On my blog, I get AH-mazing traffic around October through February. The slower times for me in particular are the summer months, when people are on vacation.
But that doesn’t mean that I go AWOL during the slower months. In fact, I’m usually posting MORE during my slow times and it balances everything out and keeps my stats up nicely.
The truth is…that if you really want to increase your traffic and make a full-time income blogging, you absolutely NEED to be posting at least 5 times a week. You have to think of it like a job. Blogging IS a job, although, it pays better than a job in my opinion. 🙂
But what do you post about if you’re going to post so much?
One of the best things you can post about on any blog is Holidays and here’s how to get Holiday traffic throughout the year.
How to Get Holiday Traffic Throughout the Year
To get good traffic, even in the slow times, a good trick is to post holiday posts. If it’s Christmas-time, you can post things like Ways to Save on a Holiday Meal. If it’s Valentine’s Day, craft posts do well, something like DIY Glue Valentine’s Day Cards.
Whatever you post about should be specific to that holiday and the cool thing is that every year you blog, you just add-on more and more and more holiday posts and you can promote your older holiday posts as well during the appropriate season.
So, when are the seasons? When SHOULD you post for Christmas or Valentine’s Day?
I’m a firm believer in posting early. The earlier the better, but not TOO early. I’ve included a list below of WHEN you should post your posts for each specific holiday. You can use this as a quick guide for your editorial calendar. Post as close to these start dates as you can.
- New Year’s: Dec 1.
- Super Bowl: Dec 15
- Valentine’s Day: Jan 1
- St. Patrick’s Day: Feb 1
- Easter: Feb 8
- Mother’s Day: April 1
- Memorial Day: May 1
- Father’s Day: May 8
- Fourth of July: May 1
- Summer Posts: June 1
- Back to School: July 15
- Labor Day: August 15
- Halloween: August 1
- Thanksgiving: August 15
- Christmas: Begin in July (Christmas in July) and hit heavily beginning October 1
Get this free Holiday Traffic Cheat Sheet free here.
In case you get stuck for ideas, here are some thoughts to get your creative juices flowing for each holiday:
- New Year’s: New Year’s Eve party ideas, party dresses, outfits, and accessories, party decor, recipes for alcohol free drinks, tips on how to throw a great New Year’s Eve party
- Super Bowl: Roundups do very well, appetizers, party ideas, food, something like 15 Best Chicken Wings Recipes would do well, snacks, and so on….
- Valentine’s Day: Gifts for him, Valentine’s Day wedding ideas, crafts/DIY for the kids, school party ideas, Valentine’s Day DIY cards
- St. Patrick’s Day: Roundups do well, crafts, DIY, green accessories to wear, St. Patrick’s Day food recipes, party ideas
- Easter: Easter crafts, DIY, Easter recipes, party ideas, Spring wreaths, Christian posts, cakes, cookies, DIY Easter baskets on a budget, bunny costume ideas and places to get them, Easter Egg hiding places (inside the home and outside), DIY Easter buckets
- Mother’s Day: crafts from kids, Mother’s Day gifts, DIY, Mother’s Day printables, how to make your own Mother’s Day flower bouquet, DIY Mother’s Day cards
- Memorial Day: party ideas, honoring the military and their families, recipes, Memorial Day pictures
- Father’s Day: crafts from kids, Father’s Day gifts, DIY, Father’s Day free printables, DIY Father’s Day cards, ideas for wives to make for their husbands or ways for a wife to make it a special day for their husbands
- Fourth of July: crafts for kids, creative ways to celebrate Fourth of July, roundups especially desserts, food, “picnicy” type foods, family fun ideas, Fourth of July outfits and accessories, home decor, women’s nail art
- Summer Posts: kids crafts, ways to keep kids entertained, summer family fun ideas, vacation ideas, staycation ideas, DIY recipes like popsicles, DIY board games, learn how to swim, how to be safe in the sun, DIY sunscreen
- Back to School: Back to School teacher gift ideas, outfits for kids/teens, DIY crafts for teachers, school hairstyles, where to find budget friendly school supplies, classroom organization, essential oil uses for the classroom, school outfit ideas, free printable lunchbox notes, school lunch ideas
- Labor Day: party ideas, crafts for kids, desserts, Patriotic themed foods, roundups
- Halloween: DIY Halloween costumes, Halloween crafts, desserts, recipes, Halloween makeup tutorials
- Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving crafts, party ideas, budget friendly meal planner, Thanksgiving recipes, roundups, DIY games like “Pin the Tail on the Turkey,” centerpiece ideas, table scape ideas
- Christmas: DIY Christmas decorations, budget friendly tree ideas, holiday crafts, gift guides, Christian posts, DIY Christmas cards, handmade ornament ideas, DIY gifts ideas, Christmas budget planners, budget friendly meal ideas, how to feed a large family on a budget at Christmas-time and so on…
Now that you have a ton of post ideas and the dates in which to begin posting them on, you can capitalize on holiday traffic all throughout the year!
