In your company’s pursuit of establishing a viral campaign, it is imperative to have a solid understanding of the main goals you would like to achieve. Your goals should fit into three distinct categories: building your brand, driving conversions and increasing your online presence.

First off, let’s take a look at your branding goals through viral marketing efforts.

When setting goals for building your company’s brand, take a closer look at what you specifically wish to achieve within this category. One component of branding is building your company’s recognition. This is a great goal for companies who are just starting out or are building a presence in a new area (location or industry). Focus on building an understanding of your company with your target marketing; communicating what your products and services are, along with what makes your brand stand-out can increase your market share, as well. Build upon the emotional connection that people have (or should ideally have) when viewing your brand. Instead of sitting around and hoping that people feel a certain way about your brand, why not incorporate the ideal thoughts and feelings you want your target audience to feel when they view your campaign? The great part

The next goal to focus on is increasing your conversions.

Viral marketing campaigns are great ways to drive conversions; the question you need to consider, however, is ‘How do you define conversions?’. Having a consumer subscribe to your YouTube channel, RSS or email newsletters could define your goals for increasing conversions. Conversions could also refer to actions. Driving “pass-alongs”, such as word-of-mouth customer experiences, or driving “calls-to-action”, such as downloading a company whitepaper, could all be considered conversions for your company. The main objective when driving conversions is to ultimately increase sales. Getting your customers to make a purchase on your website is the end goal, but what if you could more easily meet your company’s sales goals by focusing on the conversion goal of up-selling or cross-selling? It’s all possible with careful planning of your viral marketing campaigns.

The final, and perhaps most valuable, goal to consider in the long-term is building your online presence.

The great thing about viral marketing techniques is that they yield large amounts of traffic—that’s the purest definition of “viral”, after all. This traffic is not only coming from your campaign in mass quantities, it is also very focused (mostly made up of your target audience) and emotionally invested (already interested in your brand due to the credibility of others who have shared it). Your company can also build the amount of links to your website. These links tend to be extremely credible, because they are typically shared on topical blogs specific to your industry. Increasing your brand’s mentions, by acting as the catalyst for conversation through social media, is a great way to reinforce positive buzz happening on these sites.

Before you jump right into making your campaigns for 2012, identify your company’s specific goals by focusing on dissecting each main objective—branding, conversions and presence. Outline components to concentrate on for each objective in order to most effectively fulfill your brand’s goals for the year.

Let’s take a look at six ways in which many companies’ digital marketing campaigns have found success.

Keep it simple

When creating a campaign, keep in mind that, if you want your target audience to remember your company’s intended message, keep it simple. People are generally not going to remember more than one or two messages at once. Condense your campaigns to communicate one common message or pair the varying messaging with one central theme. It’s important that your campaigns are still a solid representation of what your brand stands for—this means that your campaigns should be recognizable in style, feel and messaging. After all, the most successful of companies have clear, simple messages associated with their brands.

Example: Reese’s “Dark Remote” Campaign

Be unexpected

Who doesn’t enjoy a nice surprise every once and a while? If you take a look at the successful brands out there, you’ll notice that many of them incorporate a sense of surprise within their digital campaigns. The key to a clever and successful viral campaign is to deliver a message that is not only unexpected, but makes sense for your brand. It’s always great to see ads which are thought provoking and communicate a message which, although conventional, may not be something generally associated with products or services in a specific industry.

Example: Dove’s “Evolution” Campaign

Stay concrete

Making empty promises in the business world is never a good thing; this holds true to a company’s campaign messaging. People take comfort in knowing that a company will go above and beyond to make their customer experience the best it can possibly be. Communicating the “hassle-free” aspect of doing business with your company can reassure current and potential customers of the risk-free investment involved with purchasing your products or services. Sticking to your company’s word will increase the amount of repeat customers and positively influence word-of-mouth recommendations from current customers.

Example: Orbitz’s “Price Assurance” Campaign

Embody credibility

A company’s credibility is a vital part of its success. Having a powerful voice in your industry can tremendously affect the size of your market share. The challenge is, however, that your company will almost always have some form of competition in its industry. In order to break away from your competitors, your brands must embody a sense of confidence and credibility to appear superior to those of your competition’s. Leveraging distinguishing factors, awards and third-party findings when creating your campaigns can help your company establish that credibility.

