7 Tips for Making the Most of Holiday Search Engine Marketing

Presentation TitleSEM + Holiday Strategy = Huge ROI

Section 1

This year, 51% of shoppers say that they will be shopping online rather than in stores.

brick-and-mortar stores may not see as many people waiting in line as they have in years past.

Nielsen released a Holiday Spending Forecast that estimates that only 13% of shoppers intend to actually visit a physical store.  This number has seen a steady decrease since 2010, when about 20% planned a shopping trip on Black Friday.

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The National Retail Federation predicts that 2013 will see a 13-15% increase in online sales that are likely to total at around $82 billion. 

 Clearly, if you are an e-commerce business owner, you want the biggest piece of this pie that you can fit on your plate.

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But wait- Black Friday is no longer the only significant shopper’s holiday.

Now you’re probably thinking of Cyber Monday.

In actuality, there are two more days to which online companies should pay close attention…

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Allow me to introduce Green Monday and Free Shipping Day.

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Green MondayGreen Monday falls on the second Monday of December (this year, December 9th).  Many retail companies find that it is consistently one of the most profitable days of the year.

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Free Shipping DayFree Shipping Day takes place about a week before Christmas Day; in 2013, it will be Wednesday, December 18th.  On Free Shipping Day, online sellers offer free shipping on their orders and guarantee delivery by Christmas Eve.  Desperate last-minute shoppers make this day quite lucrative for retail business owners.

Green Monday is a day for online sales that is certainly not to be ignored.  

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Because of the enormous potential that all of these retail holidays hold for Internet businesses, truly successful digital marketing campaigns at this time of year require planning and intentionality.

So how do you get that big piece of pie? Here are seven tips for making the most of holiday search engine marketing.

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Your PPC ad copy will then be tailored to match your site promotions; for example, a “Black Friday Extravaganza” sale would have ad copy that contains the promotion name and primary details like “Everything 30% Off”.  

It is absolutely vital that you run a promotion for each of these major retail holidays: -Thanksgiving-Black Friday-Cyber Monday-Green Monday-Free Shipping Day

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1 Create a Promotion Calendar

On the official Free Shipping Day website.  Those who do shopping research in advance will be more likely to purchase from you.

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2 Register Your Business as a Participating Merchant

(whenever possible) A Google Survey says that 76% of smartphone owners intend to use their phones to browse holiday deals this year and 25% of those people plan to purchase on their mobile devices.  

Take advantage of call extensions and mobile calls-to-action.  Remember, to be visible on a mobile device on most SERPs, your ad must have an average position of at least 1.5, so keep those max CPCs high enough to consistently stay in that range.

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3 Be sure that your PPC accounts have mobile ads and mobile landing pages.

For anyone who accesses your site. Many consumers place high value on details like free shipping (68%), easy returns (47%), and quick, trackable shipping (65%).  If the ordering and delivery processes are pleasant, you’ll have happy customers who are more likely to leave positive reviews on your site.  More WOM for next year!

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5 Make Online Shopping Easy

 by adding seasonally relevant keywords to your base keywords. Use words like, “gift, delivery, free shipping, Black Friday, etc.”

4 Create Holiday-Specific Keywords

Don’t lose a great opportunity for revenue and exposure during the most optimal sales time of the year for most retail businesses.  

Use these tips to meet holiday shoppers where they’ll be this year and when they’ll be there- browsing search engines on the biggest online sales days of 2013.  

Next year, if you need help, call Cardinal!

Read the full blog post “SEM + Holiday Strategy = Huge ROI” and add comments here.