Harris Interactive conducted a survey on consumer shopping patterns this holiday season on behalf of Sun Microsystems.

Some sites are perfect for the Christmas season – their products fit easily into the idea of gift-giving. But what if the products and services you offer are for small business owners?

Sales on the MSN Shopping channel are on course to top last year’s. Total spending and site traffic rose 30 percent over that of November 2003.

The Yahoo search blog team is already in Thanksgiving holiday spirits. In their most recent blog post they discuss how searches are spiking for Turducken, Tofurky and other bird related items.

As search engine advertisers get ready for the 2004 holiday season, what they write as their paid listings will affect the number of shoppers who visit their web sites.

Heading off on vacation soon?

If your website does not recognize special holidays and events, your site visitors and customers may get the impression that your site content is stale. The task to prepare your site for the holidays (or a current event) does not have to be a time consuming project.

If you’re an online retailer looking at the impending holiday season, you might think it’s too late to make any changes to your website that will affect holiday sales. You might even be thinking you’ll just have to see how the season shakes out online and make changes next year.

Christmas is a time of joy, family and a fridge full of turkey soup and sandwiches to fill your happy belly for weeks to come. It is a short but stressful break at the start of a long and (at least in most parts of Canada), normally bleak winter. It is also the time of the year that accounts for over 40% of most retail business sales and can either make or break a business depending on the retail success of the season. I don’t want to be the one to break the news to most of you but someone has to do it; the holiday season is coming and this year it’s coming sooner than you think.

If your product or service can be given as a gift, a publicity windfall awaits at the end of the year – but you need to start working in June. Each December, media outlets cover the newest, the hottest and the most unusual Holiday gifts. The reporters assigned to develop these pieces typically depend on two sources of information:

Usually, U.S. retailers earn 20-80% of their entire yearly gross during the holiday season. But this year, things are different. The sluggish US economy has prompted Deloitte Research’s Carl Steidtmann to fear “the worst Christmas ever” in the retail sector.

Short of going door to door in a Santa suit, how can businesses increase profits and prevent a blue Christmas? Despite economic gloom, industry leaders have found that an e-mail follow up strategy can increase sales by a cheery 35%! To weather the ailing economy, use a follow up autoresponder during your holiday campaigns.

As the holiday season swings into full gear, many small business owners start to sweat about how to make business contacts in the next few weeks.

You don’t need to worry. The holiday season is a profitable time to build your business – if you know how to do it.

Here are ten tips to help you build your business at holiday parties.

Getting sales during the Holiday Season this year will be a challenge for many businesses. The usually free-spending holiday shoppers are likely to be more careful about what they buy and how much they spend. And business buyers will be more reluctant than usual to make financial commitments during the Holidays.

Getting sales during the Holiday Season this year will be a challenge for many businesses. The usually free-spending holiday shoppers are likely to be more careful about what they buy and how much they spend. And business buyers will be more reluctant than usual to make financial commitments during the Holidays.

What can you do to get the attention of your prospective customers and clients? And how can you get them to buy from you during this Holiday Season?

…GIVE THEM AN IRRESISTIBLE OFFER THEY CAN’T REFUSE

E-tailers and other online merchants are dreaming of a green Christmas! Research findings indicate that ecommerce is predicted to boom this holiday season!

This quarter, U.S. online sales are expected to hit $13 billion, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Will you get your share of the retail pie this holiday season?

The 2002 holiday sales are critical for many Internet retailers. The majority of e-tailers question which ad buys are profitable. Leadership in search engine market reach continues to fluctuate between AOL, MSN and Yahoo. However, campaigns in second tier search engines are frequently more cost-effective and listings co-brand into these larger properties.

The relatives are gone. You’ve eaten the last of the turkey. The sales are over, and you never want to see anything with sugar in it again for as long as you live! Welcome to January, a new year, a new beginning, a time to move forward.

It’s that special time of year again. Odds are that very soon you’ll be mingling with people you barely know (or know all-too- well) at some sort of holiday get-together. Whether you’re attending out of courtesy, tradition, or business desperation (it’s been a tough year for many) doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is that you understand how holiday networking differs from the networking you’ll be doing in January.

Getting sales during the Holiday Season this year will be a challenge for many businesses. The usually free-spending holiday shoppers are likely to be more careful about what they buy and how much they spend. And business buyers will be more reluctant than usual to make financial commitments during the Holidays.

Okay, I confess: I can be a terrible procrastinator when it comes to shopping for the holidays. I don’t much like fighting my way through crowded shopping malls. So, instead, I’m ready – even willing – to surf the web looking for the perfect gift.