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5.0 Rating on GoogleThe calendar
| Event or pattern | When | What it brings | What to publish ahead of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring break | Early spring | The tourism bureau marks it as the start of the busy beach season | Hours, parking, directions and what is open late; publish before arrival |
| Elberta German Sausage Festival | Last weekends of March and October | An October 2014 festival drew an estimated 40,000 visitors to a town of fewer than 2,000 | A traffic and detour note, and a seasonal offer for the Foley and Elberta side |
| Baldwin County Strawberry Festival | Each spring, in Loxley | A central county gathering | Local notes for central county businesses; a short, specific page |
| Hangout Music Festival | Usually the third weekend of May, Gulf Shores | Began in 2010, skipped 2020 and 2021, and returned in 2022 | Event-week hours, the roads in and out, and a plan for short-stay customers |
| National Shrimp Festival | Early to mid October, Gulf Shores | Listings put attendance between 200,000 and 300,000, the largest event in Gulf Shores | A festival page that carries hours, parking and directions in one place |
| Baldwin County Fair | Each fall, in Robertsdale | Held for at least four days in the central county | Content for residents rather than visitors: services for the home and the family |
| Beach visitors in general | Year round, peaking spring through fall | More than a million people visit the beaches of Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Perdido Beach each year | Evergreen pages for visitors: how to find you, what to do on a rainy day, what a first-time guest should know |
Dates and attendance figures are as reported by the sources named in our research notes; check the current year before you commit to a date.
A calendar-first plan
Most blogs for local businesses are written when the owner finds time. A calendar for Baldwin County should work the other way. Take spring break as the start of the visitor year, and every other date falls into place: the festival weekends, the summer heat, the storm weeks, the October shrimp crowd and the slow, mild winter.
The residents who live here year round are the other half of the audience. The county counted about 232,000 people in the 2020 census, and 21.2 percent are 65 or older. They read about home upkeep, health and money in the months when the beach is less crowded. A smart plan writes visitor pages for spring and summer and resident pages for winter, so there is always something new for someone.
The same pages that serve readers also serve search engine optimization. A page on the Shrimp Festival that is live in September has weeks to be found and indexed. One published on the Monday of the festival has almost none. That is the practical reason to plan the year ahead.
Weather
| Month | Average high and low | Rain in inches | What to publish |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61.8 F and 36.6 F | 5.48 | Mild winter. Write the maintenance and planning topics that residents and second-home owners search before the season. |
| February | 65.4 F and 39.8 F | 4.65 | Rain is steady at more than 4 inches. Publish prep checklists ahead of the visitor year, such as pre-arrival cleaning and equipment checks. |
| March | 71.8 F and 45.9 F | 5.06 | Spring break starts the busy beach season, and the Elberta sausage festival closes out the month. Visitor pages for your business go live now. |
| April | 77.9 F and 51.9 F | 5.51 | Visitors are in town and the weather is turning warm. Publish what is open, how to reach you, and what to do on a rainy afternoon. |
| May | 85 F and 60.3 F | 4.93 | Hangout in Gulf Shores falls in the third weekend. Post event-week notices early, before the roads fill. |
| June | 89.4 F and 67.5 F | 6.78 | Heat and humidity rise and rain climbs. Cooling, drainage and storm-readiness posts match what people search. |
| July | 91.1 F and 69.6 F | 9.03 | The hottest month and the wettest. Air conditioning, mold and power-outage topics fit the weather. |
| August | 91.1 F and 69 F | 7.16 | Peak heat holds. Back-to-school posts for the three school districts reach resident households. |
| September | 88.2 F and 64.7 F | 6.6 | Storm watching. Hurricane Sally came ashore near Gulf Shores on September 16, 2020. Prepare posts on hours, closures and recovery. |
| October | 80.5 F and 54.3 F | 4.38 | The National Shrimp Festival and the second Elberta sausage weekend. Event posts and then post-festival thanks work. |
| November | 71 F and 44.2 F | 4.57 | Cooler and drier. Write year-end maintenance, insurance review and holiday-hours topics. |
| December | 64.3 F and 39.1 F | 5.16 | Mild again. Publish year-in-review content and plan the next spring break campaign. |
NOAA monthly normals, Fairhope 2 NE station, 1991 to 2020.
