Hey guys! 5 years and 11 months of blogging, and every year I am always excited for the Christmas season! Blogmas is a huge part of the community, but one that is not always fully explained and assumed knowledge instead. This post aims to break down Blogging at Christmas, and how to survive the busy time while reaping the benefits.
What is Blogmas?
I have always seen it as the advent calendar of blogging. Every day within December a new post comes out – very similar to YouTube and Vlogmas. You may think it is a lot of work (and in some cases, it can be) but Blogmas is a great way to get to know other bloggers doing the same as well as the massive bonus of increasing your engagement.
How To Make The Most of Blogmas
Planning
Planning can be so difficult. You know in your head what you want to produce, but getting there can seem an absolute nightmare. I always find scrunched up pieces of paper everywhere with random ideas on throughout the year.
For this reason, I 100% recommend a notebook. One without any frills, just a small one to carry around with you. This is used solely for the purpose of writing down spontaneous post ideas – rather than using napkins in your handbag (I have done that once).
Leading on, consider purchasing a larger notebook for planning blog posts more explicitly, adding more ideas as you get them.
Blogmas is all about doing things in advance, if you are aiming to write all the posts then publish them immediately, it will be exhausting. As you must all know, publishing blog posts take time – and therefore pacing them throughout the year as you have time is a better plan.
If you are deciding to do Blogmas, it is worth noting that December is the only month for Christmas. It sounds silly and obvious, I know – but note; the other 11 months in the year usually have a pretty consistent theme, but come December, out come the Christmas posts. For this reason, if you are considering Blogmas, it is a lot easier to think of content than you would think.
Community Spirit
As I mentioned earlier, Blogmas is a great way to get to know the community. Many other bloggers are doing Blogmas at the same time, so you may find some extra traffic come your way from comment threads, forums and Pinterest boards. Engage with others who are posting daily and you may reap the benefits.
Consider collaborating with other bloggers. Blogmas is not just a time of sharing eachothers’ posts, but collaborating with them. This definitely helps with increasing your blogging footprint.
What To Post
Jump on trends. It sounds simple and basic, but a trend is usually caused by a lot of traction and a large reach. Aim to write top quality content in a saturated field, and market yourself in a way that aims to hit the top % of search results. Jumping on the bandwagon can really help to gain rapid exposure. Also, use the posts of peers as inspiration (not ideas to plagiarise) to make the creation of posts less stressful.
In addition to this, try and think of niches. I know this can be difficult, but the way I think of it – we have a whole year to think about it. Do you have some insider knowledge that hasn’t been touched yet? Utilise your skills to create a great post. However, do not post content that is not up to scratch / posted because you need to fill a day – it is better to not post anything.
Always have a catchy headline. I am not saying clickbait, but it should surely be of that ilk. Blogmas is incredibly popular on Pinterest, so use the platform to create and share pins that will get readers hooked (and hopefully go viral).
Have fun. Blogmas is all about enjoying the festive season first and foremost. Bloggers use this as a platform to share the festive cheer as much as possible through their skillset, so please please, enjoy it as much as you can!
Have you ever done Blogmas before? How did you find it?
