The pumpkins are out, the leaves are falling, and Q4 is officially in full swing. For small and medium-sized businesses, that means one thing: it’s go time. The holiday season brings a major surge in online traffic, and if your website isn’t ready, you could be missing out on valuable conversions. That’s why October is the perfect month to audit your website for the holidays.
Taking the time to review and refresh your website now sets the stage for a successful holiday season. From site speed to mobile responsiveness to content updates, a comprehensive website audit ensures you’re not only attracting visitors but converting them into loyal customers.
It’s Time to Audit Your Website for the Holidays
According to Adobe’s 2024 Holiday Shopping Report, online retail spending hit new highs in the 2024 holiday season: consumers spent a record $241.4 billion online during the 2024 holidays, up 8.7% from 2023. Mobile spending was even more prominent in 2024 holiday season; with the mobile revenue share hitting a record of 54.5% of online shopping. These trends underscore how essential a fast, mobile optimized website is for capturing holiday revenue. If your site isn’t ready to handle holiday traffic across all devices, you risk falling behind competitors who are.
So, what exactly should you focus on in your October audit? Here are the key areas to address to ensure your site is performing at its best when shoppers start clicking.
1. Optimize Site Speed Before the Rush
Online shoppers don’t wait around, and neither should your website. Slow load times are one of the top reasons visitors abandon a site. “According to one study, 40% of shoppers will abandon a website if it takes longer than three seconds to fully load” (shopify). If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, especially on mobile, you risk losing potential buyers to faster competitors.
October is your window to test and improve page load times. Compress images, clean up unnecessary plugins, and minimize code to ensure your site is holiday ready and lightning fast.
2. Make Sure You’re Mobile Ready
As mentioned above, with mobile commerce on the rise, a mobile friendly website isn’t just a nice to have, it’s a must. Shoppers are browsing and buying from their phones more than ever, especially during the holidays when they’re on the go.
As you audit your website for the holidays, test it on various devices and screen sizes. Check navigation, readability, and usability. A mobile friendly experience helps ensure users can find what they need quickly and easily, no pinching, zooming, or frustration required.
3. Refresh Content and Highlight Holiday Offers
We always talk about how everything ties back to content, and during the holidays, this is especially true. Your website should reflect the excitement and urgency of the season. Update key pages to showcase your holiday promotions, gift guides, or seasonal services. Be sure your messaging speaks to the customer’s mindset, people are shopping with intention during Q4.
Take the time in October to audit your website for the holidays by updating product descriptions, headlines, and calls to action. Make sure your content aligns with your brand and supports your holiday goals, whether that’s increasing sales, building email lists, or driving in store visits.
4. Don’t Forget the Back End Essentials
Your holiday website audit shouldn’t stop at what customers see. Search engines need to understand your site too. That means it’s time for a thorough cleanup of your title tags, meta descriptions, alt text, and internal linking.
Check that your metadata is optimized for holiday search terms and that alt text accurately describes images for accessibility and SEO. These small tweaks can make a big difference in how your site ranks, and performs, during the high traffic months ahead.
Ready to Ring in Holiday Sales?
A little work in October goes a long way toward making the most of your Q4 web traffic. When you audit your website for the holidays now, you’re ensuring that your digital storefront is polished, functional, and ready to welcome the season’s visitors.
Need help bringing your holiday website strategy to life? Contact Water Bear Marketing for all your marketing needs, including WebsiteDesign, SEO, content updates, and more. We’ll help you make this your most successful holiday season yet, and the best part? We offer free advertising consultations, so you can boost your visibility without breaking your budget.