Example: Hyundai Veloster’s “Best in Class”  Campaign

Connect emotionally

A smart goal to aim for when creating marketing campaigns is to connect emotionally with your current and potential customers. Identify your company’s ideal target market and focus on what resonates with this group of individuals.  Connecting emotionally with your target market can mean anything from making a reference to a person’s childhood to highlighting a certain safety feature to keep protective parents at ease. Establishing this connection through your ad campaigns can not only make your message more memorable, it can also lead to an increase in conversions and ultimately, higher ROI.

Example: Oreo’s “Perfect Mother’s Day Gift” Campaign

Tell a story

Finally, incorporating a story into your marketing campaign can be a distinguishing factor in engaging your target audience to buy into your brand. Using stories can strengthen your brand’s impact by providing something for your audience to connect with on a more personal level. An easy way to incorporate stories into your campaign is to provide real-life testimonials of people using your products/services. This is one of the most personal ways your company can gain exposure aside from word-of-mouth referrals. By communicating the positive results your customers achieved from using your products or services, the credibility of your campaign (as addressed in my fourth point) dramatically increases.

Example: Weight Watcher’s “Jennifer Hudson” Campaign

Try incorporating one, or even a few, of these best practices into your digital marketing campaigns for 2012. Keeping your target audience at the forefront will strengthen your brand message, distinguish you from your competition and help your campaign drive conversions for your company.

The great thing about brand advocates is that they are essentially “volunteer marketers” for your company; they take a sense of ownership and pride in your company’s success, because they believe in its products and services. Brand advocacy is an irreplaceable form of marketing and, with a strong fleet of brand advocates actively promoting your brand, the effect on your company can be tremendous.

Now that we know what a brand advocate is, the next step is to determine how to increase the number of brand advocates for your company. Yes, some part of brand advocacy is naturally occurring, but there is so much more that your company can do to harness the power of these individuals. Essentially, the question that companies should be trying to answer in regards to brand advocacy is ‘What makes people share?’. By breaking down the core reasons for sharing, companies can better understand the ‘recipe’ for building brand advocates.

Understanding a person’s motivating factors behind sharing and promoting their favorite brands can be a significant advantage for companies looking to create advocates for brand awareness. Below are 4 motivating factors for brand advocates:

Knowledge

“I want to be the person others turn to for input and advice.”

Business take-away:

Encourage conversation and empower thought-leadership within your industry through providing products and services which give people something to talk about.

Ego

“I want to be the person who has the newest and coolest thing around.”

Business take-away:

Shape your brand’s message to portray innovation and incorporate trending aspects in your industry to maintain a ‘current’ consumer perspective, while exuding a sense of ‘exclusivity’ within your brand message or product distribution.

Reward

“I want to gain tangible or intangible benefits for sharing.”

Business take-away:

Make your customers feel as though they are valued for their support, whether it’s in the form of a tangible reward, like a coupon, or an intangible benefit, such as a loyalty program.

Passion

“I have a vested interest in this topic and willingly share because I love talking about it.”

Business take-away:

Identify your target market and specifically shape your campaign messaging towards people who are “value-added” influencers in your industry.

What makes these campaigns so compelling is that they are passed around organically and get millions upon millions of views. There’s something that sparks interest in the viewer—some aspect of the image, video or ad which connects with this person on a deeper level—whether it may be a reminder of an aspect of the viewer’s childhood or simply portraying a strong emotion. Viral campaigns seem to capture viewers’ eyes and ears with full-fledged engagement.

What if I were to mention the phrases “Volkswagen Passat and baby Darth Vader,” “Honda and Patrick Warburton,” “Kenny Powers, CEO of K-Swiss,” or “Jennifer Aniston and Smartwater.” I bet that you’ve seen or at least heard of these videos—in their original form, they’ve been collectively been viewed by over 60 million people just on YouTube alone—and that’s not counting all the edited videos that fans have created.