Local conditions
The county was declared a disaster area after Frederic in 1979, Danny in 1997, Georges in 1998, Ivan in 2004, Katrina in 2005 and Sally in 2020. A plain, factual preparation page is something residents search for and visitors read.
Orange Beach recorded the state's peak rainfall of 29.99 inches. For trades that fix water damage, roofing, flooring or electrical work, the number gives a post its weight.
Gulf Shores winter lows run higher than inland stations, with January averages of 59 high and 45 low there against a January low of 36.6 at the Fairhope station. A post that says which shore it means reads as written by someone who knows the county.
A Gulf Shores stretch of State Route 59 averaged 60,600 vehicles a day in July 2024. "How long to get to us on a Saturday" is a real question, and a short honest answer earns trust.
Baldwin County Public Schools, Gulf Shores City and Orange Beach City each run their own, with about 32,500 public students across them. Family-oriented posts should say which district the timing fits.
A rare event when crabs, shrimp and fish crowd the Mobile Bay shoreline in low oxygen water, known especially around Daphne. It is a story residents remember and visitors ask about.
Publishing windows
Mild weather and fewer visitors give time to build evergreen pages, refresh service pages and write the resident topics that fill the quiet months. Aim to have the visitor pages ready before spring break begins.
Publish arrival-week pages, event notices and hours. Hangout weekend in May deserves its own note if your business is in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach or on State Route 59.
June through August brings the highest temperatures and July's 9.03 inches of rain. Cooling, drainage and storm-readiness topics fit, along with back-to-school posts for resident households.
September carries storm risk, and October carries the National Shrimp Festival and the second Elberta weekend. Plan one page for each event and keep a short recovery post ready in case it is needed.
Names
People who live here say Baldwin County, the Eastern Shore, Central Baldwin, South Baldwin or the Alabama Gulf Coast. Visitors say Alabama Beaches, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, and sometimes the Heart of the American Riviera. Residents of Daphne are sometimes the Jubilee City, and Robertsdale calls itself the Hub of Baldwin County.
A post that uses the right name for its reader is easier to find and easier to trust. A post for a Fairhope homeowner should say Eastern Shore. A post for someone booking a beach week should say the Alabama Gulf Coast. For a county-wide business, headings can use the full county name and the body can switch to the town names that readers use.
We keep a short glossary for each client and use it across articles, social posts and profile updates, so the same words appear everywhere. The same glossary guides the place pages on the coverage map, and it keeps writers from calling a neighborhood by a name that nobody uses.
Plans
Questions
Strategic content assets come with every Organic Growth plan: 4 a month on Silver at $1,495, 8 on Gold at $2,495 and 12 on Platinum at $3,495. Gold includes a managed website. There is no setup fee and no contract, and there is no extra charge for the calendar itself.
Both, in different months. Visitor pages carry hours, directions and what to do nearby, and they should be live before spring break. Resident pages carry upkeep, health, insurance and money topics, and they work best in the milder months. Which one leads depends on whether your customers come from the beach or from the neighborhoods.
As early as you can, ideally a few weeks. Event searches build well before the dates, and a page needs time to be found. After the festival, update the same page with thanks and next year's dates, rather than starting a new one.
Yes. The county has been declared a disaster area after six storms between 1979 and 2020, so preparation, hours and recovery pages are evergreen. Write them in a calm month and update them as needed. A page written during a storm is too late to be found.
No. Name the towns that matter to the reader of that article. A post for a Daphne homeowner can mention Spanish Fort and Fairhope, while a Gulf Shores visitor post can mention Orange Beach and Fort Morgan. Long lists of every town read as filler and do not help search.
Often, yes. The two sides have different customers, roads and seasons, and an article that tries to serve both ends up vague. A shared base article with two short local sections can work, but each shore should have its own page for the topics that matter most.
It can. Winter is mild, with January highs near 62 degrees, and residents keep searching for repairs, care and services. Winter is also when pages written for next spring have time to be found, so it is a good time for the work that pays off in March.
We start with your service list, your service area and a short call. From there, a writer drafts the pages, and you review and approve them. The photos, small details about how you work and your local knowledge make posts better, but a fifteen minute call a month is enough to start.
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Get in Touch
Tell us your trade, which shore you serve and which weeks make or break your year, and we will outline what to publish and when. Call 610-825-4363 or email hello@getphound.com.