Written on December 22nd, 2007 at 08:12 am by Darren Rowse
What Have You Done on Your Blog For Christmas?
A few weeks ago I encouraged readers to get their blog ready for Christmas.
I’d be interested to hear how people have gone with it.
Have you done anything different on your blog this holiday season? Perhaps it’s been posts you’ve written, design elements, getting your ads and affiliate programs optimized – or something else.
How have these efforts converted for you?
Let me give you an example of my own:
Earlier in the week I posted 9 Fun Digital Photography Christmas Gifts. I’d previously written some other Christmas posts but this one was more aimed at the last minute shopper. It was a list of 9 products – all from Amazon.
My aim with the post was to make it a little fun and ‘light’ by highlighting smaller and more interesting products than high end and expensive digital cameras (I’d done the more expensive products in a recent post on popular digital cameras).
The conversion of the post has been quite good with quite a few items in the list being purchased and also the traffic that it directed into Amazon resulting in lots of other purchases (remember it’s all about getting readers in the door with Amazon).
I also prominently promoted this post in my weekly newsletter – this drove quite a bit of traffic to it in the last 24 hours – hopefully this will convert in the next Amazon report.
The other surprising element is that the post has done increasingly well with StumbleUpon. Only a few readers have stumbled it so far but the traffic from SU has been quite good so far. I was surprised at this because it’s not a ‘tips’ post – but perhaps the slightly ‘wacky’ products featured have worked.
That’s one example of what I’ve done in the last week or so. What have you been up to?
68 Responses to “What Have You Done on Your Blog For Christmas?” - Add Yours
Gary Jones :: BlueFur.com
December 22nd, 2007 8:49 am
We gave our blog a christmasy feel make-over.
Justin Dupre
December 22nd, 2007 8:50 am
I have been preparing my blog for the gifts I will receive myself. My affiliate linking is going up, and I’ve added a few new widgets! I’m really excited because I think this holiday season will really allow my blog to explode!
Justin Dupre
http://www.moneyandblog.com
Emma
December 22nd, 2007 8:52 am
I kind of missed the Christmas boat as far as getting affiliate links set up. But I’ll be ready next year. I always do a holiday post though. I’ve already done mine. So it’s buried a little but I’ll bring it back on Christmas eve.
UltraRob
December 22nd, 2007 9:02 am
I created a gift card guide for cycling and outdoor stores. I’m giving 2 gift cards away this week. 1 for people linking to my post for the giveaway and 1 for people that give me feedback on the cycling and outdoor gear search on my site.
Unfortunately I’ve been too busy with Christmas actvities to really promote it. I also got it put up a few days later than planned.
Frugal for Life
December 22nd, 2007 9:10 am
I’ve got a personal video message all ready to go for tomorrow (sat) and I rarely do that. i’m trying to be more personable on my site.. I hope this will help.
Brian Purkiss
December 22nd, 2007 9:10 am
I gave myself a new theme!
does that count? :-P
I do plan on scheduling a “Merry Christmas!” post on Christmas day.
But I am offering a Free Custom Wordpress Theme contest.
Gonna give away a free custom design for some lucky blog – the deadline is Christmas day.
so that’s what I’m doing.
Collin LaHay
December 22nd, 2007 9:12 am
On wordhugger.com and rsshugger.com I added christmas hats to my logos. =)
Giada
December 22nd, 2007 9:13 am
Well on the new blog nothing yet because it doesn’t exist yet, but I wrote an article as a guestblogger about Kiva.org. And posted a cheesy video; a christmascarol sung by the blogstaff recorded the year before. They forgot I had it ^^.
Giada
December 22nd, 2007 9:14 am
edit : christmas carol
chris Pinchen
December 22nd, 2007 9:17 am
As our blog is linked to our podcasts for advanced learners of Spanish, we’ve been doing a whole series on festive traditions, food & customs – and if you’ve never seen the catalan Christmas “shitter” then check it out here http://urltea.com/2crg
Mike Goad
December 22nd, 2007 9:18 am
All I’ve done is post some Christmasy images to go with some of my posts. Then for the upcoming four days, I’m posting some vintage Christmas images for those who do happen to drop into my blog. I’m not quite to the point of being ready to do any sort of seasonal special on my sites.
razmaspaz
December 22nd, 2007 9:26 am
I took your advice:
I’ve done my Champagne post:
http://www.thirdcoastwine.com/2007/12/champagne-for-holidays.html
My Christmas Post:
http://www.thirdcoastwine.com/2007/12/christmas-dinner.html
My Snow Post:
http://www.thirdcoastwine.com/2007/12/let-it-snow.html
And I’m posting my New Years Post this week to get ready for new years.
