Christmas Website SEO To-Do List
If you thought your website was in a competitive market on an average day of the year, then this is increased three-fold around the holiday season. What’s more is that statistically there are more of us taking holidays and days off around this time which means there is more chance to target customers at all hours of the day.
Here is the ISD website to-do list to increase visibility and conversions around the winter.
For e-commerce sites nothing makes your online checkouts ring faster than the festive period and the weeks leading up to it. It's not all about Christmas though as two of the main days to target for increased sales are Black Friday and Cyber Monday - this year November 27
Look festive
User experience is incredibly important and should be at the forefront of all your marketing campaigns- show your customers that your company/brand is excited about Christmas. This could be something simple from having a festive holly on your company logo displayed across the header to something that requires more time and preparation.
*Remember if you’re uploading new images to your website to always add an Alt tag
Organise Category pages
You might have some specific categories set up just for this period such as outfits and gifts for Christmas, whereas some will be for New Years or Thanksgiving. Also remember to prioritise these to sit at the top of categories and keep all your standard categories in alphabetical order below.
Out of Stock options
This is very important especially for cyber Monday. Customers will be annoyed to find out they’ve ‘bought’ an item which is out of stock. Yes you might be worried that customers will turn elsewhere for the same item but that’s better than disappointing a customer who will cancel the order if they wait too long for it to come back in stock.
Discount and sale
Everyone is looking for a great deal on Cyber Monday. This doesn’t mean you have to sell your £100 product for £25 though. Any discount is a deal.
Adwords
It’s never too late to start an Adwords campaign and it’s easy to limit your budget but as it is the festive season many ads will have a high placement bid. However this should be included in your Christmas marketing budget.
Remember to send newsletters and bulletins out to your subscribers and let them know what they could save money on at sale events or what’s hitting the store in December for last minute Christmas shoppers
Active Social Media
Well you should always be active on social media but as mentioned, more people have time off work during these months so your posts, tweets and blogs may reach a wider audience during this time. It may be worth scheduling very late night/early morning posts to catch the die-hard bargain hunters.
So it is still not too late; follow these tips and make the most of the season this year.