Guest post by Lynette Chandler
Ok, you’ve got a great blog going; with newsletter subscriber coming in more often, traffic building and people posting comments. There’s only one problem now. The holidays are here and that means you’re business than ever (especially if you sell retail goods) and don’t have time to blog! You worked hard to create a successful blog and don’t want to let it slip at all over the holidays. 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. You can save valuable time through the year by doing this when you are busy or want some time off. 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. Everyone wants their holidays to be less expensive and most enjoyable, so these topics are something they can use. 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 decide to post tips be sure you don’t p9ost all of them at once. Tell people they are getting on of a series and post a short, high quality tip each day or even once a week. This will keep your readers coming back and keep your blog alive.
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.
Article by:
Blogger, entrepreneur Lynette Chandler enjoys helping small business owners with their blogs. She authored an e-course to help new bloggers start their blog right from the beginning. Grab yours at www.BloggingStarterPack.com/startright.html
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