This year, 51% of shoppers say they will be shopping online rather than in stores. Therefore, we have 7 Tips you to making the most of Holiday Search Engine Marketing!

1. Presentation Title
SEM + Holiday
Strategy = Huge
ROI
7 Tips for Making the Most of
Holiday Search Engine Marketing

2. This year, 51% of shoppers say that they will be shopping
online rather than in stores.
Section 1
brick-and-mortar stores may not
see as many people waiting in
line as they have in years past.
Nielsen released a Holiday Spending Forecast
that estimates that only 13% of shoppers intend
to actually visit a physical store. This number
has seen a steady decrease since 2010, when
about 20% planned a shopping trip on Black
Friday.

3. The National Retail Federation predicts that 2013 will
see a 13-15% increase in online sales that are likely
to total at around $82 billion.
Clearly, if you are an e-commerce business
owner, you want the biggest piece of this pie that
you can fit on your plate.
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4. But wait- Black Friday is no longer the
only significant shopper’s holiday.
Now you’re probably thinking of Cyber
Monday.
In actuality, there are two more days to
which online companies should pay
close attention…
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5. Allow me to introduce Green Monday and
Free Shipping Day.
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6. Green Monday
Green Monday falls on the
second Monday of
December (this year,
December 9th). Many
retail companies find that
it is consistently one of the
most profitable days of
the year.
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7. Free Shipping Day
Free Shipping Day takes
place about a week
before Christmas Day; in
2013, it will be
Wednesday, December
18th. On Free Shipping
Day, online sellers offer
free shipping on their
orders and guarantee
delivery by Christmas
Eve. Desperate lastminute shoppers make this
day quite lucrative for
retail business owners.
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8. Green Monday is a day for online sales that is certainly not to be
ignored.
Because of the enormous potential that all of these retail
holidays hold for Internet businesses, truly successful digital
marketing campaigns at this time of year require planning
and intentionality.
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9. So how do you get that big piece of pie? Here are seven
tips for making the most of holiday search engine
marketing.
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10. 1 Create a Promotion Calendar
Your PPC ad copy will then be tailored to match your site promotions; for
example, a “Black Friday Extravaganza” sale would have ad copy that contains
the promotion name and primary details like “Everything 30% Off”.
It is absolutely vital that you run a promotion for each of these major retail
holidays:
-Thanksgiving
-Black Friday
-Cyber Monday
-Green Monday
-Free Shipping Day
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11. 2 Register Your Business as a Participating
Merchant
On the official Free Shipping Day website. Those who do shopping research in
advance will be more likely to purchase from you.
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12. 3 Be sure that your PPC accounts have mobile
ads and mobile landing pages.
(whenever possible) A Google Survey says that 76% of smartphone owners
intend to use their phones to browse holiday deals this year and 25% of those
people plan to purchase on their mobile devices.
Take advantage of call extensions and mobile calls-to-action. Remember, to be
visible on a mobile device on most SERPs, your ad must have an average
position of at least 1.5, so keep those max CPCs high enough to consistently stay
in that range.
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13. 4 Create Holiday-Specific Keywords
by adding seasonally relevant keywords to your base keywords. Use words
like, “gift, delivery, free shipping, Black Friday, etc.”
5 Make Online Shopping Easy
For anyone who accesses your site. Many consumers place high value on details
like free shipping (68%), easy returns (47%), and quick, trackable shipping
(65%). If the ordering and delivery processes are pleasant, you’ll have happy
customers who are more likely to leave positive reviews on your site. More WOM
for next year!
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14. Don’t lose a great opportunity for revenue and exposure during the most optimal
sales time of the year for most retail businesses.
Use these tips to meet holiday shoppers where they’ll be this year and when
they’ll be there- browsing search engines on the biggest online sales days of
2013.
Next year, if you need help, call Cardinal!
Read the full blog post “SEM + Holiday Strategy = Huge ROI” and add comments here.