It's that time of the year again and the shopping spree is about to begin. While the National Retail Federation (NRF) is predicting that 2009 holiday sales would be 1% lower than 2008, it still works out to be a whopping 437.6 billion dollars. There is a definitely a lot of money to be made.

For ecommerce sites, this could be a make or break event, especially if you have struggled all year. This is the last opportunity of the year to generate some much needed revenue. However, attracting today's frugal online shoppers is nothing less than a challenge.

Therefore, in this edition of our newsletter we would discuss how you could groom your PPC campaign to capitalize on the Christmas shopping carnival.

Preparing for a lucrative Christmas

Barring a few overly organized individuals who have already bought their Christmas presents in the January sale, the rest of us have started to make elaborate shopping plans for Christmas. What does this mean to PPC advertisers like you and me? It is time to dress up and roll out your holiday seasoned PPC campaign.

Setting up or redoing your PPC campaign for the holiday season takes almost the same amount of effort and time as setting up a new campaign, if not more. So if you have been selling the same product line for years, looking at the historical PPC account data will be the best place to start. If not, break down your focus areas into keywords research, Ad copies, and landing page.

Keyword Strategy

Without the right set of keywords in place, you cannot expect to attract the right audience. Therefore, keyword research and Ad group management is the first key step to capitalize on the Christmas cheer. 

Tip #1 Have seasonal keywords: There are some keywords that are unique to the Christmas season, especially the ones that are related to the Christmas gifts, decorations, parties, etc. Make sure to have them on your list.

Tip #2 Do not ignore long tail keywords: Today's buyers do extensive research before they shop. This effectively means that they perform multiple searches and eventually narrow their search by adding more words to their original search query. This is the point where they are ready to buy, so don't forget to include such long tail keywords.

Tip #3 Set up new Ad groups in existing campaigns: Setting up Christmas flavoured Ad groups in your existing campaign will ensure that your entire product range is covered for Christmas. Also, these tightly themed Ad groups will give you a better control.

Tip # 4 Incorporate new Ad groups: If you sell products specific to the Christmas season apart from your regular product range, setting up a dedicated Ad campaign and distinct Ad groups within is the most appropriate thing to do. Not only will it give your granular control but also eliminate any interference with the well being of the existing campaign.

Tip #5 Set aside a dedicated budget: In the run upto the holiday season, in order to capture the splurge in holiday shoppers, it may required to increase the PPC budget. Of course, it is important to map if the increase in budget is resulting in increased profit but make sure that you have sufficient funds to keep you campaigns running at all times.

Ad copy Strategy

Now that you have your keywords and Ad campaign/groups in place, it is time to get your Ad copies spruced up. Ad copies are like the "icing on the cake". If your Ad copies are dull and boring, your extensive keyword research and Ad campaign fine tuning will fall apart.

Tip #6 Use the Christmas lingo: Get Christmas creative and add some sparkle to your Ad copies. Your Ad copies should emanate the smell of Christmas and special attention should be given to the headline.

Tip # 7 Display sales promotions: Holiday shoppers actively look for discounts and promotions. And if you do offer them why not display it in your Ad copies. If you offer free shipping your Ad copy should say so to grab user attention.

Tip #8 Get Christmas creative: Because there is a likelihood that most retailers from your domain may come up with same offers and discounts, it is important that your Ads have attention grabbing text. "Beat the holiday rush", "Guaranteed delivery before Christmas" and "Free gift wraps" should serve as good examples.

Landing Page Strategy

Last but certainly not the least, comes your landing page strategy. Your landing is the last bastion you need to conquer to get fruitful results.

Tip # 9 Jazz up your landing page: Your landing page should be decked up to reflect the Christmas fervour. Customize your landing page to be in tune with the Ad copies and make the buying process as simple as possible. Don't expect the customers to invest too much time in understanding the checkout process. If you do, be ready to lose out on sales.

Tip # 10 Cross sell: The customized landing page is also an opportunity to cross sell your products. You can draw inferences from your last year sales to present users with gift ideas and suggestions.

To get the most out of your Christmas PPC campaign, it would be best to get all the background work done before you are ready to 'rock and roll'. And don't forget to pause the Christmas campaigns once the festive season is over.

Do let us know if you found this information useful. We would look forward to hear from you.