The holiday season is around the corner and it’s time to make sure your website is ready for the holiday season. If you have an online store, this is your time to shine with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday sales (that’s if you choose to opt-in.) Regardless, this is a big season for selling and we want to help you make sure your website is ready to go. So here are 7 ways to get your website ready for the holiday season.
Affiliate Disclaimer: Please note this post contains affiliate links. If you go through them to make a purchase, I will make a commission at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!
1. Update Holiday Hours, Store Policies + More
If you’re a brick and mortar store or an online business, things may look different for you during the holidays, including store hours, extended return policies and shipping expectations. This is the time to solidify your plans for what may change and start updating that information on your website. If you have a Google Business Profile, you should update your hours on there as well. You want to make it clear to customers when you’re open and what to expect.
2. Check all forms & checkouts
The holiday season is NOT the time for broken forms or issues with your online checkout (or even in person POS system). Go through all your contact forms to ensure they are working and even do a quick test on your checkout system to make sure there are no issues. Also, double check that your email newsletter is working properly.
3. Clean up & update main navigation
Go through your online store or regular website to make sure all your main navigation menu links are clear and easy to understand. Don’t try to be cute or unique here because it will confuse people, especially any new visitors landing on your site. You just want your navigation to be clear and easy to navigate. Also, if you can, update your menu to fit the holidays. For example, add ‘Gift Ideas’ or ‘Presents for _____’. If you can set those categories, it can help give ideas to visitors for what to buy and keep everything organized and easy to shop.
4. Check all inventory and stock up
If you are a product based business, go through and check all inventory. Be as organized as possible and make sure everything is accurate on your website. If needed, try to restock on big selling items. This is a great time to prep on the backend.
5. Set up your email newsletter
If you have NOT done this already, do this now. Set up your email newsletter using an email marketing platform like flodesk or mailchimp or even Squarespace emails (if you’re on Squarespace already) to collect emails from your visitors. You can provide an incentive to sign up like a 10% off code or any other type of discount or free gift. People want to save during the holidays and people will sign up. Once they do, you’ll have an email list that can grow and you can reach out to for sales and promos in the future!
6. Market, market, market
Promote your website / store! And in case you feel like you need permission, it’s OKAY to market your business. It’s okay to send that marketing email. It’s okay to promote your products. This is the time to do so, so go for it!
7. Add a festive touch
If and when possible, add some nice holiday graphics to showcase you’re ready for the holidays. This can be a new header graphic showcasing gift ideas or anything related to the holiday of choice. You don’t need to go overboard with this, simple Canva graphics can work great. If you can as well, try writing some holiday related articles.
Whether you’re a brick and mortar store or online shop or even a service provider, the holidays are a big deal. It’s important to be ready for them and make sure your website is working for you! Hope you found these 7 ways to get your website ready for the holiday season helpful and good luck this holiday season!
Don’t Forget To
Pin Your Favorite