Eitan
December 22nd, 2007 9:31 am
I derided the holiday as a pagan festival re-imagined as a commercial love-fest.
Just kidding. I’m Jewish, didn’t mention it in my blog.
Besides, my blog’s tied in too much to the entertainment industry which typically shuts down mid-December and this year is further slowed by the strike. When it slows down like this I typically write about what to do when it’s slow. But this time of the year it’s best to just get out of town or hang with your family.
Randy Brown
December 22nd, 2007 9:41 am
I posted a Holiday Video starring YOU and Shoemoney..and a few other bloggers :-)
Chris Jacobson
December 22nd, 2007 9:43 am
I put up a Santa hat on my header image and played around with some Christmas lights at the top.
Michael Grove
December 22nd, 2007 9:58 am
Haven’t done anything, because my blog isen’t launched yet.
Jeremy
December 22nd, 2007 10:02 am
I actually timed the launch of my new blog, http://www.GearPipe.com, with Cyber Monday. This site is a “deals and discounts” blog for musical instruments, so the affiliate programs I had joined (Guitar Center, Musicians Friend, etc) were already perfect for the holiday season. Since they set up special sections on their websites for great gift products, I provided links specifically to those pages.
Finally, I also tried to sprinkle season-appropriate keywords in, as much as possible. I’ve seen that quite a few visitors have come to by blog via “stocking stuffers for musicians” or “gifts for musicians.” After about a month, I’ve seen pretty good traffic and some decent affiliate commissions…looking forward to ’08!
Imelda
December 22nd, 2007 10:05 am
I’ve missed the boat this Christmas. I should have been more organized as it was the perfect opportunity to do a top buys kinda thing. My blogs relatively new so I’ve been focused on ‘watering’ and trying to convince people in my industry participate.
http://www.imelda.com.au
Sue
December 22nd, 2007 10:05 am
Besides putting a link to the amazon store of mine featuring lighthouses, I offered a full size printable Lighthouse Christmas card. It was specially made for me a couple years ago, and I enjoyed it so much I thought I’d share it with other lighthouse lovers. I had it as a “sticky” post for a couple weeks, but now, so close to the holiday, I just have an image and a link to it from the sidebar. People searching for printable cards come in from Google anyway. And my regular readers have already seen and downloaded it.
It’s actually brought in quite a bit of traffic, although I don’t know how many come back, or have subscribed.
I may or may not do a special Christmas post. Maybe the one about the terrorizing geese at Turkey Point Lighthouse.
Complete Geek
December 22nd, 2007 10:06 am
I did a top 5 pick for my favorite geek Christmas gifts.
http://completegeek.net/?p=215
Michael Martine
December 22nd, 2007 10:09 am
I had started to put together a top ten gift list for bloggers but changed my mind. It struck me that kind of post doesn’t really fit in with my image and brand. I was concerned I would look a little like a sellout. Not what I want to do with Remarkablogger.
I will take advantage of the holidays to finish my new theme and ebook, in order to have both of them ready for the new year.
Chris Thomson
December 22nd, 2007 10:43 am
I haven’t done too much to make my blog more christmasy. All I’ve done (so far) is change the color of the post titles and sidebar titles to red, so all the links and titles will be green and red. I’m not a designer at all, so I couldn’t give it a complete makeover. I plan on blogging about great gifts sometime this weekend :)
JoLynn Braley
December 22nd, 2007 10:46 am
I put together some gift ideas in my Amazon shop and plan to do a Christmas theme….I need to work on that before I can go live with it….that’s the plan. :)
Mel T
December 22nd, 2007 10:52 am
I’ve written a series of 8 Christmas posts including how to avoid overeating, how to plan your menu, how to avoid stress, and some tips for surviving the Christmas period if you’re vegetarian.
However, I’ve noticed traffic has been pretty slow.
Famous Quotes
December 22nd, 2007 10:57 am
Mine is a relatively new blog, so I haven’t done anything special.
