Look: We understand that it’s only now mid-November… that Thanksgiving is still a couple weeks away, and for some of us Christmas seems pretty far off. Never mind that the malls already have their garlands and their Christmas music, that store shelves are fully stocked with yuletide candies and toys. Some may not be quite ready to think about the holiday season just yet, and that’s fine…
… unless you happen to be a small business owner. In which case, now is the time to start planning your holiday marketing and promotional campaigns. And that includes sprucing up your website.
There are plenty of ways to get your website holiday-ready, but most of them are going to require just a bit of advance planning—whether you do your website yourself or have a separate developer. Thus, if you want to have a website that pulls out all the stops and makes a big, festive splash, the time to build it is now.
We’ll recommend just a few possible avenues:
- Remember that over the holidays, your visitors are going to have less time and more distractions than normal. They won’t necessarily have as much eagerness to peruse your full website—so make your point, and make it quick. Ensure that you have a strong call to action above the fold. Make e-mail sign-ups and social media buttons numerous, and highly visible.
- One way to stand out, and to encourage users to dig deeper into your site, is to implement a carousel—a section of the site that has different images and text that rotate, each screen showing a different product or section of your site. It will take some work to get one up and running, but this can be a great way to showcase everything your business has to offer, even to those who are pressed for time.
- Emphasize time sensitivity and urgency. Make prominent mention of holiday sales, noting their end dates. Also publicize when you need to receive orders to ensure delivery by Christmas Eve.
- Offer some kind of a “bonus,” to entice customers to buy from you and not your competitor—or at least, to keep you in the running. Free shipping is an obvious one. Even if you always offer free shipping, make special note of it over the holidays.
- Change your site color schemes to festive colors, or create some holiday-themed graphics or banners to include on your site. Help your customers get into the spirit of the season, and see if that doesn’t make them a bit more willing to spend money with you!
Really, anything you do to optimize your site for the holiday season is going to prove helpful to you—so get planning! And for more advice, don’t hesitate to contact Grammar Chic at 803-831-7444, or www.grammarchic.net.
The Red Ink 