Is Your Website Christmas-Ready? Checks to Help Sales

by | Oct 31, 2026 | Marketing, Online Store, Small Business, Web Design, WordPress

Christmas is a bad time to find out your website is costing you sales.

You could be spending money on ads, getting traffic from Google and pushing Christmas offers on social media, but the checkout won’t go through, the quote form goes nowhere, or your opening hours are still wrong. As a Hawkesbury website builder, these are the sorts of things making it easier for potential customers to buy somewhere else during Christmas rush. You don’t need to rebuild the whole site to fix them. Start with the problems that could cost you a sale, and here’s where I’d look first.

1. Can Customers Actually Buy From You?

If you run an online store, place a test order. Check product options, delivery costs, checkout, payment and order confirmation. Don’t assume everything works just because the pages load.

For service businesses, submit your own contact form and check that the enquiry reaches the right inbox. A form that says “Thank you” but never delivers the message is costing you potential work.

Then look at the buying process from the customer’s point of view.

  • Can they find the product or service they’re looking for?
  • Is the price or quote process clear?
  • Do they understand what happens next?
  • Can they contact you if they have a question?
  • Is anything making the process harder than it needs to be?

If you’re getting visitors but not many enquiries or sales, don’t immediately assume you need more traffic. The problem could be on the website itself. If something’s getting in the way of a sale, our WooCommerce and online store services are worth a look.

2. Check Your Website on a Mobile Phone

I wouldn’t judge a website by how it looks on my desktop. I’d pick up my phone and use it as a customer would.

Can someone find your phone number without hunting for it? Are the buttons easy to tap? Can they read your main offer, fill in a form or complete a purchase without fighting with the keyboard? These details matter because customers don’t care how clever your website looks if they can’t use it.

Pay particular attention to your homepage, best-selling products, key service pages and contact or checkout process. Check that the text is readable, the layout fits the screen and the important buttons are easy to use before spending time adjusting minor design details.

Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check mobile and desktop performance. It can highlight loading issues and Core Web Vitals problems, but don’t assume every warning needs fixing or that a high score guarantees better rankings. Large images, unnecessary scripts, plugins and hosting limitations can all affect speed. Find the cause before deciding on the fix.

If the problems run deeper than a few adjustments, our web design services can help you work out whether your existing website needs targeted improvements or a more substantial rebuild.

3. Give Customers a Clear Reason to Buy Before Christmas

Christmas visitors often have a specific job to do. Someone looking for a gift wants to know what’s available, what it costs and whether it’ll arrive in time. Someone booking a service wants to know what you do and if the business is available before the holidays.

Don’t make them hunt for answers.
If you’re selling products, put your Christmas offers and gift ideas together. Make sure product descriptions, prices, stock availability and delivery information are accurate.

If you run a service business, spell out what customers can book before Christmas. Make your availability clear, publish your holiday trading hours rather than leaving people guessing.

A Christmas landing page is worth building when it gives customers a better way to find a seasonal offer or service. It should answer the customer’s questions and direct them towards a clear action, not just add tinsel to your homepage. One last thing: don’t promise Christmas delivery unless you can meet the deadline. Set a realistic cut-off date and explain what happens after it.

4. Don’t Assume More Traffic Will Fix Poor Sales

It’s tempting to spend more on advertising or chase higher Google rankings when sales are slow. Sometimes that is the right move. But first, check what happens after someone clicks through to your website. As a website builder, I look at whether the page gives people enough information to take the next step. Can they see what you’re selling, understand what they get and work out how to buy or enquire without having to chase you for basic details? For an online store, that means clear product descriptions, sizing, specifications, compatibility and delivery information. For a service business, explain what you do, who you help, what’s included and how to request a quote. This is where conversion improvements and SEO work together. SEO helps people find your website; a well-built page gives them a reason to stay, trust your business and take action.

