When most people think about the holiday season, they think family and friends and a lot of money spent. Not you though, as a savvy Internet Marketer you should immediately think of the hundreds of opportunities to make money and still being with your family and friends. If you are new to this concept you might think it’s too good to be true; but it isn’t.

No matter what your level of expertise in online commerce you too can make any holiday a little jollier. And like we said, this money making venture will not take time away from your friends and family, if you plan it right. That’s what we are here for, that’s why we put together this guide to help you get started and get thinking about how you can maximize your profits come the next holiday.

What you need to begin is just that entrepreneurial spirit and start thinking of all the possible ways you could make money over any calendar holiday. We will be asking you to make a solid plan and follow through it to maximize your profits. The good thing about holiday cash flush is that if you are smart you will start advertising and selling early i.e. well before the actual holiday which gives you time during the actual holiday to relax and enjoy yourself. Are you ready to start planning your next holiday extravaganza? Let’s do it…

Holiday Psychology

The whole point of getting started early on your holiday shop is to make cash and still be able to enjoy the holiday. This is the commerce psychology for most holiday shoppers anyways. Shoppers want to get the gifts and all the entertainment bits and bob out of the way beforehand and be able to enjoy their holiday with friends and family.

This is where the retailers and shoppers meet. They want to buy early and you want to get it to them… early! This means you have to start your holiday special deals, offers, product launches underway at least a couple of weeks before the holiday. But even before that you will have to plan out and in most cases produce the marketing campaigns well before that. You will need to figure out is:
What you’ll be selling?
When you’ll be selling it?
How you’ll be selling, and to whom?

Didn’t mean to scare you, but figure this out and that is a third of your job done. What’s the other two thirds you ask? Well that’s production and sales and Lastly, delivery and customer service.

Put these three parts together and you have an unbeatable plan for
success. Set Performance Goals Performance goals over the holidays should be based on numbers from the last holiday season and/or the competitor’s numbers from prior years. Setting goals for yourself no matter how big or small your venture is only going to motivate you. Setting these motivational goals realistic will help you troubleshoot your plan along the way and for the next holiday.

Now, let’s start by assessing how you did last holiday or if you are a beginner how did others in your niche do. Setting performance goals is just not about knowing the bottom line or how much money was made you also need to know:

1. What your best sellers were?
2. How many units you sold?
3. What sizes sold out fast (if applicable to your niche)?
4. Where most of your traffic came from?
5. What deals or specials reaped the most rewards
6. What time, day and/or week did you make the most sales
7. Any customer service hiccups
8. What were your production or start up costs (if applicable)
9. What was your over – head for that particular holiday? This includes utility bills, salaries, bonuses and any other business expenses

If you can sit down and get these figures in an excel sheet, then you should be able to realistically project sales. Thus, setting achievable performance goals, not only to improve your bottom line but also to improve your business model as a whole. Making it more efficient.

What Are Your Strengths?

Now, that you have your business goals all set, you need to set some personal goals. This might be harder because there are no facts and/or analytical tools to help you assess yourself as a worker. You just have to be your own toughest critic and list three areas you should improve on personally. Then assess where your strengths lie. These strengths are what you should capitalize on when you are the busiest.

You use your strengths and delegate everything else so that you are not stuck doing something that isn’t optimal for your time. There are plenty of freelancers who can do the job for you, for a fraction of what it might cost you in profits.

Let’s Start Strategizing!

If you did what I ask you to and have set realistic business and personal goals for yourself, then you are already on your way to strategizing. This is just the part where you put everything down on paper or on your computer’s Notepad so you know at all times where you are headed.

• To begin mark all the important holidays that your business or marketing ventures relate to on a calendar. E.g. if you are in the weight loss niche targeting your products for the summer holidays will be more profitable than putting them on sale for Mother’s Day. This calendar will be your go to place to stay on track through the big and small holidays.

• Next step is to go through your inventory or do your research and find out what market trends are and what will sell the most. Huge retailers like Amazon all have seasonal best‐seller lists. Take advantage of this and read upcoming product reviews of products within your niche. If any opportunity avails it, then go to trade fairs or meets and greets to further feel the pulse of the market.
• Pick products that is projected to sell most through each holiday, you can do this as a product owner and/or as an affiliate marketer. Fill this in on your agenda or plan e.g. for Valentine’s Day you can list all‐in‐one romance packages to promote. This would mean you provide the whole Valentine’s Day experience in different price ranges without the buyer having to do much other than pick a package and pay you.

