The “-ber” Months
It’s officially that time of year again, the “-ber” months. You know– OctoBER, NovemBER, DecemBER. These months consist of a lot of spending, planning, and celebrating. From the 15th bag of candy you picked up at the store in anticipation of the herds of trick-or-treaters, to already preparing for the Black Friday deals that bombard your inbox on November 1st– this might have you wondering “is my business ready for the holiday rush?”
With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it’s understandable if your website takes a backseat. Here are a few ways to make sure your website is ready for the holiday season:
1. How’s Your Website Look on Mobile?
- Most holiday shopping happens on mobile — your site must be responsive.
- Non-optimized sites lead to high cart abandonment and lost sales.
- Test your site’s mobile view: right-click → Inspect → switch device view.
- Ensure your design adapts seamlessly to any screen size.
2. Are Your Images Helping or Hurting?
- Large, unoptimized images slow load times and frustrate shoppers.
- Compress and resize photos for the web to improve speed and reduce bandwidth costs.
- Use tinypng.com to shrink file size without losing quality.
- Faster pages = happier customers and higher conversions.
3. Create a Holiday Traffic Forecast
- Review past analytics to identify peak periods.
- Add ~20% buffer for unexpected traffic surges.
- Factor in new campaigns or promotions.
- Scale hosting, servers, and bandwidth accordingly.
- Revisit data post-holiday to refine future forecasts.
4. Test & Secure Payment Systems
- Run load tests on checkout and payment gateways.
- Ensure TLS certificates, encryption, and PCI compliance are current.
- Monitor for fraud or anomalies; have a backup payment option ready.
- Keep checkout code clean and efficient to prevent downtime.
- Secure systems build customer trust and prevent lost sales.
Takeaways
- Prep your site early to avoid issues during the holiday rush.
- Optimize design, images, and infrastructure now.
- Consider partnering with a web management agency for expert support.
- A fast, secure, and responsive site = stress-free, profitable holidays.
A few strategic updates today can make all the difference—helping your site perform smoothly and confidently through the holiday season.
If you’d like to talk through where to begin, we’re here.