If companies are able to harness the viral-factor and create campaigns with this intention in mind, the potential gains from doing so could be tremendous. Keeping in mind your company’s end goal for these campaigns is important when attempting to create a “viral campaign.” The goal for these campaigns should be focused around having your company’s content spread rapidly by consumers to eventually reach the eyes and ears of your target market. In order to effectively reach your target market, focus on streamlining the message your audience wants to hear and share with others along with your campaign’s goals. Viral campaign success should be defined by receiving targeted, qualified traffic from a targeted message, to ultimately deliver positive ROI.

Now that we understand what viral is and how to define viral success, let’s take a look at some initiatives that can be achieved through viral campaigns.

Branding

What better way to make an impression for your brand, new products or services than with a campaign that could be organically spread to millions of people in a short amount of time? In order to achieve the highest amount of ROI, specifically tailor your brand message to entice your target audience. Crafting a simple, clear message prior to campaign creation will help to ensure that your brand is understood by your audience. With this message in place, you will be able to more effectively communicate your brand through the emotion, images, words and feel of the campaign.

Credibility

People tend to harbor some distrust for ads, having the preconceived notion that products/services are not as great as they are portrayed on television, in magazines, online, etc. People place trust with their friends, family and the online community for which they have a presence in. Connections are a powerful thing; understanding this, through leveraging these connections and personal relationships, could mean the difference between a successful brand and flop. Viral campaigns are the opportunity to push a genuine message to a vast amount of people.

Cost Savings

The beauty of creating a campaign geared towards “going viral” is the tremendous cost savings, as compared to traditional forms of launching online campaigns. Again, harnessing the power of people’s personal connections and online following can work to your brand’s best interest. By creating an engaging campaign, all the work of portraying it to your target market is done organically through sharing, along with Word-of-Mouth (WOM) advertising and online conversations via social media.

Standing Out from the Crowd

Consider the relatively small number of companies who actively pursue creating “viral” campaigns vs those who have been adopting more traditional forms of advertising for their brand for decades. This could be your brand’s opportunity to break away from the clutter and stand out in your target market’s mind. Along with being a fairly new and exciting form of marketing, “viral” campaigns allow for a unique viewer experience which can be interactive (when creating videos or embedding Adobe Flash within company websites). Delivering the “unexpected” to your audience is one way in which your company can stand out from your competition. Try adding an element of surprise to your campaigns; with viewers feeling emotionally connected and engaged with the campaign, the message will be more likely to stay with them longer.

Creating & Empowering Brand Evangelists

The great thing about effective viral campaigns is the massive “fan-base” which is established. Through your campaign messaging, your company can both create brand “evangelists” and empower them to not only “buy into” your brand, but to spread the word to others. Again, this goes back to the point about people trusting their friends and family with opinions and advice. Merely ‘liking’ a campaign does not translate to a person believing in your brand; if your brand is something that a person identifies with personally, he/she is more than likely to tell someone else about it and be a personal ambassador for your brand.

Make sure to check back soon on the Rise Interactive blog for more tips on Viral Campaigns.

Credibility—what does this mean for business, exactly? One thing that businesses should be aware of is the endless possibilities that can be leveraged by having an engaged, loyal audience. People trust the thoughts and opinions of their close family and friends—there’s a sort of comfort-factor that exists which allows for easy, clear communication. With virtually no barriers to information “entry” because of the trust and credibility in these relationships, the message being communicated is quite clear to the listener. This same scenario can be applied to business.

Let’s compare the two: person-to-person interaction and business-to-consumer interaction. Person “A” gives person “B” some advice. Since they have been close friends for a couple years and person “A” has given good advice in the past, person “B” trusts the credibility of person “A”. Just like this scenario, a business must remain aware of its targeted consumers and adhere to their best interest; consistency with a good thing yields credibility. Therefore, focus your business’s efforts in a way that will provide your consumers with that trust and reliability to establish credibility and build tighter-knit relationships.

Business take-aways: Building relationships and credibility, along with the conversions they can drive takes time. Providing consistently high-quality, valuable content will help to establish this credibility.

