Is Your Website Ready For Christmas?
Can you believe that it is December already? We’re sure that you have a list as long as your arm of things to do over the coming weeks, but if you have a small business we encourage you to set aside some time to prepare your website for the festive season.
In this post we’re sharing some ideas of how you can update your business website during the month of December and we’re asking the question: Is your website ready for Christmas?
Internet activity is at its highest from November through to mid January and adding a little ‘sparkle’ to your website during December will make it more interesting and engaging for your customers and potential customers. You could fully embrace the festive spirit and deck your site with boughs of holly, or you could simply update it with details of your Christmas products, your opening hours over the holiday period, or a festive blog.
Here are our top tips to make your website ready for Christmas:
➢ Add a festive message and graphic to your homepage to wish all your customers a Merry Christmas. Or add a photo of your staff wearing Christmas jumpers or Santa hats with a brief message! Just don’t forget to remove the text/photo after Christmas!
➢ If you’re trading at a Christmas Market make sure you add the information to your website so that your local customers know about it, but remember to remove the details after the event!
➢ Add your Christmas/New Year opening hours to your website so that your customers know exactly when you will be open and closed. Just don’t forget to change them back to your normal hours in early January!
➢ If you’re selling specific Christmas products in your shop or via your online store add them to your website. (If you have an e-commerce site make sure that you’re clear about Christmas posting deadlines). Don’t forget to remove the products after Christmas!
➢ If you’re a retailer and if you’re having a ‘Sale’ after Christmas make sure you add a banner to your homepage with the details, but remember to remove this after the ‘Sale’ has ended!
➢ If you’re a restaurant or hotel offering a Christmas menu or taking bookings for Christmas parties or New Year’s Eve, then make sure you add the details to your website. Don’t forget to remove all mentions of Christmas once the festive season is over!
➢ If you have a blog section on your website you could write a ‘review of the year’ post which could include an update on all your business activity over the past year, or you could add photos from your staff Christmas party, or share a Mulled Wine recipe!
Don’t forget that Google and other search engines love websites that are updated frequently; adding fresh content shows them that your website is active and this will help your chances of ranking higher in searches.
If you’re too busy running your business to make these updates to your website we can do it for you. Our web maintenance service fee is £50 or $90 per hour for adhoc requests (minimum 2 hours. Squarespace websites only) and we can usually update your website within 24 hours, if not sooner. Please contact us if this is something that you’re interested in – we’d love to help.