There are no definite rules to guide you in building strategies that are the foundation of any SEO campaign. How well you devise the strategies and implement them directly influences SEO performance. What strategy is right for you depends on the overall understanding about SEO and even a better understanding of your business. Every business has its own ways that is reflected in the sales pattern. There are times when sales are high, and there are times when you experience a slowdown. This is particularly evident for businesses that are impacted by seasonal effects. The fluctuation is seldom linked to SEO, and it is more related to the inherent business trend. However, there might be a need to align your SEO strategies according to the changes that happens in business.
Adjusting to moving targets
It has to be accepted that it takes time for SEO to deliver results. The build-up of the SEO process is gradual, and there is no defined timeline of when you will be get results. You have to hold patience and use every opportunity that is available to increase sales. Accepting the fact that SEO is long term, you have to live up to the challenges of moving targets. Besides being smart in identifying special opportunities that can boost sales, you have to make adjustments in the SEO to gain the maximum mileage from it. Therefore, SEO optimization is necessary to meet the requirements of predicted seasonal sales like holiday sales. How it can be done has been discussed in this post.
Sales go up at specific times
There are seasonal spikes in sales that are experienced in many kinds of businesses. Sales soar up in specific times of the years for e cards business. Although cards are meant for almost each and every occasion and life events there are times like Christmas and Valentine’s Day when the sales can reach the skies. The floral trade also has similar experiences. Then there are some holidays like Boxing Day, Labor Day and many other similar occasions when people are on shopping spree. Since the calendar of holiday sales is well known in advance, you get ample time to make changes in your SEO campaign to reap the best benefits of increased sales.
Choosing the holidays
Seasonal occurrences happen throughout the year and you have to ascertain how sales are impacted during these times. It is necessary to figure out, which holidays or specific times of the year actually push up sales so that optimization of SEO can be done accordingly. Trying to do it in every season would adversely affect your long term SEO goals. Comparing the sales figure of the past 2-3 years during the chosen period with the average annual sales would give a clear idea about the times when sales are significantly increased. The occasions can be determined by monitoring the following.
- Sales pattern – Every business has its own characteristics and by analyzing the sales figures of the past you can determine if there are specific times during the year when sales are quite higher than average.
- Seasonal impact –This can be made out by comparing the sales figure of every season with the past years. Like Christmas sales, summer sales etc.
- Trend analysis – If you have products that cater to changing trends then popular trends have to be captured.
- Holiday sales – Compare the sales figures on holidays like Halloween, Labor Day etc to know which is
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The specialty of holiday sales
Every business has a seasonal effect on sales even though the products or services may not be seasonal in nature. This can happen due to several reasons but it is better to be accepted as an inherent trend. Holiday sales are special because the sales increase is specific to those holidays. It is in no way linked to the trend. However, if the trend persists for some time, it can turn out to be a seasonal affair, so to speak. If the holiday coincides with the season then it is important to separately know the impact of holiday sales before deciding to make changes in SEO campaign.
Is it worth investing?
Making changes in SEO campaign for holiday gains would entail additional investment and there is also a risk of the long term SEO campaign getting affected adversely. Before deciding to make the change, judge the competition and the returns to support your decision.
Repositioning the SEO for seasonal gains would mean that you will have to make changes in the keywords and use keywords that are specific to the season. Replacing the long term keywords means that you are compromising on overall benefits of more traffic for longer period. On the other hand, the holiday specific keywords can make sales soar very high and you have to decide whether it is worth making the long term compromise.
What is the amount of competition that you are facing during the holiday sale? If the competition is low then there is reason to be inclined for it. The re-usability of the new short term SEO campaign would weigh highly in favor of implementing it.
To make it work
Decide early about implementing holiday SEO so that you get time to roll out the campaign on time. The changes do not happen overnight and has to be backed by good research to make it fruitful. Another important thing that has to be kept in mind is that the change in SEO is temporary and should not in any way deter your long term SEO campaign. Holiday SEO should be an add-on to the existing SEO campaign and not a substitution of it. The changed campaign has to be designed in a way so that it does not get dated. There should not be shelf life for the campaign so that it can be made use of in future.
Low competition and re-usability of the campaign in future years are two distinct signs that you can go for holiday SEO. However, it should in no way dilute your long term SEO strategy.
So before the Holidays start , you need to make sure you are moving with the right direction to keep growing your sales through SEO .