Christmas in July

Well, it's now mid-July and we finally enjoyed two hot, sunny afternoons here in the valley last week.

That of course got me to thinking about Christmas... because heat is such a gift this year.

Ho, ho, ho.

Actually, I was musing about a 'Christmas in July' party that I and my friends had a very long time ago. We roasted a turkey, decorated the rental and strayed from tradition a bit by dining on the boathouse roof.

After entertaining myself with those delightful memories for awhile, I wondered how many other people were also contemplating Christmas in July.

Finding out was easy enough.

I went to Overture's Yahoo! Search Marketing) search term suggestion tool at http://inventory.overture.com and typed in the word 'Christmas'. The search results were for the month of May, but that was close enough.

An incredible 215,176 people searched for 'Christmas' related sites at Overture and it's advertising partners in May; and 82,150 were looking for 'Christmas gifts'. I can definitely relate to the 1367 who were interested in 'surviving Christmas', but was a little puzzled by the 51,774 who were already searching for 'Christmas trees'.

In addition to gifts, trees and survival; people were also looking for cards, ornaments, humor, crafts, games, gift baskets, decorations, lights, music and a hundred other things related to Christmas.

See the full list of searches for Christmas related keywords.

After seeing those results, I was getting really curious, and had to see what kind of sites were returned by a search on Google for 'Christmas' during the merry month of July.

I found very few advertisers bidding on the term, and quite a few of the Adwords listings weren't exactly Christmas specific.

I was also happy to see that most of the sites on the first page of organic returns were sadly lacking in terms of design, substance and site monetization.

On one site I read the proud proclamation that the site contained no banner ads or commercials. A few pages later I found the sad note that they had to suspend site operations due to lack of funding.

Go figure. Guess they've never heard of affiliate marketing. Think I should tell them?

So, why was I happy that the sites were sadly lacking?

Well, that lack represents Opportunity.

Based on the Overture numbers, I know I'm not the only one who thinks about Christmas in July.

Too, recalling the elbow-to-rib hits I've taken in malls on Boxing Day, I know I'm not the only one who starts shopping early for the following Christmas.

And let's not forget the 'nuts about Christmas' types, who keep the brick-and-mortar "Christmas Store" viable all year long.

Christmas is 'evergreen', and I'm not talking about the trees. The holiday happens every 365 days (which all those frantic last-minute shoppers seem to forget until December 24th), so there's always a market, and that market is huge, even in July.

If you're nuts about Christmas (or any other holiday), you may want to consider taking advantage of the Opportunity.

There are so many different ways you could approach the niche. Create a content-rich site about Christmas traditions, crafts, or fill it with holiday recipes. How about sharing tips for Christmas decorating schemes or tips for surviving the holidays?

Monetizing the site will be easy. Find merchants at Commission Junction, Linkshare and Performics with exceptionally unique gifts, ornaments and/or books to sell on your site.

Advertise using PPC, and keep your Google Adwords and Overture keyword bids low until December, when your sales will soar.

Last, but certainly not least, build your list of 'nice' customers. Share with them what they want to know about Christmas, and make relevant product recommendations.

If you plan and start your site soon, you'll be ready to take your place at the top of the tree as a *star* affiliate by the time December rolls around.

Ho, Ho, HO. Merry (July) Christmas!

Cheers,

P.S. The NPT will not be published next Tuesday. My sun dance seems to be working now, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can. Hope you're enjoying the summer likewise!

Rosalind Gardner is author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in ONE Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online.

Super Affiliate Handbook

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