Scaring Up Clicks

Some Sponsored Search tricks for you—our treat

Halloween is a fun time for young and old, and when it comes to spending, consumers don’t disappoint. According to a study conducted by the National Retail Federation, Halloween spending was expected to reach $5.07 billion in 2007—a good part of that, as we told you recently, on costumes. But other sites catering to ghouls should keep some basic tips in mind.

Candy retailers
Sites that sell candy should avoid using unfamiliar abbreviations of candy brand names (i.e., “tootsies” instead of “Tootsie Rolls”), as those could deter some users. Additionally, though candy is obviously a popular Halloween treat, candy keywords are not heavily searched during the Halloween season. This may be because consumers prefer to purchase their candy closer to Halloween Night and don’t want to rely on the timing of mail order, or because it’s simply easier to purchase candy locally. Either way, advertisers that sell candy may not want to spend a great deal of time focusing on candy-specific Halloween campaigns or ads.

Halloween attractions
Sites offering local events such as haunted houses or amusement parks with Halloween themes should consider creating geo-targeted campaigns for their non-location-specific Halloween keywords. This will display their ads to searchers in their specific geographic location, making them more accessible to local searchers.

As always, the standard best practices still apply: Make your titles and descriptions highly relevant to the offering, make sure to include your keyword in the ad copy, be sure to call out any competitive advantages you may offer (free shipping, discounts), etc. We hope these tips make your holiday retail season a little less scary.

— Noah Belson, Content Quality Analyst

Photo courtesy of Greg Dunham via Flickr and Creative Commons