass it up?
If you don’t have a good handle on which holidays are which check out All Holiday Cafe to get up to speed.
What about you? Are you already blogging the upcoming holidays?
Comments
7 Responses to “It’s not too soon to blog the holidays”
Leave a Reply
myfavz.com could be of interest to you. It is a new startup launched on sept 8th at the techcrunch50 in california. It is a social shopping portal with a unique patent pending feature called pKaboo!
pKaboo! enables gift givers to anonymously find out the recipient’s current interests, hobbies or perfect gift ideas. The giver’s identity is disclosed to the recipient by myfavz on the day of the event, thus maintaning the element of surprise which is so crucial to the ritual of gifting.
Let me know your views on myfavz
AJ
Founder / CEO
http://www.myfavz.com
I’ve already put up my Halloween post Top 10 Halloween Etailer Goodies for Sarah’s Surprises.
Since I am dealing with etailers that can have a couple of weeks turnaround time before an order is shipped I think it’s important for me to actually give my readers enough time decide if they want something, and place the order and still have enough time left to get their orders before the holidays.
I did my first Halloween post last year as a fluke, and I was surprised when it became my most popular post.
I definitely don’t think people should skip holiday posts, unless they don’t relate to their blog or their readers.
Definitely have this on my mind. I’m not that into Halloween, more fall, but definitely Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since one of my blogs is about food and nutrition it is kind of a no-brainer.
Some people don’t blog about the holidays? Say it isn’t so!
Thanks for the mention.
Sandy/All Holiday Cafe
We especially started planning for the holidays with Cookerati. When it comes to holidays, it’s always good to plan early.
And Sandy…All Holiday Cafe is one of my favorites too.
@Sarah I agree, when dealing with online shopping, it’s important to give folks a head start.
@Lori Even if you skip a holiday or two (like Halloween) you’ll pull more traffic with the other holidays - especially being that you blog food topics.
@Sandy - you’re funny. And you’re welcome
[...] this time of year you can get some decent traffic by focusing on gift guides (examples: 10 kooky gifts for your [...]