Is Your Website Ready for Holiday Traffic? Here’s Your Prep Checklist
The holidays are almost here, which means more people browsing, shopping, and booking online than at any other time of year. For small business owners, this is the season where your website either works for you — converting visitors into sales — or holds you back.
Ask yourself:
Is your website ready to handle the spike in holiday traffic, or is it costing you sales?
Are visitors leaving confused about what you offer?
Can someone land on your homepage and reach your products, services, or booking page within just a few clicks?
If the answer to any of these is no (or even maybe), then it’s time for a seasonal tune-up. Think of this as your fall-to-holiday website prep checklist — a practical guide to make sure your site is polished, functional, and ready to maximize conversions during Black Friday, the holiday rush, and even into the New Year.
By the end of this post, you’ll have clear, actionable steps to refresh your site before the busy season hits — without needing to start from scratch.
✨ Need a polished website fast? Grab one of my Squarespace Templates — ready-to-launch designs built for small businesses and service providers.
✨ Planning a bigger rebrand or launch in 2026? My Custom Website Design spots are now open, but filling quickly.
The holidays won’t wait — and neither should your website. Let’s get you ready!
1. Update Your Offers & Promotions 🎁
Here’s the hard truth: if your website doesn’t reflect the products or services you currently sell, you’re leaving money on the table. Many small business owners update their inventory or add new services behind the scenes — but forget to update their website. The result? Visitors may assume you don’t offer what they’re looking for and click away to a competitor.
If you want to maximize your ROI this holiday season, your website needs to clearly showcase what’s available right now. That means:
Adding any new products or seasonal services
Removing outdated or unavailable offers
Updating pricing so visitors aren’t surprised at checkout
And once your core offers are accurate, it’s time to layer on your holiday promotions. This is where your website can shine:
Highlight Black Friday deals, holiday bundles, or gift-ready services right on your homepage
Add a dedicated “Holiday Specials” section so customers can find them instantly
Use Squarespace’s announcement bar or promo pop-ups to draw attention to time-sensitive offers
💡 Pro Tip: Keep your promotional copy festive but clear. It’s tempting to get overly creative with holiday messaging, but your audience needs to quickly understand what the offer is, why it matters, and how to buy. If they can’t figure that out within seconds, they’re gone.
✨ Want to launch your holiday offers quickly? My Squarespace Templates are built with promo sections and announcement options already in place — so you can plug in your seasonal offers and start selling fast, no coding required.
2. Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly 📱
Here’s a holiday shopping reality check: over 60% of holiday browsing (and buying!) happens on mobile. That means if your website isn’t optimized for phones and tablets, you could be losing more than half of your potential customers before they ever see what you offer.
Think about your own habits—how often do you scroll, shop, or book services right from your phone? If your site feels clunky, loads slowly, or requires endless pinching and zooming, your visitors will bounce in seconds.
How to prep your site for mobile this season:
Preview your website in mobile view after you make desktop edits (Squarespace makes this easy).
Check for easy navigation — menus should collapse neatly, buttons should be thumb-friendly, and text should be readable without zooming.
Test your checkout or booking process on your phone. If it feels confusing to you, it’ll feel impossible for your customers.
💡 Pro Tip: Don’t just assume it looks fine—actually walk through your website on your phone the way a customer would. Pretend you’re trying to buy a product or book a service. Did you get frustrated or confused at any point? That’s exactly where your audience will leave.
✨ The good news? All of my Squarespace Templates are built mobile-first, so your site will look polished and professional on every screen—without extra effort from you. That way, you’ll never have to worry about losing mobile shoppers during the busiest sales season of the year.
3. Optimize Your SEO Settings for Holiday Searches 🔍
The holiday season brings a surge of online searches — but is your website showing up where it matters? If your SEO settings haven’t been touched in a while, now is the perfect time to update them so your business doesn’t get buried under competitors.
Start with the basics:
Meta Descriptions & Page Titles → Update them with seasonal keywords your audience is searching for. Examples: “Holiday Gift Guide 2025,” “Black Friday Coaching Special,” or “End-of-Year Website Refresh.”
Alt Text for Images → Don’t just describe the photo—tie it back to your offers. Example: instead of “woman holding coffee,” try “woman working on website refresh for holiday launch.”
