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Well it's (almost) that time of year again, summer's over, the nights are drawing in and the wooly jumpers are creeping out of the closet. But more importantly, it's the time retailers and small businesses start optimising their websites for the Christmas (Xmas) season. Now you may be thinking that Christmas is the last thing on your mind at the minute, but despite the lovely sunny weather we’ve just had, now is the perfect time to take a look at your website and fix any bottleneck issues which may be blocking potential sales and conversion rates.
Christmas is an important time of the year for many businesses (especially for ecommerce websites) and it’s easy to wait until late November or early December before optimising your website, but by that time it’s often too late. Starting to optimise your website early will give you enough time to carry out all of the necessary checks and improvements to ensure your business makes the most out of the festive season.
To give you a head start we’ve put together these 7 useful tips to help you optimise your website for the Christmas Season.
All websites need a little TLC from time to time and now is the perfect time to start identifying any bottleneck issues which may be causing your users to drop off before hitting that all important buy or enquire button. Start by logging into your Google Analytics account, and take an overview of the whole customer journey. This is one of the best ways to see where your users are dropping off so you know where to focus your attention.
This one may sound like a no brainer but you’ll be surprised how often it gets overlooked. Having clear and easily accessible delivery times, stock levels and return policies (especially gift returns) on your website is even more important during the festive season, and if you can afford to, offering free delivery can really have a big impact on your conversion rates.
Starting to introduce Christmas language throughout your website and product descriptions will help to nudge your users into the festive frame of mind. It can also be a good starting point to begin your Christmas SEO strategy.
Note: Remember to use alternative search phases to reach a wider audience, for example Xmas and Christmas.
Everyone likes a bargain and seasonal discount codes are a great way to attract new and old visitors to your website. These can be applied to your existing email marketing campaigns and can also be tied into your social media strategy. As with all marketing strategies it’s good practise to include some form of tracking so that you can accurately monitor it’s performance and effectiveness.
Festive blog posts should be a fundamental part of your core SEO strategy during the Christmas season. They offer a good opportunity to target some key seasonal search phases which you wouldn’t ordinarily target. Some of the more common phrases include “Gift For Him”, “Top 5 Gifts This Christmas”, and “How To… This Winter”.
This one is perhaps best left until late mid-late November, but it’s always good practise to plan new creative and web designs ahead of time to avoid a last minute rush. Decorating your homepage to instill a little Christmas joy doesn’t have to be a big task either but it can help get your customers into that purchasing frame of mind.
Note: Don’t go overboard, not everyone likes Christmas as much as this guy.
Arguably one of the easiest and most important website optimisations is to UPDATE YOUR OPENING HOURS.
We hope these 7 simple tips will help you get started with optimising your website, and if you’d like further advice or assistance with your web design or SEO projects, feel free to contact us on 0115 837 2880 or contact@jacit.co.uk.