• Once you have listed these products or product ideas you want to promote through certain holidays you should go ahead and start putting down the amount of stock you will need to last you through the holiday. If you are a marketer, you might at this point want to look into different retailers providing the product/s and align yourself with ones that have the highest conversion and commission rates. It will also help if you knew what sort of specials the retailers would have on these products during the holiday. It might not always be possible because these strategies are very hush hush, but the more you know the better your decision.

• Next it’s keyword time! Online its often keywords that sell not the actual products. You want to target the right keywords early make sure they are long‐tailed and target your demographic most.

• Once you have these keywords start content development. Buy domains, start blogs, write articles, create video channels, create banners establish a social media presence and you are ready to go.

• At this point, if your pocket allows start looking at paid advertising options as well. Most good keywords will be targeted months before the holiday so set these up and buy the advertising you can afford.

• Last piece of the puzzle; write down the dates you launch your marketing campaign for each holiday. Look at bigger retailers or marketers for indicators on when is the best time. You need to have everything ready (content‐wise) before the launch date.

If you do all the above you should have no problem raking in the cash for every holiday you marked down on your calendar.

Holiday Value Adding Adding value to your products is a great way to convert your traffic and its no rocket science either. There are a few tricks that work for just about any business by adding value.

A good reputation is very valuable online and you should stay on top of orders, offering great customer service to keep people coming back for more. What’s more advertise your great customer service! Advertise it on your website through testimonials, customer feedback and/or a dedicated 24 hour customer service representative for your business. The simple rule here is people won’t know unless you tell them.

1. Add value to your seasonal products by offering greater discounts or freebies when customers buy more.
2. Add a seasonal complimentary gift‐wrapping service to your store.
3. Have specials like free on the ground shipping.
4. Guarantee on or before holiday delivery even for last minute products.
5. Add a free seasonal gift with all your purchases.
6. Offer a higher commission to your affiliates (if applicable) as an incentive.

There are hundreds of other more creative ways you can add value to your products by simply putting a seasonal spin on them e.g. you could send customers your grandmother’s pumpkin pie recipe with every Halloween candy purchase.

Marketing for the Holidays

Depending on your business model or on what you are selling there are several ways you can market your products. Finding the right keywords and targeting them early will be key, however, to your success for any given holiday. Do not wait till the last minute to do your keyword research; because the competition in any niche no matter how specialized you think it is, it gets really tough during the major holidays.

If you have keywords selected and content created around them then there are a few other generalized tips for decking out for the holidays:

• Banners and Storefront Décor – Depending on the niche you are in and the holiday you are promoting you will want to “spruce up” your website with a few holiday oriented graphics and banners. This is cheap yet effective way to let people who visit your site know that you are celebrating with them.

• Run Specials on Holiday Specific Products – Go through your inventory and put products specific to certain holidays on sales or on a discounted price if they act right then and there. This is a great way to convert traffic into paying customers. If you are an affiliate in any niche go through different best sellers lists and promote products that have great specials on them.

• Offer Customer Service and On‐Time Delivery – Offering some form of customer service support is crucial during the holidays it elevates your business front from amateur to professional in no time. Giving your customers several shipping options is also a great way to cement your reputation as a reliable and trustworthy seller.

These should work for any business model so be sure you do not forget to employ these along with your more specialized marketing strategies.

Strike While the Iron is Hot

You already know your deadlines, if you created that holiday calendar we asked you to. Now stick to it. Do not miss deadlines and in case you feel like you might miss a deadline have a contingency plan in place. You do not want to miss your opportunity and let the competition win over you. Plan everything’s launch i.e. each Newsletter, every sale or
holiday event to the exact minute.

If you act professionally and follow through on your deadlines your customers will think of you as a reliable and trustworthy provider.

Staying on Top of the Holiday Rush

Now we know we said you won’t have to do much in the form of work during the holiday and that is still true but only if you did everything ahead of time. To be honest that is the only way you can stay on top of the orders and the traffic influx that comes your way during the holidays.

If you are not prepared and run out of stock or cannot guarantee on‐ time delivery then you might not be able to do much during the holiday then let it be a lesson for the next.

Conclusion

This is it, you should be ready and looking forward to your next holiday as not just a money and resource draining event but as a great capitalistic opportunity to get in on the holiday cash flush! Good luck! We hope to see you out there!

The purpose of this article is to educate and there are no guarantees of income, sales or results implied. The publisher/author/reseller can therefore not be held accountable for any poor results you may attain when implementing the techniques or when following any guidelines set out for you in this article.