Is Your Website Ready for the Holidays?

It came up quick, but holiday season is once again upon us. This year proves to be more online-oriented than ever, because consumers more likely to shop online than to visit traditional brick and mortar stores. Deloitte conducted a nation-wide survey, and concluded that online shoppers are expected to spend just as much online as they do in stores – 47% of purchases will be made online.

There’s one important question – is your website ready for the holiday traffic rush? This time of year is one of the busiest for online purchasing, product research, and more. It’s important that your website looks inviting, since there is a lot of competition online for consumers. That’s why we’ve put together a list of great ways to make your website “holiday ready.” From Christmas website design themes, to snow falling on your homepage, we’ll show you the best ways to make your website merry with very little effort involved.

Holiday Website Themes and Templates

One of the best ways to give your website a “holiday makeover” is to use a pre-designed holiday theme. You can find dozens of templates for the holidays on TemplateMonster. This site is a market for thousands of templates that you can use on any of the top website building platforms, like WordPress, Joomla, Magento, WooCommerce, and more. You can easily purchase a template, and adapt it to your site for Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Years. TemplateMonster also offers video ecard themes and templates, so you can keep in touch with your subscribers in a festive way. These themes add a unique element to your website, and can help distinguish your site from your competitors.

Festive Badge, Icon, or Logo

Another way to add some holiday cheer to your website with little effort is to make small changes to your logos and icons, or to add a small holiday badge. If you are overwhelmed by the prospect of overhauling your web design with a new template, a holiday-related badge or logo will still show your users that you are thinking of them, and keeping your site up to date.

One great example is Wix’s Holiday Badge. If you are using Wix as your website builder, you can easily add the badge app to your site in less than five minutes. There is a badge for each holiday, and you can customize the text and colors to match your site. It is a great way to welcome your website visitors with a bit of holiday cheer.

Holiday Promotions

If you have an e-commerce site, a great way to take advantage of increased traffic is to create a holiday-related promotion. According to research, 77% of consumers are influenced by coupons or promotions when shopping. Here are some tried-and-true ways to encourage customer to purchase:

• Offer basic discounts – “40% off your entire purchase”
• Discount on the second purchase – “Buy one get the second half off!”
• Offer free shipping
• Discounts on gift cards – gift cards are one of the top gifts people buy for their friends and family
• Provide a discount or store credit when asking for a customer referral

There is a 66% chance that a shopper will look for your product online, then go to a store to purchase. If you’re looking to increase online conversions, entice customers with online promotions to get them to buy right on the site. When customers find they can get the best value for their product online, the risk of customer bounce decreases dramatically.

Holiday Countdown Plugin

Your users are certainly excited for the holidays, so show them that you are too! By adding a simple Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year’s countdown timer to your website, you can show your users that you are just as excited as they are. It will also add a sense of urgency to your customers’ shopping, and will be more likely to purchase from your site.

Let it Snow!

Dreaming of a white Christmas? Well you can guarantee a white Christmas on your website, by adding this JavaScript-driven snow effect. This free effect will instantly up your site’s holiday game, and users can’t help but smile when they see it. You can control the speed, direction, and “melting point” of the snow, and there is even a Christmas lights effect to add if the snow isn’t festive enough. Check out how the snow effect is incorporated with some of the above ideas to create a very festive website! To learn how to add the effect yourself, this website provides easy instructions on adding the effect to your site, so you can let it snow just in time for the holidays.

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