Brad V.
December 22nd, 2007 11:02 am
Since I really don’t celebrate Christmas, I haven’t done anything. However, the month of December is my blog’s birthday month, so I’ll be having a fun contest coming up with a really cool prize!
Patrick from FierceDiscussions.com
December 22nd, 2007 11:04 am
I just started as well and haven’t done anything special but that will change next year. I am going to handle my blog as a business which means provide value and change with the seasons and holidays. Yes, I know I am far from a quality blog at this moment but have confidence.
I just have a difficult time understand the technical code behind my wordpress theme to make changes on my site :-(
If somebody knows a good website that explains the ins and outs in an understandable way, please shoot me a link….
Allison
December 22nd, 2007 11:19 am
At BCS Frenzy, I wrote Three Last-Minute Christmas Gifts for that College Football Fan in your Life”.
At The Millionaire Blogger, I wrote Saving Money Around the Holidays
I think holiday topics are a great way to spread a little Christmas cheer…and drive some traffic with info that’s relevant to readers!
Vicky-Virtual Assistant
December 22nd, 2007 11:23 am
Because my blog is pretty new I just decided to ad a post with a nice holiday pic. I did update my whole website though so hopefully that counts towards getting more traffic and customers. :}
Donald
December 22nd, 2007 11:36 am
Darren,
I did a similar post as you highlighting some “unique” Christmas gifts. Be a unique gift giver this year…
Erik
December 22nd, 2007 12:04 pm
Seeing as how my blog is all of one week old, and I’ve had all of maybe 15 different people visit the site, I’m not really going to do anything except maybe pop in on Christmas day and say, “Hey. Merry Christmas.” and then go back to bed.
Lipton
December 22nd, 2007 12:07 pm
Nothing Xmas related yet, but started promoting a fansite tournament that the community manager for my game(Karune/StarCraft II) posted about on a major forum and even got Blizzard to provide prizes!
:D my blog’s traffic has been blowing up thx to your advice and Yaro’s
http://starfeeder.com
Ray Fowler
December 22nd, 2007 1:02 pm
I have done a number of Christmas related posts including:
Guess the Famous Christmas Trees, Free Christmas Music MP3s and even some sound clips of my 14-year old son playing the guitar with his own arrangments of Christmas songs.
You can find them all here if you are interested:
http://www.rayfowler.org/category/christmas/
Melissa Donovan
December 22nd, 2007 1:08 pm
I launched an astore, and inserted one extra ad for gift cards. I have a little something planned for Monday’s post. Back at the beginning of the season I also concocted a holiday writing exercise, but that was some time ago.
The blogosphere is getting quiet, though. Is everyone out celebrating and shopping?
Melissa Donovan
Writing Forward
Michael Long
December 22nd, 2007 1:11 pm
Actually, I’ve devoted some advertising space on my Apple-related blog iSights to charities and added rotators for some other non-profits.
‘Tis the season to give, not receive.
http://www.iSights.org/
Patrick Burt
December 22nd, 2007 1:13 pm
I wrote an article on gift’s not to give to web people. (it’s a blog for web people).
Raj from BlogHash.com
December 22nd, 2007 1:27 pm
I have got a new theme uploaded couple of hours ago. My affiliate sales is more than doubled and things are looking bright for next year.
Veron
December 22nd, 2007 2:00 pm
Design-wise, I have given my blog a Christmasy feel with animated falling snowflakes and Christmasy icons taking the place of regular ones on my sidebar.
Every Christmas I would do up a series of posts, titled “Christmas Tree of the Day”, featuring 1 unique Christmas tree for each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas.
Wanna see what a tropical Christmas in Singapore looks like? Check out the 12 Christmas trees on my blog! (We’re up to Tree #8 now).
Sara East
December 22nd, 2007 2:01 pm
Christmas? Oh yeah, that is almost here. I keep thinking about Mardi Gras myself. Didn’t do much for Christmas, I think more about Mardi Gras and Chinese New Year.
Warren
December 22nd, 2007 2:05 pm
I wrote an article on thoughtful and inexpensive gifts to get your clients and customers. Click my name for the link.
