You’ve got your business blog going and people seem to like it. The traffic, comments and sign-ups to your newsletter are growing and you’ve put in a lot of work to get it this successful. Now that the holidays are upon us you’ll likely have little time to keep your blog up to date, especially if you sell consumer products. You do know that you want to keep this great thing going though. Besides, it’s the long term marketing that will help you over the slower periods of the year. What can you do?
Try pre-scheduling your posts. This is the single most effective method. Do this over the rest of the year to save time when you need a break or are too busy. You can do this by using your blog’s scheduled post feature or you could blog by email and set your email client to only send the mail at a pre-set date and time. If you’re using Outlook, there are plugins you can purchase to help you send scheduled emails.
Something else you could do is invite some guest bloggers. You can hire someone. Many times people are more than happy to blog on sites for an affordable fee. You could also invite owners of related businesses to post. This is a great idea because you may not need to pay out any cash and you can return the favor when they get busy. Guest writers are a good way to get some time away from your blog, allow you to concentrate on holiday sales and a wonderful way to introduce a fresh perspective.
Here’s another idea. Have an assistant post some holiday articles related to your business for you. Articles about the holidays that people find useful such as shopping and budget tips, recipes and etiquette do very nicely. More affordable and enjoyable holidays are something everyone can use to hear about. If your assistant can add information to relate those articles with your product, the better. With that holiday feel in the air, you may be surprised to see how much traffic you end up getting. Possibly more than normal.
If you post tips, make sure they’re not all at once. Publish some quick, interesting tips over a period of days or even weeks. Tell people they are reading on of a series of tips on “X” topic. This gives your prospects reason to return and you something to blog about on a regular basis.
Try audio. Speaking comes more naturally to us than writing and it also requires less effort and time to make a post. Record a short under 5 minute clip about what’s happening during the busy holiday period. Tell people about your sales, share how you helped a customer out of his holiday shopping dilemma. There are many tools you can use for a small cost such as AudioAcrobat and HipCast. You can record it and have it posted to your blog immediately.
There’s no need to abandon your blog at this very busy time of the year. By using the advice in this article you will ensure your blog isn’t neglected as you continue to build relationships with your prospects though posting.
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