The holidays are fast approaching. There are less than 50 days until Thanksgiving, which can only mean one thing: Black Friday is right around the corner. Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year. Stores and companies offer amazing deals that you could only dream of. But now that Black Friday is rapidly approaching, there is one question you should ask yourself: Is your website ready for Black Friday?

While preparing for Black Friday, Apica suggest to keep these statistics in mind.

• 78% of shoppers used the internet for holiday research last year.
• 92% of holiday shoppers will go online to research and purchase gifts this season.
• 25% of shoppers started holiday shopping before Halloween.
• In 2015, holiday sales increased 15-16% due to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In-store sales declined 10%.
  

Optimize Your Strategy

Last year broke records for the amount of people who shopped on Black Friday. Over 151 million people shopped either in-stores or online. Experts are expecting even more to participate this year. Today, 40% of consumers begin looking for deals as early as Halloween. Since consumers like to plan and strategize, then you need to begin strategizing as well. Here are a few ideas.

• Create a promotional calendar with all the deadlines and tasks associated with producing email marketing plans, blog posts, social media updates, and designs and graphics for your website
• Continually promote the available sales you will have on Black Friday
• Make sure your website is working properly whether that is contact forms or shopping carts, and your website can handle the rush of visitors.
• Outline any policies and guidelines clearly in advance so there are as few issues as possible.

The sooner you plan your holiday promotions, the smoother the day will go!

Make Your Site Mobile Friendly

If your site isn’t already mobile friendly, now is the time to make the change. 68% of smartphone and/or tablet users say they would try a mobile site or app one more time if they did not work the first time. Last year, online retailers saw a 65% increase in purchase made from a mobile device. Convenience is key. Make sure the website is easy to navigate and the page speed is good.

Prepare Marketing Assets

Here are a few tasks that you should have done before the holiday starts in order to drive as many potential and existing consumers to your website.

• Landing Pages: Take the time to create promotional landing pages that lead your customer to your website. The better your landing page is, the more likely a consumer will find you.
• Emails: Begin emailing all of your current customers on your email list. Let them know about the upcoming Black Friday promotions. This will create a hype and excitement about your products or services.
• Blogs: Producing blog posts is a great way to improve your SEO ranking. Have blog posts with keywords that will help consumers find your page faster. This is a great way to build organic traffic.
• Website Design: Make sure your website design is clean and simple for shoppers to use. Also let them know very clearly about the promotion going on so they are more aware of it while shopping.

Don’t stress about the upcoming holiday chaos. With our knowledge in website designing, blogger outreach and SEO, contact us today to help you prepare your website for biggest shopping day of the year!