I know that it’s not till November, 24th November to be precise, but it’s time to start ensuring that your website is optimised and able to cope with the potential increase in demand over the biggest weekend of the year for retail.
With figures suggesting that web traffic on Black Friday was up 220%, now is the time to make updates to your website to ensure that your site is not only performing well, but also attracting more customers.
What’s the big deal about Black Friday?
Black Friday has become one of the biggest exports from America in recent times. Originally a negative term coined by the Philadelphia Police department to try put off discount mad consumers, the phrase stuck and has also been said to reference the fact that many retailers go ‘into the black’ and make their profits on the holiday weekend.
Whilst Black Friday is now considered a bit of a marketing ploy, with figures suggesting that in 2016, total spend on retail sites over the Black Friday weekend totalled £1.23 bn, a 12.2% increase than the total spend on the same day in 2015, there’s no getting around it, retailers must get involved!
Time to get prepared.
There’s a few simple things that you can do to make sure that your site is primed and ready to go for the Black Friday weekend.
Make sure your site is responsive
It’s 2017, so I really shouldn’t have to be saying this, but you need to make sure that your site is responsive! It should be responsive anyway, but for the black Friday weekend, it’s a must. PayPal reported last year that a third of all PayPal Payments were made on mobile devices over the Black Friday weekend, with more than three in five conversions taking place on mobile in the UK.
Can’t argue with those facts, can you?
Host your website with a provider than can handle an increase in traffic.
Is your current hosting provider capable of handling an increase in traffic over the Black Friday weekend? If you’re paying rock bottom for hosting, chances are, that they probably can’t.
Whoever you host your site with, you need to make sure that they are 100% reliable and can handle a sudden increase in traffic, without making your site slow or crash.
On that note, increase security with an SSL Certificate
You should be aware by now that Google are now penalising any online store that is taking payments without an SSL Certificate set up.
SSL Certificates are easy to install, but more importantly, they provide peace of mind to your customers and satisfy Google.
Make it easy for people to quickly buy their items!
It sounds obvious, but you have no idea how many websites we’ve seen, where you need to click on multiple pages, just to buy one item.
We’d suggest putting your best sellers on the homepage and make sure people can find an item and buy it in 2 or 3 clicks!
Let your customers know that you’ve got great offers
In the run up to Black Friday, it’s a great idea to use your social media channels to tease your customers with your offers, encouraging customers to keep an eye on your site for the best deal.
You could also increase engagement with an extra offer if they share or comment on your post. Whilst increasing your engagement, you’ll also be growing your reach to people who haven’t followed you.
Don’t have time to do all this prep?
There’s no doubt about it, it can be a lot of work to get your site up to scratch for the biggest retail weekend of the year.
Sellerdeck can help get your site optimised for the Black Friday rush. So, whether you’re looking for secure and reliable hosting, a mobile responsive redesign or help with your online marketing, we’ll get your site ready for the increase in traffic.
Contact us today by giving us a call on 0845 129 4888 or emailing sales@sellerdeck.co.uk
