The holiday season is one of the busiest—and most profitable—times of the year, which makes holiday website prep essential for businesses that want to capture that surge in demand. Whether you’re a service provider, coach, or small business owner, your website is often the first touchpoint for potential clients. People are actively searching for last-minute solutions, holiday packages, and end-of-year offers.
But here’s the reality: many websites aren’t ready for the holiday rush. Slow load times, outdated messaging, or confusing calls-to-action can send potential clients straight to a competitor. Even with increased demand, you might miss out on leads simply because your site isn’t optimized.
The good news? With a few strategic tweaks, you can make your website holiday-ready—turning casual visitors into paying clients. Let’s break it down step by step.
Holiday Website Prep Step 1: Audit for Speed & Performance
No one waits around for a slow-loading site, especially during the busiest time of year. Studies show that if your site takes longer than 3 seconds to load, you risk losing nearly half your visitors.
Action steps to take now:
- When you prepare your website for holidays, start by checking your load times. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrix to see where your site can improve.
- Prioritize mobile responsiveness. More than 60% of holiday shopping and browsing happens on mobile. Make sure buttons are big enough to tap, fonts are legible, and images resize correctly.
- Fix broken links and errors. A 404 page during a holiday sale? Instant trust-breaker. Run a scan with Dead Link Checker or similar tools. (Related Read: How to Set Up Redirects on Showit (and WordPress, If You’re Using a Blog)
- Optimize your images. Large images are the #1 culprit of slow sites. Compress them with free tools mentioned in my post: The Ultimate Guide to Optimize Images for Showit: Boost Speed, SEO & Rankings
Update Messaging for the Holiday Season
Your website should immediately communicate what you offer and why it matters right now. If a visitor has to dig around to figure out your services or offers, they’ll bounce.
How to refresh your messaging:
- Highlight seasonal offers. Add a banner, pop-up, or homepage section that spotlights your holiday promotions, bundles, or limited-time offers.
- Tighten your CTAs. Instead of a generic “Contact Me,” try action-driven phrases:
- “Book Your Holiday Session Now”
- “Claim Your End-of-Year Offer”
- “Schedule Before Spots Run Out”
– See strong CTA examples on the websites featured in my portfolio.
- Add festive touches (without overdoing it). Use subtle holiday colors, icons, or graphics, but keep everything aligned with your brand so it still feels consistent.
Step 3. Optimize for SEO & Discovery
You can’t convert visitors if they don’t find you first. Seasonal SEO ensures your site shows up when people search for holiday-related solutions.
Quick wins for holiday SEO:
- Update your meta titles and descriptions. Include seasonal keywords like:
- “Holiday therapy sessions”
- “End-of-year coaching packages”
- “Holiday website design deals”
- Create holiday-specific content. As part of your holiday marketing strategy, consider creating a dedicated holiday landing page or blog post designed to capture seasonal traffic. Example: “5 Holiday Wellness Packages to Help You Start the New Year Strong.”
(Related read: How to Blog for SEO (So Google Actually Ranks Your Content)) - Add structured data. If you’re promoting events, products, or services, use schema markup so Google can feature them directly in search results. (Schema.org has free resources to help.)
- Don’t forget local SEO. If you’re serving clients in a specific area, update your Google Business Profile with holiday hours, seasonal photos, and posts.
Prep for Increased Traffic & Leads
Holiday website traffic can spike quickly—especially if you’re running ads, sending email campaigns, or getting referrals. Make sure your website can handle it and capture as many leads as possible.
Action steps:
- Test every form. Nothing is worse than realizing your contact or booking form stopped working in the middle of a busy season.
- Add email opt-ins. Offer a freebie (like a holiday checklist or guide) to capture leads who aren’t ready to buy yet.
- Set up tracking. Use Google Analytics or Matomo to monitor where traffic comes from. This helps you double down on the platforms working best (Instagram, Pinterest, email, etc.).
- Check hosting limits. If you’re expecting a big surge, make sure your hosting plan can handle it—especially on shared servers.
Holiday Website Prep Step 5: Plan a Holiday Content Strategy
Your website isn’t a “set it and forget it” tool. Seasonal content builds trust, increases visibility, and keeps your audience engaged.
Ideas to fuel your holiday content plan:
- Share social proof. Highlight client wins, testimonials, or case studies framed as “holiday success stories.”
- Publish seasonal blogs. Examples:
- “How to Stress Less This Holiday Season with [Your Service]”
- “Top 5 Holiday Gift Ideas for [Your Audience]”
- Run an email campaign. Schedule a 3–4 email sequence with holiday promotions, booking reminders, or seasonal resources.
- Create urgency. Add deadlines (“Book before December 15th”) to encourage action.
Wrap-Up
The holidays bring opportunity—but only if your website is ready to capture it. A fast, clear, and optimized website ensures you’re not losing clients at the exact moment demand is highest.
By following these holiday website prep steps—auditing speed, refreshing messaging, optimizing SEO, preparing for traffic, and planning content
👉 Ready to get your website holiday-ready without the stress? I can help you implement these updates—or design a custom site that converts, season after season.
Book a consultation today and let’s make sure your website works harder for you this holiday season.
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Jordin Brinn is the founder and lead designer of Unica Formo — a creative studio in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in custom Showit website design and brand strategy for service-based businesses like coaches, consultants, therapists, creatives, and wellness professionals. With over a decade of business experience, she helps clients bring strategy, clarity, and personality to their online presence.
Explore design services and free resources at unicaformo.com.
