Each year, more and more consumers go online to complete their holiday shopping. Creating a bit more festive website is just one way to attract some of that extra business this year. An estimated 73% of shoppers either chose to visit a new store for their shopping needs or went online to seek out new retailers. This means you can easily attract new customers during the time between Black Friday and Christmas. As that traffic lands on your page, you want them in the mood to shop and prepare for the holiday.
There are a number of ways to make a festive website during this time. You don’t have to spend a fortune to get there. Similar to the different ways people decorate their homes for the holidays, you can either go all out or add just a few little touches. You can spend a lot or just a little. Make your site look like Santa’s sleigh crashed into it. You could also choose a minimalistic approach.
1. Add a Festive Theme to Your Sales
One way to add a merry touch to your website is to give your sales promotions unique names. You could also addholiday-specific photos to the slider on your home page or at the top of individual product categories. Think about the types of sales you typically offer. Try to figure out how to work in festive themes or sayings and songs into the names of the sales.
One site that does this really well while still keeping the humor they always have about their products is Duluth Trading. They take Christmas words that are well known, such as “merry gentlemen” or “chestnuts” and add them to their sales captions in their landing page slider. They create a festive website that screams “holidays!”
2. Dress Up Your Logo
If you’ve visited Google from time to time, you’ve probably noticed that they regularly change their logo to reflect the holiday and all sorts of special occasions. You can do something similar on your website, adding a wreath to the top of one of your letters or even draping a Santa hat from one corner. Think about how you can keep your current logo but dress it up for the season and create a festive website.
3. Make It Snow
A fun way to add a fun winter touch is to make it snow on your website. However, you don’t want the special effect to take over or bog down browsers, so it is probably best to limit it to one page, or one section of the page.
One example of this can be on Kirkland’s website. They have a black bar across the top of the home page (and sub-pages), and snowflakes gently fall in that area only. This gives a festive website touch for the holidays without distracting visitors from the products and sales.
4. New Website Theme
Another option is to include an entirely different theme for the holidays. For example, you could temporarily switch your site to a gift-wrapped present theme from the day after Thanksgiving until the day after Christmas. After the holidays, you simply switch back to your typical design. This can be an opportunity to try out different looks for your website and see how effective the changes are with customers. You may even want to keep some of them throughout the year but without the season-specific elements.
5. Feature Holiday Products
One smart way to dress up your website for the holidays and make it a more festive website is to feature products that are holiday-specific. Another idea is to group products into categories, such as a list of gifts for under $20, gadgets your guy will love or presents for your best friend. This gives you a chance to show customers that you can meet all their gift-giving needs no matter what time of year it is.
Take a look at how Hallmark does this and see how you can imitate their tactic on your website. Their store has a lot of holiday-specific items, from ornaments to glassware. They not only feature many of these products but also point out that they are great for last minute gifts.
6. Switch Up the Colors
What if you don’t sell any holiday-specific items? Perhaps you offer a single service, for example. If you want a more subtle effect, you can always keep everything on your site just as it is and simply change a few colors to make things more festive. Turn the background to a red and green plaid with a big bow at the top left corner. Make the headings Christmas green. There are many small and subtle things you can do to make a more festive website without going overboard and changing the personality of your brand.
7. Countdown the Days
A lot of people get really excited about Christmas, especially the closer the holiday gets. One way to get in on this excitement is to add a countdown clock to your website. This might say “X Days Until Christmas” or “Only X Shopping Days Left.” No matter how you decide to word it, people will likely appreciate the reminder and will be well aware that you are a big fan of the holiday yourself.
You might even want to add in some holiday festivities they can take part in on your website. This can range from special sales to guest appearances by celebrities to tips on how to do anything from wrapping a present perfectly to making reindeer food. Think outside the box and try to figure out what your particular audience would enjoy learning more about.
Making a more festive website doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money. As mentioned above, small touches can have a big impact. Be sure to send an email out and let your subscribers know how you’re celebrating on your website so they can join in and share with others!
About The Author
Eleanor Hecks is the Editor-in-Chief of Designerly Magazine, an online publication dedicated to providing in-depth content from the design and marketing industries. When she's not designing or writing code, you can find her re-reading the Harry Potter series, burning calories at a local Zumba class, or hanging out with her dogs, Bear and Lucy.
