With the festive season fast approaching, in no time at all shoppers are going to be swarming online on the hunt for the best deals for their Christmas shopping, gift or decorating inspiration, festive recipes and everything in between.
It’s time to think about whether your website is optimised to maximise conversion opportunities, and cope with the extra traffic.
We spoke to WayFresh.co.uk a web development company, who told us a 5 things you should be paying extra attention to over the christmas period.
Plan ahead
Are you going to give your site a Christmas makeover?
Think about what offers you are going to be promoting, and make sure they are obvious to your site visitors. Make sure your navigation is clear and your seasonal offers are easy to find.
Consider the upsell opportunities and maybe display related offers on product pages.
Include important information such as final delivery dates, or how many days you will be running your current promotions for.
Think about how you can make the most of the season to grow your business going forward. Maybe offer money off in exchange for a user signing up to your email newsletter.
Assess your site health
Lots of people will redesign parts their site to give it a more Christmasy look, but you also need to pay attention to the usability of your site.
A few things to watch out for include:
Does the site load quickly?
Are there any broken links?
Also think about your SEO, and what people are likely be searching for in the run up to Christmas. Do your keyword research and
Make converting easy
Make sure that when you attract visitors to your site, they are able to convert. Are your calls to action clear and easy to find? Are your landing pages optimised?
Pay attention to your analytics, and check whether there are any pages where visitors are dropping off before completing the conversion process.
If you have an eCommerce site, also think about whether the checkout process could be improved. Is it straightforward? Are there certain payment methods you don’t accept? Look for any areas that could be putting people off and improve accordingly.
Optimise for mobile
If you haven’t already, it is essential that you optimise your website for all devices. Mobile browsing is growing every day, and with almost 70% of website visits being made from a mobile device if your website looks beautiful on a desktop but doesn’t provide a good user experience when viewed at a different resolution, you will be missing conversions.
If you’ve noticed that you have a high mobile bounce rate you should consider implementing a responsive design. Responsive websites scale to fit the screen they are being viewed on, whether that’s mobile, tablet, or laptop.
This is important as new devices are being released all the time, and you can rest assured your site will still look great.
Make sure your site can handle the traffic
You will see a spike in traffic as the festive period approaches, particularly if you run an eCommerce website, so make sure that your infrastructure is sound.
Check that your server has the capacity to cope with the inevitable extra visitors.