Erica
December 22nd, 2007 2:29 pm
Well, I havn’t spiffed my personal blog up for christmas, but I am giving my mom a (new) blog for Christmas! I bought her the domain name of her blog and set up Wordpress for her, which I hope she will find easier than the current Blogger interface. The blog is by no means finished but I know she will be thrilled.
I even tricked her into giving me her password and have imported all her past posts from the last 3 years! You can find them here:
http://www.couturesmith.com
Deb
December 22nd, 2007 3:24 pm
I did not do anything with design for the holidays this year, Recovering from NaNo it was hard enough to keep a blog groove going this year. I also have been posting 6 days which has helped my hands a lot. So that has meant that Christmas related material is in the text of the posts.
I wrote a post NaNo summary on Dec. 4th. Starting with Dec. 5th I have had either a Christmas, winter activity or planning for the new year post. Most of it is fairly nostalgic.
Regularly designated posts are a Christmas memory series with a list. I did two polls on consecutive Fridays about traditions and did follow-up posts on the following Thursdays. Weds I have photo fun in Wordless Wednesdays with seasonal photos.
Mixed in have been posts about cards versus other seasonal communication channels, pageants and plays, Soldier’s Christmas letter 1945, year-end reflecting, turning a resolution into an achievable goal, Ski lessons and other life lessons they inspired.
I am writing on foods and memories tomorrow. Then I am prewriting a Christmas Eve Reflection, a Christmas Day post (probably something spiritual), and prepare Wednesday’s photo. The rest of the month will be devoted to recovering from the big day and the season in general and New Year’s or goal-related posts. The Friday after Christmas. I’ll probably run one last holiday poll on when to take down the tree.
Wow. This has been a busy writing month.
Greg Nilsen
December 22nd, 2007 3:38 pm
On my blog http://www.ifjesushadawebsite.net, I’ve spent the month blogging daily about Advent, Christmas, and other observations of the season. It’s been a really interesting project, especially as it’s upped my posting rate almost seven fold (usually, I just post on it weekly).
BlogComics.net
December 22nd, 2007 4:12 pm
On my blog, I am planning to provide Christmas themed Comic strips so that people can place it on their blogs if they dont have anything to post! ^_^
Peter
December 22nd, 2007 4:54 pm
I changed my RSS icon to one with a Santa hat – ie I haven’t done a whole lot!
Vic
December 22nd, 2007 4:55 pm
I started working on improving the SEO of the site back in June and started optimizing affiliate programs in September, I’ve learned from past years the earlier the better to capitalize on the Christmas rush. I also planned some big posts that came out around the US thanksgiving.
LC
December 22nd, 2007 8:08 pm
My Christmas present to my blog was posting a podcast of our community Pay It Forward Night. A group of us went to IHOP, had two servers, and each got a $960 tip! It’s our second annual event and I thought it would be a cool gift to the community to record and post.
Young
December 22nd, 2007 10:56 pm
Young
December 22nd, 2007 10:59 pm
It seems that no photo can be inserted in your comments, anyway, i just came to say Merry X’mas!
Bogdan
December 23rd, 2007 12:42 am
For Christmas, I put a hat on my rss icon, making it look more festive and in theme with the season. I also rounded up the most popular posts over the last year. Didn’t really have much time to decorate, but hope the readers will like it.
Merry Xmas to all!
Heidi Caswell
December 23rd, 2007 12:43 am
Participated in 24 Blogging Days Till Christmas event, where Dina Giolitto, copywriter is giving away 24 copywriting tips for your blog while encouraging interaction between bloggers.
I wrote several posts about gifts, 7 gifts of blog, gift of great customer service, etc.
Kelly
December 23rd, 2007 12:44 am
Darren,
My blog aims to help businesses attract and keep more customers through Experience Design.
I wrote a post on creating “sticky” memories for customers while standing in line with my daughter, waiting to see Santa. I also wrote a Ten-Point Tune-Up, for businesses experiencing their slow time right now (not strictly holiday, but a lot of offices, especially, are twiddling their thumbs right now).
I already had a bit of holiday blogging planned, but that post you wrote was a real thought-provoker for me. I took your advice a bit farther and started getting other seasonal content together, thinking about how every season presents its own opportunities for business growth, and you’ll be seeing Spring, Summer, and Autumn seasonal content from me, also. I came upon some data that led me to a post for next August the other day, so your post really got me thinking in advance!