Now that we know the importance of establishing credibility for content marketing, the next step is to allocate this content in a way which will ultimately lead to a conversion—whether that is defined as a “like” on Facebook, or filling out a demo request form, or even adding an item to a person’s online shopping cart. Producing content with the purpose of engaging your current and potential customers is only as good as the platforms to which you choose to deliver this content.

Choosing the right platforms for your business to engage with your customers, along with tailoring content to best-fit specific platforms, are vital decisions to make for your Communication and Social Media strategies. The first thing to consider when making these decisions is finding the platforms that your customers most-heavily use and trust. This can vary significantly based on the industry, products and how you define conversions. Secondly, consider platforms that will allow for easy conversation on the content which is being presented. An audience which is engaging with your brand will be more likely to share your brand’s content with a friend. Lastly, consider the maintenance which comes along with establishing these “brand relationships”. Just as a person-to-person relationship requires constant attention and communication, so does a brand-to-person relationship. If you’re going to commit to your company’s goal of content credibility, you must remember to engage often and with quality content.

Business take-aways: Example—Platforms like Flickr can convey credibility for a photographer/photography business due to its photo-hosting and sharing capabilities. This is not so much the case for a company that sells baby products.  A baby products company should be present on Facebook, where there’s a deep connection with friends and family expressing their opinions/experiences.

With a more in-depth look into the best-interest of your targeted customers, along with a passion for delivering content which will create value for your audience and continuing the conversation via qualified platforms, your company can be on its way to establishing deep-rooted connections and strengthening its “brand relationships.”

Finally, after three and a half months of waiting, businesses can create Google+ pages.  If they were allowed to do so from the start, it’s possible G+ would not have lost all the momentum it started with, but that’s neither here nor there.  The point is that now businesses can interact with consumers on Google+ and the potential implications are enormous.

Impact on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

To go along with pages, Google has launched a new type of search called Direct Connect.  This allows users to go directly to a brand’s Google+ page simply by typing ‘+’ in the search bar right before the brand name.  It’s kind of like clicking the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button, except you know exactly where you’re going to land.  This means the content you share on Google+ is easier to find than the content you share on any other social network.  It also means your Google+ page is now as important as your Google Places page and probably only one tier below your website.

There’s one more reason Google+ is important to search.  The content that you share on Google+ is subject to the +1 button.  If you don’t know what the +1 button is, it’s basically Google’s version of the ‘Like’ button, but it impacts search results when you’re logged into your Google account.  Sites that are +1’d by your friends show up higher in your results than those that don’t (you’re also hypothetically more likely to click a link your friends have +1’d than one they haven’t).  If your company shares a link to your blog or your website on Google+, the +1’s that link receives will impact search results.  People can also +1 your Google+ page itself, helping that page rank higher in search results even if a Direct Connect search is not used.

Impact on Paid Search or Pay-Per-Click

Unlike Facebook, Google is not creating paid search ads within the Google+ platform (at least for now).  That means you will not be able to “buy” +1’s by displaying ads to Google+ users based on other pages they follow.  However, you can buy paid ads within Google search that direct people to your Google+ page.  It’s as simple as linking there instead of to your website.  Whether that’s an efficient use of your resources is another question, but it’s certainly within the realm of plausibility.

Paid search ads in Google also carry the same +1’s that organic search results carry.  So a paid search ad linking to a site that lots of people have +1’d is more likely to receive a higher placement among paid results, and could even influence a user’s decision about which ad to click.  Paid searchers will have to account for this in their pay-per-click strategy as the +1 grows in popularity.

Impact on Social Media

Google+ is, after all, a social platform, so how can we not discuss the social media impact of Google+ pages?  Your Google+ page is not like your Facebook page.  They may look similar, but their functionality is vastly different (and consumers use Google+ in different ways than Facebook, if they use Google+ at all—more on that below).  The biggest draw of Google+ has always been the organization of discussions and the ability to conduct multi-person video chats.  While there are other great features (and Google+ has always had great features), those are the two that brands should focus on the most as they set up their Google+ presence.

