As we hit the holidays and the end of the year, it’s time to think about some special types of blog posts or website content one might create. Creating holiday/year-end content can help your site convert on it’s goals by engaging the user in the season which hits them on an emotional and a current state of mind level.
- A Wishlist
For your blog: Post a wishlist of what you’d like for holiday gifts, a wishlist for the industry or subject your blog covers, or maybe a socially conscious wishlist of things you’d like to happen in the world.
For your ecommerce site: Pick out the items on your site you’d actually want to buy as a wishlist. Not the items that earn you the most margin, or the items you have the most inventory of, show us what YOU would buy. Let’s see Jeff Bezos’ Amazon wishlist right? Or what about wishlists from your employees or perhaps famous people in your industry?
- The Year In Positive Retrospect
For your blog: Let’s see your top 10 blog posts of 2005! Or what were the top 10 things that happened in your subject area? Top 10 funniest things you wrote? Top 10 comments from users?
For your ecommerce site: What were the top 10 selling items of the year? What were the best customer service stories? I know it might seem strange to have this type of content on an ecommerce site, but buyers do like this kind of information. It also makes your store have some personality, which is great to create emotional connections.
- The Year In Negative Retrospect
For your blog: What were your worst 10 posts of the year? What were the worst comments? What companies in your industry messed up the most? We like to read about failure as much as success.
For your ecommerce site: What products flopped? Were there any amusing customer service screw-ups? Customers can understand that you may make mistakes. It makes your store human.
- Predictions for 2006
For your blog: What will happen in your industry in 2006? Make 10 predictions. For some humor, try making 10 joke predictions if it fits your market.
For your ecommerce site: Which products will be hot in 2006? What’s coming that your users might not know about? Can you make some general industry predictions?
- Set Your Goals
For your blog: Do you have any goals for your blog? Are you hoping to make a certain amount of revenue? Does it help you network? Are you hoping to make the Feedster Top 500 list? Make these goals public, you’ll be much more likely to achieve them if you do.
For your ecommerce site: Why not make your goals public as well? Sure, maybe you leave out real numbers, but would it be wrong to publicly write that your store’s goal is double sales in 2006? Or to cut customer complaints in half?
- Create a Holiday Song or Poem
For your blog: It’s a bit cheesy, but in the right cases it can work well and be cute or funny. How about changing the words to 12 Days of Christmas to something about your industry? Or combine this with a suggestion above and rehash your top posts of the year with the 12 Days of Christmas?
For your ecommerce site: Get creative and show some spirit. Make up a holiday song or story involving products from your store or services you provide. Make it an activity around the office for everyone to participate in, have some fun.
That should be enough to get you started. I guess the question is which of these content types will Conversion Rater do over the next month?
UPDATE: FutureNow’s Persuasion Architect blog is kicking off a holiday-themed blog post series to look at the conversion assessments they performed of some large ecommerce players. It’s a good example of combining real blog content with a holiday theme.
