While he's got that covered, you can get busy in other areas.

Optimize Your Site For Holidays

Work holiday keywords relevant to your business into your content. If you sell jewelry, for example, target keyword phrases like "best gifts for mom," "gift ideas for her" or "best gifts for women." Use Adwords.Google.com to generate keyword ideas for the holidays. Make sure your keyword phrases are in your URLs, headline tags and content. Remember that search engines do not read JPG, PDF or other graphic files.

Stock Up For Black Friday

Before you tout your holiday sales, make sure you can deliver what you promise. Look at what you did this time last year. If you fell short, increase inventory by a safe margin. How much? Google says 2012's Black Friday online sales increased 26 percent from 2011. We're not saying to increase your inventory by 26 percent, we're saying to do the math that makes sense for your business and your industry. Ask your accountant for help. He or she can help you look at your cash flow and advise you on what you can afford. If you have an American Express Plum Card, you'll be able to take advantage of its flexible payment option, which the company designed for businesses that are affected by seasonal sales.
Check in with your suppliers and ask if they can extend payment terms. How are they prepping for the holiday shopping season? Can you craft an agreement to expedite shipping from them if your inventory runs low? These are all options to consider.

Promote Holiday Theme Pages

Here's an idea we're borrowing from Kissmetrics: Create holiday-theme pages that are easily shared and optimized for phrases like "holiday sales." Promote them through social and email channels. Do themed pages that target personas in your audience (men, teenagers, working moms, travel geeks, etc.).

'Tis the Season For Lead Nurturing

Hubspot reminds retailers that the holiday season presents a great opportunity for lead nurturing, which is building relationships with potential customers. Here are a few ideas:

• Offer first-time shoppers a special incentive.
• Reward existing customers when they refer friends to your site.
• Keep them engaged by educating them (giving away your knowledge for free) through email blasts, newsletters and social media.
• Share testimonials; nothing has more influence over buyers than word-of-mouth marketing.

Promote 'The Big 3' Holiday Shopping Days

Three big shopping opportunities occur in the four days following Thanksgiving: Black Friday, Shop Local Saturday and Cyber Monday. If you have a physical location, tie your holiday advertising campaigns with foot traffic to your stores. Try these suggestions:

• Order online and pick up in-store to avoid shipping costs.
• Text mobile coupons to use on smartphones in-store.
• Offer an incentive to the first 50 shoppers through your door.
• Offer extra discounts during normally slow hours (lunchtime).

Blog for the Holidays

Yes, this is a busy time of year, and blogging is the last thing on your mind. You've got time now to develop a content plan and enlist the help of freelance writers or a third-party content agency that has a large network of freelancers who can create high-quality content on your behalf (search "content agency"). Offer holiday tips for entertaining, safety, budgeting — any topic that is relevant to your audience, not relevant only to your business. For example a photography studio might blog about creating a picture-perfect holiday meal and include recipes and table setting tips. Add another layer of interactivity by turning it into a contest. Post customers' photos on your Pinterest pages, and the one with the most votes by Dec. 25 takes the prize.

Giving Tuesday Helps Charities

Choose your favorite nonprofit, and hold a virtual fundraiser on Tuesday, Dec. 3, which is "Giving Tuesday" this year. This is the second year for the movement, which encourages nonprofits to get on the holiday shopping bandwagon. Last year, fundraising software site Blackbaud processed more than $10 million in online donations on Giving Tuesday. Follow #GivingTuesday on Twitter.

Author Bio
Noelle is a writer, blogger and an online content marketing expert. She holds a master's degree in journalism and a bachelor's in business.