For those who celebrate a gift giving holiday such as Christmas or Hanukkah we have only 90 days to shop (only 60 for Hanukkah!).

But whether you celebrate or not, for those who use the holidays as a big income boost by promoting hot products during the holiday we have about 48 hours to finish our work.   Whether it's the hottest new toy, purse or electronic gizmo, if you don't have your product and strategy ready by September 30 you have more than likely missed the opportunity for 2010.  

This is not to say you couldn't be successful if you launched by October 15th or 30th, but you more than likely won't be able to compete for keywords or product.  And I think this year, like the last 2, are going to show early buying and bargain hunting.  Sometimes we can't do anything until October because we don't know the "hot" product until then, but most of the time you can grab on much earlier.

So, if you need the holidays for more than gifts, food and parties;  if you need them for income and haven't prepared;  you need to spend the next 48 hours doing nothing but focusing on your products.  I've been working on mine since June 1 and still feel a bit behind the curve.  The competition for keywords and domains on a couple of the hot products is absolutely  fierce this year.  Way more than any other year in June.  I have already done 2 holiday driven launches and had to get really creative.  It is only going to get worse over the next 15-30 days! You will drown in the noise, particularly if you're using social media as an outlet.

Every holiday should be prepared  and launched no later than 100-180 days before the holiday.  Holloween in May, Christmas in June, Valentines in October.  The key is getting ahead of the curve and making sure we don't miss the wave.   This year is especially important as the economy is still limping along and more people have gone into IM with the unemployment rate.   Don't get caught thinking you have more time.   If you don't launch early you will never be indexed and found in time and you will get  clocked  by the early bird.

Good marketing,

Judy