Thanks much,
Kelly
Danielle, Celebrity Baby Blog
December 23rd, 2007 1:23 am
We created a holiday gift guide by excerpting past product reviews from our Reviews site and creating new ones. We also contacted all of the manufacturers for exclusive coupon codes for our readers.
http://www.celebrity-babies.com/2007/12/2007-celebrity.html
Abdul Basit
December 23rd, 2007 1:24 am
have a nice Xmas Darren, btw are plaining to go somewhere for Christmas ?
-abs
beadinggem
December 23rd, 2007 1:52 am
I did mine back in November with Christmas Tree Earrings Design Ideas. It had to be early because people who read my jewelry blog for inspiration and ideas need time to make these things. I submitted the post to forums and SU and it did well.
My personal message to go out soon features an article and picture of a $1 million dollar gem encrusted Christmas tree made by jewellers in Singapore.
Linette
December 23rd, 2007 2:08 am
I did some toy gift guides for specific product lines, and they converted very nicely.
ReddyK - The Atma Jyoti Blog
December 23rd, 2007 2:52 am
We have posted two articles on the spiritual meaning of Christmas. One is entitled , and the other is . Check them out!
ReddyK - The Atma Jyoti Blog
December 23rd, 2007 3:02 am
I messed up my last comment. Let me try again.
We have posted two articles on the spiritual meaning of Christmas. One is entitled “Compassion in the Teachings of Jesus” , and the other is Christmas from an Eastern Perspective . Check them out!
Natasha
December 23rd, 2007 6:57 am
Ok, after weeks of agonizing over my layout and pulling out many of my little naps, my blog is finally live . Although I only have a few more days left till Christmas, I also decided to decorate it a little. Better late then never.
Btw, thanks so much for all the good information you post on this site. Your site was one of the first ones I added to my blogroll, because it has become a good resource site for me. Even when I did a Google search for a particular question I had, one of the top links was this site.
I wish you and all your readers Happy Holidays.
~Natasha
Marty Weil
December 23rd, 2007 8:37 am
Leading up to Christmas, I’ve created a series of holiday-themed posts. The series will culminate with interviews– posted on Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day–with two very unique “Christmas” collectors (one being from Russia who collects vintage USSR Christmas Cards).
Glenn -- Write for Blogs
December 23rd, 2007 9:02 am
Topped the blog with a post on the top 5 Christmas DVDs, at least in our house. Right on top is a picture of the kid with his tongue stuck to the pole. Everyone loves that!
Ho Ho Ho
Jeffrey
December 23rd, 2007 5:26 pm
I did a 3 part series on the environmental benefits and how to create a free Christmas eCard slideshow (instead of sending traditional christmas cards) on my blog, the Fun Times Guide to Living Green.
My hits have been 5-7 times what they normally are for the last 10 days!
Merry Christmas
Gisele B. from myBeautyMatch.com
December 24th, 2007 3:34 am
We focused on posts labelled: “Best Beauty Gifts”. Everything during the month of December was focused on helping with Christmas shopping.
On December 25th, we’ll have a special “thank you and happy holidays” message.
We didn’t create any new graphic designs, because we didn’t plan ahead, but I will certainly add that element for Christmas 2008.
Gisele
PlasticPilot
December 24th, 2007 3:55 am
Hi Darren,
I made a custom Christmas logo, and oriented some posts on charities active in the aviation niche.
This is also the period of retrospective posts – top 10 aviation events in 2007 and the like.
Some posts for 2008 are also in the pipe, including a whishlist !
Merry Christmas to all !
vhxn.com
December 24th, 2007 4:45 am
I also wanna a make a custom logo to my blog – but i didn’t created yet hope soon i create n place on the top – http://www.vhxn.com
Waggdogg
December 24th, 2007 2:12 pm
I didn’t think I could do any thing for Christmas because a write a political Blog. But I did come up with something. Thank you Darren for the push to make me think.
Descartes
December 25th, 2007 8:56 am
I did a collection of YouTube Videos, silly but seemed like a fun idea at time
Widgett Walls
December 28th, 2007 2:11 am
Descartes, that’s not silly at all. It’s amazing what trawling through video searches will buy you in the way of traffic.
For us, we followed up our 32 Days of Halloween campaign with 13 Days of Xmas.
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