How to get your website ready for the holiday season.
Santa isn't the only one who needs to be making a list and checking it twice. You should be getting out your website checklist to make sure your website is ready for holiday shoppers.
Don't have a holiday website checklist? You're in luck: We've created one for you. Be sure your website is ready for the spending excess we euphemistically like to call The Holidays.
With only 81 days until Christmas, and only 57 until Cyber Monday, most businesses are already prepping for the shopping season. Why? The shopping season begins earlier and earlier each year.
According to Google, 48% of shoppers reported to having most of their shopping done BEFORE Cyber Monday, and 1/4 of shoppers had already done some shopping before Halloween.
Don't get caught unprepared - get your website ready now.
What you can do to prepare your website for the holiday season:
Holiday Website Readiness Checklist
Loading Time: The time it takes your website to load is probably one of the most important design features of your website. A website that takes too long to load will chase your visitors away faster than the abominable snowman. Mobile web users are even more fickle than desktop users, and are quick to click away if a site won't load. The recommended load time is 3 second or less. Test your site by visiting it from different devices, and use
these tips to improve website load time.
Broken Links: The links on your website might degrade over time. You should be testing your links and forms all year long. But it is particularly important during the busy holiday season to ensure your links are working properly: The button on your homepage to your hottest selling product. The link to the Amazon page selling your book. The sign up form for your newsletter. Make sure all your buttons, links, and forms are working properly by continually testing them.
Mobile Optimization: I probably don't need to tell you that mobile web browsing and shopping are at an all-time high, and it continues to grow. More people now access the web from a mobile device than from a desktop. Last year, 53% of those who shopped online (40% of total shoppers) used a smartphone or tablet. Test how your website displays across different devices. Doing paid advertising? Make sure your ads and the page that the ad goes to, are mobile-friendly. Here's
how to optimize your website for mobile searches.
Referral Sites and Outside Links: Do you get a lot of your traffic from referral sites? Social media, partner sites, guest posts, and directories are all important referrals sites that can increase your website traffic. Make sure any business listings or other outside links are still working properly and sending visitors to the correct web page. It is also a good time to check and make sure your information on outside sites is accurate and up-to-date.
Website Trust: Check to be sure new visitors to your website know they can trust your business. With so many options available for web users, trust is a key feature in convincing them to choose your business over others. The good news is that people are willing to buy from new brands, with 41% of last year's shopper's buying from a brand new business. The key is gaining consumer trust. Trust comes from testimonials and reviews, a good design, social media engagement, symbols of trust like the BBB logo, and so on. Use these
7 Steps to Gaining Web Visitor's Trust to get started.
Search Engine Optimization. Meta data tells the search engines what they need to know about your website. Yes, we're talking about Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. Valuable content is one of the best ways to get relevant keywords into your website. Get those holiday search terms into your website by writing holiday-themed blogs, updating your meta data, or even getting a special homepage or web page designed for the holiday season. Keywords like "great holiday gifts", "best electronic gifts for dad", or other pertinent terms will help holiday buyers find your website. Tip: Longer key terms, or more specific terms, will bring you the most targeted traffic. For example, instead of just using "gifts for her", you might consider "stylish gifts for moms", or "electronic Christmas gifts dads will love all year".
Search for your business. One great way to check how your website is displaying in search results is to google your own website. Bing it. (Yeah, that just doesn't have the same cachet as 'googling it', but Bing matters too.) And don't forget about Safari, which is still the number one browser for mobile devices. The search display of your site in search listings is often pulled from your Title and Description tags on your site, so make sure they are optimized (your web software should let you edit these, or your web manger can help). Here are some ways to stand out on the search engine result page.
So you've marked off all the items on your Holiday Website Readiness Checklist. Now you can sit back and wait for the shoppers to come to you, right? Wrong! Get out there and start tweeting, posting, writing articles, and connecting with potential customers. Make this the best holiday season yet for your business by leveraging the power of the web!
How does your business get ready for the holiday season?