Fresh Content → Google rewards active sites. Adding a holiday blog post, updating your product/service descriptions, or creating a limited-time promo page signals to search engines that your website is current and relevant.
💡 Pro Tip: Update your SEO at least once per month to stay visible in search results. Even small tweaks before the holidays can make a big difference in driving qualified traffic to your site.
✨ Not sure where to start? My Website Refresh service is designed to update both your SEO and design so your site is ready to perform this holiday season. Want to DIY with confidence instead? Grab my Website Launch Kit — it walks you step-by-step through launching a fully optimized website, including all your SEO settings.
4. Highlight Your Calls-to-Action (CTAs) 🎯
The holidays are a high-energy, high-traffic season. Shoppers are browsing quickly, comparing options, and often making fast decisions. That means your website can’t afford vague or hidden calls-to-action (CTAs). If your visitors don’t know exactly what to do next, they’ll leave — and probably buy from someone else.
Your CTAs should be:
Visible: Buttons should stand out on the page, not blend in with your background.
Simple: Use short, direct language (e.g., “Book Your Holiday Session” or “Grab the Template Now”).
Benefit-driven: Don’t just tell them what to do—tell them why. Instead of “Buy Now,” try “Launch Your Website Today” or “Secure Your Spot for 2026.”
💡 Think of it this way: you’re not selling a plane ticket—you’re selling the vacation experience. When you reframe your CTAs around the transformation or benefit your offer provides, it becomes much easier for customers to click without hesitation.
✨ Every one of my Squarespace Templates comes with strategically placed CTAs built into the design, so you don’t have to figure out where to put them. And if you’re planning a bigger launch in 2026, my Custom Website Design service ensures your calls-to-action are tailored to your unique goals, making conversions effortless.
5. Make Sure Your Website Reflects Your Current Business 🎨
Here’s a common mistake I see: businesses grow, evolve, and expand their services — but their websites stay the same for years. Your website should reflect the current version of your business, not the one you launched with three years ago. When there’s a disconnect, it not only confuses visitors, but it can also make your brand look less professional and trustworthy.
Signs your website might be out of sync with your business:
You’ve added new services (or retired old ones) but your website hasn’t been updated.
Your branding has changed — new logo, colors, or photography — but your site still shows the old look.
Your ideal client has shifted, but your messaging still speaks to a broader or outdated audience.
Your headshots or team photos are years old, which makes your website feel less personal and current.
Why does this matter? Because clarity builds trust. When someone lands on your site, they should immediately understand who you serve, what you offer, and how to work with you. If your website is misaligned with your brand, it creates hesitation — and hesitation costs you sales.
Updating your content and visuals not only improves conversions but also boosts your SEO. Search engines like Google reward websites that stay fresh with updated copy, new pages, and relevant keywords. That means a brand-aligned site isn’t just better for your clients — it’s better for your visibility, too.
💡 Pro Tip: Do a quick “brand audit” of your website. Ask yourself:
Does my website clearly show what I currently sell or offer?
Do my visuals (colors, logo, photos) match my current branding?
Would a new visitor instantly understand my value and who I serve?
✨ If your business has grown but your website hasn’t kept up, my Squarespace Website Refresh service can quickly align your site with your now version before the new year. And if you’re planning a bigger rebrand or launch in 2026, my Custom Squarespace Website Design ensures your online presence grows with you — so your brand and website are always in sync.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Let an Outdated Website Hold You Back 🚀
The holiday season is one of the busiest (and most profitable) times of the year for small businesses. But if your website isn’t ready to handle the traffic, you could be missing out on sales, leads, and long-term clients. From outdated design to weak CTAs, mobile hiccups to neglected SEO, each of these five signs is a clear reminder that it’s time for a refresh.
The good news? You don’t have to tackle it alone.
👉 Need a quick fix before the holiday rush? Grab one of my Squarespace Templates — built mobile-first, SEO-friendly, and designed with clear CTAs so you can launch in days, not weeks.
👉 Planning a bigger rebrand or launch in 2026? Apply now for a spot in my Custom Squarespace Website Design services so we can create a polished, strategic site that grows with your business.
✨ Don’t wait until January to realize your website held you back this season. Prep now, launch with confidence, and step into the new year with a site that works as hard as you do.
