I hate the fact that some stores are already playing Christmas music and putting out holiday items. It’s not even Halloween yet! But maybe they’re onto something. Companies start preparing for the holidays now so they can maximize their profits over the next few months. As a blogger, you can do the same. I’m not proposing that you change your color scheme to green and red or add a bunch of dancing snowmen that cha-cha across the screen every time the page is refreshed; I am suggesting that you start thinking about the holidays now – yes, even though it is only October!

Product Pre-Orders

For the holidays, I like to collect gifts throughout the year when I see items that would be perfect for my loved ones. I hate the thought of picking up last-minute gifts on Christmas Eve (or the eve of whatever holiday you celebrate). I’ve started buckling down to collect gifts in the past few weeks, which means that, in many cases, I’m pre-ordering items. Now’s the time for you to talk about these products on your blog!

By the time December rolls around, people are in such a panic to order items that they don’t have time to read reviews and consider multiple options. They just buy. But right now, you’re going to get the attention of more concerned consumers, the type who want to learn as much as possible about products before hitting that buy button. Cater to them with reviews, product buying guides, comparisons, and other more in-depth posts about popular items in your niche that can be pre-ordered for holiday gifts.

Get Linked

If you write posts directly before Christmas, you’re not going to get linked from other bloggers. It will be too late. Right now, if you’re talking about products that people can buy as gifts, there’s still time for other bloggers to link to you when they write gift-buying guides and other holiday-related posts.

When you write posts that include affiliate products, try to be extremely helpful. Readers don’t like to feel like people are selling to them. Instead, be a resource or guide, with the affiliate link as the secondary reason for the post. If you do that, your readers won’t hesitate to buy, but more importantly, as you head toward December 25, others will link to you.

Start Writing Posts Now

During the holidays, people are busier than usual, so you’ll probably see a slight drop in stats (depending on your niche of course). You can combat this by continue to provide high-quality posts without any kind of slow season. One of the reasons I believe most bloggers see a drop in stats during the holidays is that they aren’t blogging as often.

Start writing some posts now that you can schedule or make live when your days are filled with holiday parties and visiting relatives. You don’t have to completely finish them, but having a few almost-done posts waiting as drafts really makes it easy to keep your post count up, even if you don’t want to spend as much time blogging.

Don’t wait. The holidays have this tendency to sneak up on us, and before you know it, it’s already December and you don’t have any posts on reserve. If you start now, slowly producing one or two extra posts every week, you’ll have enough on standby for the holidays but you won’t need to add hours or work to your otherwise busy current schedule. You can even do some special video posts to wish your readers a happy holiday.

Think About Giving

As bloggers, I don’t think we’re obligated to spend time and effort supporting various charities. But during the holidays, it’s hard to ignore that thee are a lot of people out there who don’t have things as good as you do. If you can’t donate money, consider donating some time by writing a quick post on your blog about a cause you support – yes, even if it doesn’t relate directly to your blog’s topic.

It is, however, pretty easy to find something that does interest you – or to work with a well-known charity to do a fun twist on fundraising. For example, Vincent from The Robots Pajamas runs Geeks for Tots every year, which promotes giving to Toys for Tots during the holiday season while also tying into his blog’s geek niche. Get creative! At the very least, take a moment to write a single post promoting giving to your favorite charity. It only takes  a few minutes and doesn’t cost you a dime.

How do you prepare your blog for the holidays?