In many ways, Google+ more closely resembles Twitter than Facebook.  Some recent features such as ‘What’s Hot’ (similar to ‘Trending Topics’) help to cement those similarities.  But Google+’s advantage is the way comments are organized conversationally.  This is an opportunity for brands to communicate in a way they can’t on Twitter.  In other words, your Google+ content strategy should be similar to your Twitter strategy except that you have the ability to organize your conversations.

However, the biggest advantage of Google+ is the video features.  Not only is Google+ integrated with YouTube (did you notice the new YouTube search bar on the Google+ homepage that opens a pop-up video screen?), but you can have two, three or even ten-way communication with your customers by using the Hangout feature.  This is a brand new, exciting way for businesses to interact with consumers.  Use it to make announcements, handle customer complaints, hold contests and more.  Be creative.  Find new uses for video communication that nobody has done before.  The potential here is huge and could be what ultimately brings users to your Google+ page.

Did Google+ Become Relevant Again?

Depends who you ask.  Businesses, large and small, need to pay attention.  The question (and the reason I mentioned these implications are only potentially huge) is whether consumers will pay attention.  The momentum of users rushing to create Google+ profiles is long gone.  Can business pages stir up enough excitement to bring users back?  That’s the big question we have to ask—and the challenge your brand is now faced with.  What I do know is that, consumers or no consumers, the SEO and paid search implications now make Google+ a must for brands.

Look at the people.  What do you notice about them?  How many of them are there by themselves?  Sure, there may be a few, but I’m guessing the vast majority are there with a friend or a family member.  Why do you think that is?

Shopping is an inherently social activity.  When you go shopping, you bring someone whose opinion you trust.  They tell you if those shoes look good on you or if that sweater makes you look fat.  They tell you about how much they trust that brand of electronics and how much their kid loves that toy.  My wife and I just bought the best new stroller available, but as soon-to-be first-time parents, how did we know what the best new stroller is?  Why, it’s the one our friends have and love, of course.

Now, instead of going to the mall, try going online to the e-commerce site of your favorite store.  It’s a lot lonelier there, isn’t it?  Where is your trusted friend?  There are product reviews from other customers, but you don’t know these people.  Their tastes may be completely different from yours.  The truth is, people trust the opinions and recommendations of their friends and family way more than any product review on your website.  So how do you add the social back into shopping when the shopping is online?

At Facebook’s f8 Conference in September, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a powerful new tool that could change the way people shop online.  That’s not the purpose of this tool according to Facebook—it’s supposed to revolutionize the way people share online—but it’s not difficult to see how that sharing can be taken one step further.

Imagine clicking around your favorite retailer’s website.  You’re interested in a couple items, but you’re not sure what to get, so you put them both in your shopping cart to compare.  Suddenly you receive a Facebook chat from your friend saying they just bought one of those items and they absolutely love it.  Creepy, at first?  Perhaps.  But would it make your purchase decision easier?  Absolutely.  In fact, it would even make it more likely that you make a purchase at all, since indecision about what to buy can lead to shopping cart abandonment.

Facebook’s new OpenGraph app platform allows you to build custom apps that connect to Facebook and share the user’s experience with the people who are most influenced by that user—their friends.  Just set up your app to share that your users verb any noun using your app—for example “viewed (or bought) a product on Your Brand’s Website”—and it will show up in their friends’ Facebook tickers in real time.  Integrate that app with the shopping cart on your site, let your customers grant permission to share and suddenly e-commerce is social again.

Shopping cart integration is not the only way to use Facebook’s OpenGraph to make shopping social.  Since users can verb any noun, try getting creative and finding other ways for people to share their recommendations and experiences on your website.  Or create a mobile app that shares info when users check into your physical store locations.  This is new territory and the benefits and abilities of social sharing for businesses are still being uncovered, but with the holidays approaching, now is the time to shake up your e-commerce site and make your shopping experience stand out.

For more tips on using social media to boost your business this holiday season, check out our blog post: ‘Tis the Season: 5 Tips for Holiday Social Media

What other ideas do you have for making e-commerce more social?  Share your reaction to this blog post below!