Thanks for the tips Sarah! This is something that I need to focus on more to pick up on some trending traffic. I’ll be working on it. 🙂
Yes, it REALLY helps! 🙂
This is a great guide and I love your suggestions. Thanks for sharing!!
Absolutely! 🙂
I’ve started to do this exact same think on our editorial calendar – but you did a much nicer job with it 😉
Honestly, I don’t even know HOW people can work without planning posts ahead on a calendar. Even WITH one sometimes ideas fall through the cracks!
Thanks for sharing this!
Yeah, having an editorial calendar is huge; I agree Pat. 🙂 I have all my posts on my editorial calendar through the end of the year (and it’s June!) Planning has taken my blog to the next level because I can accomplish more and have a much clearer plan instead of just flying by the seat of my pants. When I didn’t have an editorial calendar, I was always stressed, feeling like, “What should I post about?” Now, the ideas flood me and I take time to figure out what my readers are asking me to post on and what they want to know about. Makes things so much better for everyone. 🙂
Sarah, how do you plan out your editorial calendar? Do you use coschedule or another software? Or, is there a post where you might shed some light on your process? Much appreciated! Thanks!
I just use my calendars. 🙂
Such a helpful post! I love doing holiday posts and many of mine have gotten great traffic. But I definitely could step it up a bit too.
Do you really see traffic to your holiday posts when you do them 2 mo. in advance? Somehow I just feel skeptical, because I know for myself it is a huge turn off when I see a holiday post that far in advance—like the person, magazine, etc. is rushing it.
Glad you see good traffic from the link up! 🙂
For the holiday posts, absolutely. Pinterest takes time to build up momentum. If you start a couple weeks before, there’s not enough time to build that momentum. Usually what happens is I’ll post 1-2 months in advance like that cheat sheet says and not get a whole lot of traffic. Then all the sudden when it IS time, those pins are going viral and I haven’t done anything. I love to publish 2 months ahead of time because then I have time to promote them twice before the date, giving them BIGGER momentum! Not sure why that is exactly, but I’m not going to argue with them. 😉
This is SO true!! I’m a new blog, but the holiday posts I put out very early have hundreds and hundreds of repins and some have over 1000! The ones I put out for Christmas recently are just as good, and they’re just getting average traffic. I wouldn’t have realized how critical it was to put out holiday posts so early if I hadn’t experienced the benefits. This is a great post, thank you!
Very true. The earlier the better. I’ve seen Christmas even in August! 🙂
Sarah this really is a great post, I have always wondered about this very topic, now I know. Great info!! I have pinned which gets shared to Twitter and then to Facebook!!! I Tweeted, I G+ and shred twice on Pinterest!!! I think I did that commercial Pinned-Shared -Tweeted-lol
I would love to have you stop by and share this post on my Friday Features this week!!!
I hope you enjoy your weekend!
Thanks again!
Karren
Glad you liked it Karren. 🙂 Thank you for letting me know about the link up. I’ve posted it as you’ve suggested. 🙂
This has totally been on my “to do” list for a while, but usually don’t plan ahead and scramble for a last-second post. Thanks for the cheat sheet!
Having an editorial calendar will change everything for you! 🙂 Here’s the calendars I use (they suck up little ink).
Sarah, thank you for this post. I’ve wondered for so long when to do this and you’ve simplified it for me.
Many thanks.
Valerie
Absolutely…so glad to help! 🙂
Hi, Sarah! You have been such a help to me as I planned to launch my blog, which I finally accomplished last week! There’s so much to work on now, and I definitely need to post more! Thanks for your tips!
Absolutely Heidi, just keep going. One step at a time; you’ll get there. 🙂
I do something similar with an editorial calendar, but I love the organized way you’ve written it out. I wish I would have had this before I started blogging. It would have saved me a lot of time!
Definitely saves a lot of time, Laurie. 🙂 Glad you like it.
What a super piece of information Sarah. Such a great help especially for us new bloggers. Thank you. I feel like I just got an early Christmas present.
Love, Hugs, and Prayers,
NanaPennypockets
Absolutely NanaPennypockets. 🙂