The holiday season brings with it the need to change your website design around a bit in order to attract holiday shoppers. While there is no “one size fits all” approach to creating a successful holiday website design, the following ideas can help you create inspired website pages that will make people want what you have to offer.

Special Offers Header

Your website header is not only highly visible but also easy to change at will. Given this fact, it is not surprising that many ecommerce website use it to promote special holiday deals, discounts and offers. What type of offer you put up on your header will naturally depend on the nature of your business but here are some ideas you may want to consider:

  • Discounts on certain items
  • Buy one, get one free types of offers
  • Free shipping on orders over a certain amount, or free shipping regardless of order size
  • Extended warranties for certain products

Headers advertising certain products should have pictures of these products so people can see exactly what you are offering. If the discounts are time-limited then display this information prominently. Creating a limited time offer often motivates people to immediately buy from you instead of looking elsewhere first.

The Elegant Holiday Website Design

The elegant holiday website design uses a few simple yet classy holiday decorations to create a festive ambiance. Tiffany's online jewelry store successfully used this principle by placing a simple red ribbon behind a diamond ring in a gift box. The effect was outstanding yet not at all hard to achieve. Other websites have successfully created an elegant Christmas setting using red, gold or silver baubles in the background.

An elegant design isn't for everyone but it can be ideal for upscale online retailers, hotels, restaurants and other venues. Consider your target audience to determine if a touch of elegance is all that is needed to bring holiday cheer to your customers.

Gift Guides and Editors' Picks

It's always a challenge to choose holiday gifts, especially if you are giving gifts to people you don't know well or haven't known for a long time. That is why many online sellers create gift guides or editors' picks articles with gift suggestions for certain groups of people. These types of holiday articles tend to do well on Google as they are long and contain plenty of keyword relevant to your industry. At the same time, they show your new and existing customers that you are familiar with your products and concerned about helping them find what they are looking for.

At the same time, you can increase the reach of your holiday-themed posts by promoting your gift guide or editors' picks section in your header. Include one or more images of the items that you are promoting or embed a link in the image so that people can click on your header to see the full guide. Alternatively, you can post the items you are promoting in your guide on your home page. Creating a special holiday landing page in this fashion can work well as it shows customers a variety of great ideas they may not have previously considered.

The Winter Look

The winter look is particularly successful for online retailers that sell clothing and/or sports items related to the winter season. Those who create a winter atmosphere on their homepage and other pages often use few holiday decorations; instead they use a wintery style of decor to promote the warmth, cozy feeling or fun and entertainment their products offer. If you opt for this design, make sure at least some of the products on your home page are red or green to add a Christmas feel to the website.

Important Points to Consider

Make sure that your new holiday website design is mobile-friendly. A growing number of people are using smartphones to shop and find businesses in their local area; a new design that cannot be easily viewed on a mobile device will likely do your business more harm than good.

If you plan on creating special holiday pages and articles, the time to do so is now. It can take up to a few weeks for an article to earn a good rank on Google, so don't miss out on golden opportunities by waiting too long to showcase your holiday products and/or services.

Creating a winning holiday website design can be a challenge. That is why many business owners opt to work with experienced professionals in this field. Brandgy offers not only web design services but also content creation and marketing, local SEO services and offsite marketing to enable you to reach as many people as possible this holiday season. Get in touch with us to discover how we can help your business website reach more people than ever this year.