Yes, the holidays are upon us and companies and agencies alike are working around the clock to make sure their sites are the ones that shoppers will go to for their purchasing needs. I’ve already offered up 10 Tips for Holiday SEO to help you bring the most traffic to your sites for the holiday shopping season, but it’s our belief that all aspects of internet marketing should be attended to and work together for the greatest effectiveness.  Social media, being already geared towards sharing and caring, should definitely be at the top of your list for holiday marketing priorities.  The holidays are all about cheer and joy, so it’s my belief that you can get a little bit more creative and adventurous with your holiday social media.  Spend a little extra time brainstorming some unique ideas that you can implement for the holiday season.  To get you started, here are 5 tips for decking out your social media presence that will bring holiday cheer to you and your customers.

1. Decorate

Just like when you decorate your house for the holidays, decorating your social media pages is an easy way to promote some cheer and make your site feel festive and inviting to visitors.  Do you have any holiday specific products?  Incorporate them into your decorating or just add holiday colors or themes to your logo or offerings.  If you have a fan-gate, put these decorations there, in your profile picture and/or in the pictures featured on your page.  Small touches like these can transform a ho-hum social media page into one that is in the spirit and that people want to visit.  Check out how Starbucks incorporated their holiday product, the Pumpkin Spice Latte, into their holiday decorations (and utilized one of my other tips).

2. Include promotions and shipping information

Shopping is an increasingly social experience, with many sites displaying reviews and options for shoppers to share purchases or potential purchases with social networks.  As a result, people are used to the idea of looking to social media for shopping ideas and information.  Take advantage of this by making your promotions and purchasing information front and center.  If you have a fan-gate, consider placing a landing page (with decorations) with your holiday promotions or holiday specific gifts, complete with product and shipping information.  If you don’t, consider making one or a similar tab for the holidays, or include this information in frequent wall posts that describe the item, how to buy it and any other pertinent information (see my 10 tips for holiday SEO for more tips on optimizing product descriptions).  The more incentive and information you can give shoppers up front, the more likely they’ll be to stick with you rather than going off to look at a different site.

3. Spread some blog cheer

It’s a great idea to make your blog your social media home base where you can house your original content that it then pushed out to other networks.  This way, people can find all of your content in one place and you can drive traffic to your own site, rather than to a social network.  Blogs are also the prime location for more lengthy posts.  For the holidays, consider posting about gift ideas or ideas for activities, including your product or services, and include who the gift or activity would be perfect for, how to buy or any other instructions for the activity, and other important information like promotions, shipping or purchasing information.  Include videos and pictures to make shopping an enjoyable experience and really make your offerings stand out.  Also, include a “buy” button on the blog post to make it easy for shoppers to get to your product.  Nothing is worse for an ecommerce shopper than wanting to buy something, but having to go through 10 steps to get to that point.  Make it easy for them to get what they want for the holidays.

4. Easy purchasing makes for happy shoppers

Don’t just limit “buy” buttons to your blog and website.  “F-commerce”, as shopping activity through Facebook has been termed, is a great opportunity for many companies.  People are more likely to buy things that their friends or other trusted consumers already like.  Consider placing quick links to buy products in your posts so that people can go from seeing that 1,150 people “Like” your Authentic Elf Cookie Basket to eating those cookies in just a click or two.

5. Holiday word-of-mouth promotions

Finally, it’s the holiday season and the holiday season is a time when people are feeling a bit Scroogier due to the economy.  Everyone is going to be looking for a deal for their holiday shopping needs and will appreciate and gravitate towards companies that realize this.  You can couple holiday promotions with your marketing efforts by creating custom promotions for the holidays.  For example, “Everyone likes cookies. ReTweet this for a chance to win 5 free cookie gift baskets from Grandma’s Cookie Company,” and include the link to the cookies “buy” page.  Or, on Facebook, reward new fans who “like” your page with a coupon for 10% off their next purchase from you or create a post asking people to share their favorite flavor of your cookies on your wall for an entry into a contest to win free cookies for life.  You get the idea.  You can be as creative and as customized as you wish, but holiday promotions are most definitely a relatively quick and easy way to spread the word and get new shoppers to your page.