5. Check Your Christmas SEO Before It’s Too Late

Christmas SEO is easier to tackle before the rush. Leave it until December, and you might not give Google enough time to discover your updates before customers start searching. Start with the pages you already have. Check that page titles, descriptions, headings, internal links and product information are accurate. Fix broken links, remove expired offers and make sure your important pages can be indexed. Then look at what customers need to find. Selling products? Make your Christmas gift collections and product pages easy to discover. Running a local service business? Make your holiday hours, booking deadlines and availability clear. Don’t create a pile of nearly identical pages just to target different versions of a Christmas keyword. You need useful pages that answer real customer questions and make it easy to buy, book or get in touch. Want to improve your search visibility beyond Christmas? See how our search engine optimisation service can help your website attract the right people. For an online store, that means clear product descriptions, sizing, specifications, compatibility and delivery information. For a service business, explain what you do, who you help, what’s included and how to request a quote. This is where conversion improvements and SEO work together. SEO helps people find your website; a well-built page gives them a reason to stay, trust your business and take action.

6. Make Sure Your Website Is Maintained Properly

The last thing you need over Christmas is a website that stops working when customers are trying to buy from you or send an enquiry. If your website runs on WordPress, make sure the core software, themes and plugins are up to date. Check that your backups are running and that you know how to restore the website if something goes wrong. Don’t update everything on your live website without a plan, particularly when you’re approaching a busy trading period. Updates can occasionally cause compatibility issues. Back up first, test important functions afterwards and use a staging environment for significant changes where possible. You should also check your SSL certificate, review administrator access and remove unused plugins or themes where appropriate. The point isn’t to spend Christmas worrying about your website. You just need to know your website is being looked after. At Fun Serious, Ben looks after the technical side so business owners can get on with running their businesses. Our Website Protection Plan covers regular WordPress updates, compatibility checks, security monitoring and website health checks.

7. Check Delivery Dates, Opening Hours and Contact Details

Christmas is a busy time for your website. The last thing you want is a customer ordering something that won’t arrive in time, turning up when you’re closed or sending an enquiry that never gets answered. If you sell online, check your delivery costs, dispatch times, Christmas order cut-off dates and returns policy. Confirm dates with your couriers rather than relying on last year’s information. If you run a service business, update your Christmas and New Year opening hours. Let customers know when you’re available, whether bookings are limited and when you’ll be back if you’re taking a break. While you’re at it, test your phone number, email links, contact forms and order confirmation emails. A form that looks fine on the page is no good if the enquiry never reaches you. Put important information where customers will see it.

8. Know What You’ll Do If Something Goes Wrong

Your website can be running perfectly today and stop working tomorrow. A faulty update, hosting outage or broken checkout can cost you enquiries and sales, especially when your usual support is away for Christmas. Before you close up for the holidays, know who looks after your website, how to contact them and whether support is available over the break. For an online store, consider what you’d do if checkout stopped working. For a service business, know how customers can contact you if your main enquiry form becomes unavailable. Keep your backup arrangements current and make sure access details are stored securely. If you depend on your website to generate revenue, a recovery plan is part of running the business. You don’t need a complicated disaster plan. You need to know who to call, how to recover your website and how customers can still reach your business.

Need a Hand Getting Your Website Ready for Christmas?

At Fun Serious Creative Agency, I build and look after websites for businesses that need them to work properly, not just look good.

Depending on what’s holding your website back, I can help with:

  • Web design: when your website no longer explains your business properly or makes it difficult for customers to take the next step.
  • WooCommerce and online stores: when you need a better way to sell products and manage online orders.
  • SEO: when the right customers aren’t finding your products or services through search.
  • Website Protection Plan: when updates, backups, security and ongoing technical care need attention.

You may not need all of these. The sensible place to start is with the problem that’s affecting your website now.

Get your website checked before Christmas. That way, when customers are ready to buy or enquire, your website is ready to do its part. Because when the Christmas rush arrives, you want to be looking after your customers, not discovering that your website has been letting them down.