Preparing for the Holiday Crush

Happy holidays!

How much do you spend on online marketing? Have you carved out a significant portion of your budget for analytics and optimization? Are you spending wisely on SEO (define) and SEM (define)?

I’ve addressed these questions many times over the past few years and hope you’ve paid attention to the importance of making the right investments. I bring it up again now because the summer’s over and we’re heading into the critical holiday season. For many retailers, the holidays can be the difference between profit and loss for the year. A good season means big bonuses and a positive shine on Wall Street; a poor season means clearance sales and cost-cutting.

It’s time to evaluate your yearend strategy and figure out if you’ll make your numbers. Hopefully, you’ve invested all year in building a great site, conducting ongoing analytics and optimization, and running smart marketing campaigns. But you must regularly take stock of your investments and ensure you’re on track for your business goals. The upsurge in Internet retailing during the holiday season often spills over to lots of non-retail sites (and can bring traffic down for some B2B sites). The change in traffic patterns provides a great opportunity to scrutinize how your strategy plays out online.

What should you look for? Here’s a plan:

It’s not too early to worry about how November and December will perform; smart online strategy and investment requires plenty of advance planning. While your competitors might grow complacent as the year winds down, gather your team and data, and make sure there are some nice gifts under the tree.