It should be noted that, while e-Commerce companies can and should take advantage of these tips to optimize their sites and presences for the holidays, other companies or organizations can get into the holiday spirit using these tips, as well.  Are you a non-profit that operates using public funds?  Start a holiday donation promotion just like the ones suggested above and deck your site out for the holidays.  While people may be looking to tighten their wallets, the holidays tend to make people feel more generous and this is a prime opportunity to get people on board with your cause.  If you offer services, consider creating your own holiday messaging and promotions to offer through social media.  To summarize, social media is one of the best channels for holiday marketing due to its social nature and should be included in your holiday marketing plans.

Don’t be left out in the cold this holiday season; take advantage of these tips to add some “Fa-la-la” to your social media presence and make it a welcoming destination that everyone wants to visit.

1. Help shoppers get around with improved navigation

Holiday shoppers are busy people and now, more than ever, people are shopping for and buying gifts online.  The last thing you want is to have the perfect holiday gift hidden among confusing or inconvenient navigation.  A good rule of thumb: no page on your website should be more than 2 clicks away.  If you don’t currently have a site map, get one!  This makes it easy for people to find what they’re looking for, decreasing the chances of abandonment and increasing the chance that you’ll get that conversion.  Put your holiday deals front and center, perhaps even including a holiday shopping menu tab or main landing page to give people the quickest route to purchase.

2. Refresh or update your site map

Speaking of site maps, is yours decorated in the holiday spirit?  By this, I mean make sure that all of your products, especially your holiday-specific ones are included in it.  Some products may only be available during the holidays and so you might have left them off of your site map.  This is the time to make sure they’re back on there and ready to be purchased.

3. Make keywords holiday-shopper friendly

If you already have keywords assigned for each of your pages and products, great.  Now is the time to dress those keywords up so they’re more appealing to holiday shoppers.  Words like “gifts” and “presents” will see an increase, so you should include these words when applicable and revisit your keyword research to see if there are any words that can be tweaked to be more holiday-specific.  Additionally, make sure you’ve included the most relevant and most accurate keywords possible.  People will be searching for the specific things they want, so if you have sweaters on sale, but your keywords don’t include “sweaters” or “sale”, you probably won’t rank well in the search engines, making it more difficult for shoppers to find you.  Do your due diligence now to make sure your site is holiday-ready.

4. Promote your products as good holiday gifts

Is your product the perfect gift for mom or what any dad would love to have?  Then say so.  Your product descriptions should be as detailed and accurate as possible to help people quickly make the decision to purchase without hunting around for more information.  You can help them make that decision by describing a product as “perfect for mom” or “the ultimate gift for your guy”.  The more information you can provide a shopper up-front, the less likely they’ll be to abandon your site to go looking for something with more information.  You can include this information in the title tags or meta descriptions as appropriate for an added search engine bonus.

5. Merry metas

To build on that, be sure that your meta descriptions are optimized for the holidays wherever appropriate.  While these don’t help your search rankings, they can ultimately be the deciding factor between a shopper clicking your link and the one above or below you.  Take the time to include information on shipping, holiday deals, the ideal recipient for certain products and anything else in keeping with the spirit of holiday shopping.  Include a call-to-action to persuade people to click on your click and discover the amazing holiday deals you have waiting for them.  But don’t forget the cheer!  Consider adding a little bit of holiday humor to bring a smile to people’s faces while shopping online.  It may make your meta more memorable and drive them to click through.

6. Don’t skimp on basics

Just like when your grandparents gave you socks for Christmas when you were little, it’s always important to consider the basics.  By this, I mean that you should ensure that your site is functioning in SEO terms. Do all of the links work?  Do all of your pages have title tags that are the appropriate length (70 characters or less)?  No number of holiday promotions will make up for a site that isn’t functioning well.  Not only can problems in the basics cause you to rank poorly in search engines (and thus decrease the likelihood that shoppers will find you), but it could also cause any shoppers who do find you to become quickly frustrated and leave.

