Making the Most of the Holiday Season

In a recent blog post, Yahoo provided some pointers on how search marketers can capitalize on the growth of online shopping during the holidays. Citing a study by comScore, they noted that online consumer spending grew from $19.6 billion in 2005 to $24.4 billion in 2006, a 26% increase. This is astonishing growth, and there is no indication that the upward trend will plateau or decline any time soon. In fact, all the numbers in consumer behavior studies seem to indicate that this year is going to be more profitable than last. This should be highly motivating for online retailers. Recognizing this, Yahoo has offered some suggestions for how the online advertiser can capitalize on this trend to make the most of the opportunity.

Here is a brief summary of their observations/suggestions:

• Online shoppers are bargain hunters, looking for special offers, such as free shipping or repeat buyer discounts, so  take advantage of this in your ad copy
• Employ a keyword strategy that incorporates terms related to the holiday season
• Use the holiday term related to your product or service prominently in the titles and descriptions of your ads
• Remember to make sure your holiday-themed ads are sending traffic to a relevant, holiday-themed landing page
• Maintain consistency between your online and offline holiday marketing messages

For more info, check out Yahoo’s post.