The holidays are a time for family, friends, and of course, shopping. And they’ll be here before you know it! As the air gets chilly and the year draws to a close, people look to complete their holiday shopping sooner each and every year

As the seasons change, how can you ensure that more people will buy from your e-commerce site as opposed to a competitor’s?

In this post, we’re going to cover 3 ways to make your site more cheerful and less bah-humbug so you can generate more sales this year.

3 ways to ready your site for the holiday season

Be a trusted resource for your site visitors.

Have you ever heard someone declare, “the person I’m buying for already has everything they need” or that “it’s difficult to shop for”?

By putting up a gift guide (or a few) on your site, you can save time and energy in shopping for customers. You may encourage people to the goods that are best suited for their demands or highlight the items you want to sell by doing this.

Make sure your gift recommendations are properly named. There should be no question as to whether your gift guide is appropriate for a grandmother or a great-nephew. To give customers with enough information to make an informed purchase, include keywords and specifics in product descriptions.

Remember, appearances count! It’s not 1997 anymore — so don’t bother creating a list of goods in a Word doc and then posting it to your site. There are so many competitors vying for customers’ attention that you must be different.

To make your gift guide look great, try using a free graphic design site or tool. Canva is one option, but there are many others available if you do a quick internet search.

Give your site a festive facelift.

When was the last time your website got some attention? People don’t wear the same apparel or hairstyles for long, and there’s no better time than during the holidays to improve your website.

You don’t need to rebuild your entire website, but a quick-fix would be updating your primary banner image to something Christmassy. For example, Coca-Cola updated their site last year before the holidays rolled around by adding a seasonal product page for Coke Cinnamon and switched up their header image too.

With today’s technology, you no longer have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on quality photography and graphics for your website. So if that’s been holding you back, don’t worry about it anymore. When creating your new holiday banner image, be sure to include a visible coupon code to attract shoppers.

Be a little less Scrooge and a little more Santa

We’ve addressed shopping a lot in this guide, but it isn’t quite all that it’s about. Your consumers are looking to buy presents for the people they care about as an expression of thoughtfulness and affection.

Make sure your customers know you care about more than just profits this holiday season by donating a percentage of your sales to charity. Even something as small as 1-2% can mean a lot to someone in need.

It’s critical to share your message about the importance of making a difference when you buy items. It may be the difference between being just another company and gaining a competitive advantage over others by letting customers know that part of their purchase is going towards a good cause.

Happy holidays to you and your site

The holidays are the perfect time to change up your website. Give visitors what they desire with gift guides, updated wintertime photos, and a way to feel altruistic by donating to charity.