7. Optimize your media

Holidays are the perfect time to add videos and images to your site.  Media makes your site more interesting and enjoyable to spend time on and it can serve as a valuable opportunity to give your potential customers more information on products and deals in a quick and aesthetically pleasing manner. This is also an opportunity for additional optimization.  Be sure you name your image and video files with accurate, descriptive keywords, including holiday specific keywords, if appropriate.  Also make sure that your image title and alt tags are in order to benefit shoppers on your site.  These actions will help search engines identify your offerings and serve them up to deal-eager shoppers, as well as improve the overall experience for shoppers while they’re on your site.

8. Boost link strength to popular items

Do you have some items you know are popular during the holidays?  Help get these pages more views and click throughs by linking to them from larger, higher ranking pages such as the homepage, as this will give them greater link juice, which may help them rank better in the search engines.  This is a great idea because, as I mentioned earlier, the easier you can make it for shoppers to get to your hot products, the greater the likelihood that they’ll actually get there and check out.

9. Make it easy to buy

Simply put, the more steps and hurdles there are to checking out, the less likely consumers are to go through them and make it to the actual purchase.  This doesn’t need to be specific to the holidays, but this is a great opportunity to make some changes to your check-out process—just as pages shouldn’t be too many clicks away from where a shopper is, nor should the check-out process be lengthy or difficult.  Streamline the purchase process if possible.  Consider placing an on-page buy button that allows shoppers to quickly and easily place an item into their cart and proceed to check out in one easy click.  Google Places can also factor heavily into shopping decisions, with people browsing locations and their offerings before actually going to the store.  Be sure your Google Place listings are updated and current if you have them—including products you have in-stock and any deals you may have—and include a link to your website to help shoppers gather their information ahead of time.

10. Make it social

Finally, don’t underestimate the importance of social media.  The holidays are about family and friends after all, so be prepared with some social media strategies to help your customers get to know you and your business.  Consider some new blog posts with gift ideas and be sure to include all the information a consumer may need right there on the page, along with an easy buy button, rather than directing them to your website where they then must track down the gift you’ve blogged about and purchase it.  Additionally, don’t neglect your Twitter and Facebook pages.  Holidays and shopping are social in nature and people will be searching social media platforms for deals, suggestions and reviews.  Knowing this, be sure you’re posting your deals and offerings in the form of Tweets and Facebook posts while including the appropriate wording.  Craft your 140-characters to be enticing to shoppers and include words like “good gift ideas”, “holiday deals,” etc., because these are the sorts of things people are looking for.

Are you ready for the holidays? Cyber Monday is only a month away so now is the time to get going on making your site the holiday shopping destination.  Hopefully with these tips, you and your customers will have a very merry holiday season.

However, there is a big factor that differentiates this figure from those of Facebook and Twitter.  Facebook, who often updates their stats page, now states that there are 800 million “active” users.  In the use of the word active, Facebook is referring to those who have logged on to Facebook at least once in the past month, not purely those who have created an account.  Using the same metric, Twitter has recently claimed to have 100 million active users.  However, leading search engine guru Danny Sullivan has discovered that Google’s figures are based purely on those who have created an account.  Therefore, this cannot be a metric that is counted on to accurately compare the platforms, keeping Facebook and Twitter a cut above Google +.

There are a few more reasons why the excitement over this number and the impact of Google + may need to be tapered a bit.  As Facebook entered the scene, social media was still somewhat taboo. Although Myspace was the active leader, many people were still apprehensive about the benefits of social media.  Facebook’s success, however, allowed Google to lie in the weeds and “pounce” on the newfound acceptance of social media.  Moreover, Google’s established reputation and popularity as an email platform has allowed for a smooth transition for already active Gmail users.

Above all else, Larry Page’s announcement has allowed us to realize that Google+ is gaining speed and popularity within the social media space.  Based on the two figures officially released by Google, 10 million users in July, and 40 million in October, Google +’s popularity has a growth rate of 10 million sign ups per month, a pace that is not far from Facebook. However, without a clarification of active users vs. users, we do not know how they stack up.  Google + is still evolving, but for now it is no match for Facebook.