3 Ways To Increase Blog Traffic For Holidays

Whether you are a new blogger or more seasoned, you will want to increase blog traffic for the holidays.

Why?

Well, more traffic means more money for most bloggers plus more visitors means more email sign-ups and potential regular readers.

You can make lots of affiliate sales during the last few months of the year as people buy gifts, decorations and party must-haves.

Most niches (apart from maybe frugal living) notice that November and December are the key times of the year for boosting blog traffic and income.

If you are short on time or unsure what quick tactics you can do to boost your blog this holiday season, read on for 3 fast tips that will help you skyrocket your traffic fast.

This post contains affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure for more information.

MORE GREAT BLOGGING TIPS

How To Get Traffic To Your Blog For The Holidays (Free Printable)

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How To Increase Blog Traffic For The Holidays

1. Add A Holiday Twist To Existing Posts

If you are like me then you probably want to create lots of content but just don’t have the time.

One trick I use to create “new content” without actually writing anything new is to add a seasonal “twist” to existing posts.

I find that I can then make these posts work for me traffic-wise during the holidays when normally they would be dead.

This technique can be applied to any post with a bit of imagination.

Here’s some examples:

Example 1:

Original Post: How to Save Money On Groceries

Your Holiday twist: ” 15 ways to save money on Thanksgiving dinner”

Example 2:

Original Post: 50 Things To Declutter This Week

Your Holiday Twist: 50 Things To Get Rid Of Before The New Year

Example 3:

Original post: The Best Chocolate Chip Recipe

Your Holiday Twist: The Best Cookies To Leave Out for Santa

You can use your new title on your pins and social media posts (with appropriate holiday images). You can also change the post title (NOT URL) for the holidays.

Make sure to run the post through the Pinterest Debugger so that Pinterest pulls your new post title and description. (you may need to do this several times).

I would then add at least a paragraph or two to the post to make it a bit more holiday-themed. (Changing the intro paragraph normally works well).

And now you have a “new” holiday post and pin without writing more content.

2. Rejuvenate Last Year’s Holiday Posts

If you have holiday content from last year or even from years ago, you can spruce them up a bit for this year in just a few minutes.

It’s always a good idea to go back over old posts periodically but it’s a must-do around the holidays.

Revamping An Existing Post

Create a couple of new pins and social media images ( get tips on making pins in my Free Guide To Creating Pins That Get Noticed)
Create a video for the post if it makes sense
Change up your pin description
Change the post title to something catchier
Edit content, double check spelling etc
Update any outdated information included in the post
Fix any links that might be broken (links to other websites, affiliate links, or links to your own content)
Add a couple of new paragraphs targeting new related SEO keywords

3. Create A New (Evergreen) Gift Guide

Gift guides can be a perfect way to earn extra holiday cash through affiliate marketing.

If you’re unsure what a holiday gift guide is, they are basically a guide to what to buy that takes out the guesswork.

People love gift guides because it narrows down their shopping choices and lays it all out there for them.

Here is an example of a gift guide: The Best Gifts For Hipster Guys.

Before you start making your gift guide, you want to make sure you have joined all the affiliate networks you need so you have lots of products to promote.

My favorite is Amazon Associates.

You can also contact brands and ask them for free products but I recommend doing that very early on so you have time to review the products before publishing your post.

If you want a step-by-step guide to creating really good gift guides that convert, including a free template, you can read my budget-friendly ebook, Gift Guide Blueprint.

This is an in-depth how-to on making really good niche posts or gift guides.

I refer to it every time I write a gift post.

How To Make Your Gift Guides Evergreen

I publish back to school stuff in April or May, Fall in July and August and always aim to be done my Christmas/Holiday content by mid-October at the very latest.

Why?

Pinterest is a slow burn. More lead time means more chances to get my pins on every single board I can.

More time means I can add the pins to the same Tailwind Community a couple of times for maximize impact

I’ve also noticed that Google takes at least 3-4 weeks to really “notice” a new post and start to rank it

If it feels weird to publish a Christmas gift guide months in advance. Think again.

Create a generic post that would work all year, for example “10 Gifts For Cooks”.

Then in November, change the title (not the URL) to 10 Christmas Gifts For Cooks and create some Christmas specific pins.

All you have to do after the holidays is change the post title back and and change your images to evergreen ones.

This tip has allowed me to make money year round from gift guides as each holiday I create pins for the same post with seasonal titles, eg. “10 Mother’s Day gifts for Cooks” etc.