The Big 4th Quarter Blogging Push Is Almost Here!

It’s nearly time for the busiest season in content marketing: 4th quarter blogging. Here is how you can increase traffic and earn more blog income through the busy holiday season.

Blogger Problems

Do you sit down at your computer with a plan in your head and end up scrolling Facebook for an hour? Do you regret it at the end of the day, lamenting all which you could have done instead?

Don’t worry – it’s a common practice amongst us bloggers. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A new NDC email subscriber responded to a question in my welcome sequence with a question of her own: “What do I do to prepare for 4th quarter blogging? It’s my biggest traffic and earnings quarter and I want to make the most of it.”

Yeah ya do, girl!

So here is my advice on how to prepare your blog for the busy season. There are affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy.

4th Quarter Blogging – Content

Put it out there. Put it out there in droves if you have it. Content = eyeballs.

If you can’t possibly add to your schedule or adjust anything to produce more, consider buying (and monetizing) PLR content. I’ve had a lot of experience with this over the years and it’s why I’ve written so much on it. Some reading:

In the Resource Library (free to subscribers), you’ll also find my guide to PLR and Purchased Content (it’s supa-boombastic). If you’re not a subscriber, sign up below (pink box or over at right)!

Hold Off on the Updates, I Beg You

If an update isn’t essential to your security, consider holding off. I know, I know – it’s not what everyone tells you. But read through the update notes before hitting that button. You do not need to get sidetracked during this time.

And a website down is a website not earning.

I don’t care if you fell off the back of the email truck over summer, it’s time to pick it up again. And don’t worry if you see a few unsubscribes – keep your focus on 4th quarter blogging.

Your goal is to increase open rates and raise click-through rates in newsletters because that’s what YOU need from them. But write them in a way your readers are benefiting. Read how to increase newsletter open rates and click-through rates. Then create a newsletter schedule optimized to earn, either through page views, product sales, or affiliate marketing.

4th Quarter Blogging ‘No-No’ – Projects

I know good ideas are plentiful when your creativity gets in gear but DO.NOT.SQUIRREL. If you haven’t set goals for Q4, set them now. If you have set goals for Q4, stick to them and only pivot when you have assessed your performance.

Q4 isn’t the time for new projects. In blogging, the 4th quarter is the time to maximize all the people online and their happy, searching (and purchasing) fingers.

Network

If you’ve gotten away from building new relationships or commenting on other blogs in your niche, now might be a time to work 15-20 minutes into your schedule to do so. Also, look at your interaction (NOT your quiet searching) in the Facebook groups you’re in.

When you scroll and don’t participate (a.k.a. lurking), you’re missing out on an opportunity to build relationships. Add this task to your calendar: participate in a group discussion.

Social

Have a plan. Scrolling on Facebook is one of my clients’ biggest time-sucks and if you honestly ask yourself about your habits, it could be one of yours, as well. I used Rescue Time to track how long I was using social – it was eye-opening to say the least!

Create a post-it note (or better yet an electronic copy) of a plan you’ll have for social. Scroll after your brain can’t work or before it’s woken up in the morning. Don’t spend valuable content creation and promotion time wandering about on social.

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Pick Two

On the topic of social media, choose two platforms that will garner page views, sales, or the network which will get you the most from your brand work. Whatever your primary goal is, you should have identified two social networks which will help you achieve that goal.

We can’t be everywhere all the time, so look at automation (tools like CoSchedule). Other options are hiring an assistant or social manager or just backing off a few networks.

Brainstorm Past Earnings

Go back and evaluate your income from last year. Did you sell a ba-jillion Ultimate Bundle products or make $5k from a single gift guide post?

Write or promote something similar this year but try to set it up now so that you can focus on other things while “in the thick” of Q4.

Additional Reading

While researching keywords for this article, I found this great article about Q4 preparation for bloggers and this straight-talking post about blog posts to earn over Christmas.

Summary

When you sit down and create a plan for 4th quarter blogging, you’ll see that maintaining focus and limiting distractions will earn you more blogging income this year.

4th Quarter Blogging – Are You In It to Win It?