With Christmas and New Year's Day falling in the middle of their respective weeks, most B2B websites are in for two solid weeks of lackluster traffic and sparse conversions. Knowing that the winter website doldrums are on the horizon can help dictate what you should do with your corporate blog. Here are three tips for deciding what, if anything, you should publish:
1. Check Historical Traffic Data
While B2C (e-commerce) and nonprofit sites will see a spike traffic for the holiday shopping and giving season, B2B websites are likely going to see a significant drop in traffic over the next 2-3 weeks. Before waving the white flag, be sure to check your analytics from at least last year. If you see a defined valley during the holiday week(s), adjust your content strategy accordingly. If you don't have data from as far back as a full, the recent week of Thanksgiving is a good barometer.
2. It's Okay Not To Publish
If your traffic typically bottoms out during the holiday doldrums, it's okay not to post anything to your corporate blog. If you're sitting on some high-quality blog posts that aren't necessarily timely or seasonal in nature, you might want to hold on to them until the first full week of January. Be especially considerate of guest blog posts - you don't want to discourage your guest author with lackluster traffic and social shares. Hang on to these as well until your normal traffic pattern returns.
3. Out-of-the-Box Blog Post Ideas
If you're committed to publishing during the last couple weeks of December, there are a few ways to create dynamic content without putting a ton of time and effort into an original article.
- Content Curation: consider compiling the best posts of the year from your industry into a round-up article. Including other authors/organizations will compel them to share the post. A "who to follow" or "who to read" in 2014 is a nice way to ego-stroke current or perspective influencers in your sector.
- Repurposing: If you lack the manpower or motivation to put something original together, look into your archives of videos, slidedecks or other collateral to see what can be repurposed into a blog post.
- "Best of" Post: Take a look at your analytics from the year and pick out 5-10 of your most popular blog posts, and compile them into a "best of" article.
- New Year Predictions: Gather up predictions from your internal team and external community on what your industry has in store for the new year.
- "Out of Office" Alerts: If your sales, service or support teams will be gone during the holiday, consider publishing a sticky post that will let visitors know that you're closed or on limited hours. If your community has come to expect regular blog posts, let them know that publishing has either ceased or slowed down considerably for the holidays.
Drawing on the ideas above, you should be able to fill the Christmas and New Year's weeks with a daily post quite easily. Don't sleep on content promotion and distribution, especially via social media. There will be more than a few people checking their phones as an escape from family get-togethers.
What plans do you have for your corporate blog during the holiday season? Let me know in the comments below!