Overcoming The Holiday Traffic: How to Prepare Your Online Store

Most brick-and-mortar stores gear up for the holidays by donning their storefronts in the holiday cheer, with figures of Santa Claus and boughs of holly to greet the festive customers. An eCommerce website may not need much preparation, but the anticipation of a sudden surge in visitors can pose a problem. 

The holiday rush translates well into the online world, and those businesses that do not prepare properly will be suffering from website crashes, slow loading times, and problematic checkout processes. As a result, customers abandon their carts—any semblance of inconvenience is never a good sign, so you risk sending them away to your competitors instead. 

Thankfully, there is a way to ensure that your online business store remains at its best performance. To ensure that you can make the most of the holiday season, here are some crucial things to take into account:

Embrace the holiday rush—avoid all risks of downtime 

A little downtime may not seem harmful, but a website going offline during peak shopping hours will cause your consumers to turn away. They’ll leave their carts and your brand, seeking business elsewhere. Downtime can happen through traffic overload, especially when a large volume of users access your website at the same time. Hardware failure can also occur, which can mostly happen through overheating. 

The plan: Double check your hardware and gears, ensuring that they are well-maintained and strong enough to handle 24/7 processes. Also make sure to check your web hosting plan, just to ensure that your host is fully prepared for possible downtime. Your plan should consist of offline protection, which ensures that your website never suffers sudden downtime. 

Keep your customers jolly and bright—make sure your website pages load quickly 

The characteristics of a good website include quality content and well-designed features, but in an age of instant gratification, users value fast loading times. You’ll want to capture prospects with your speed time, as this will compel them to stay in your shop for longer periods, ultimately ending in sales. 

This is especially important during the holidays, since people are eager to get their gift lists over with. That said, make sure to prepare well by ensuring that your page speed is up to date. Your images and videos also need to be present and optimized, adding value to the overall customer experience.

The plan: Optimize your content to ensure better loading speeds. It’s also best to continuously check your shop’s speed performance, especially as the holidays approach. You may want to improve performances before heavy traffic sets in, whether through a host service upgrade, cache configuration, or other necessary efforts. 

When is the best time to prepare?

Although the idea of dealing with possible crashing websites and unhappy customers can be daunting, the best news is that preparation can never be too early. Make sure to pursue changes as early as possible, as this will provide you with ample time and opportunity to test out every change. 

In doing so, you ensure that your website’s performance remains highly refined, helping you beat the holiday doom of traffic surges and abandoned carts. 

Entrusting Your Online Business With The Best Web Hosting Services 

As you welcome the holiday cheer and laughter, make sure that your website is up to date. You’ll want your promotions and efforts all year to pay off, so keep your site fast, reliable, and above all, profitable. It’s best to upgrade your website as soon as possible, so never hesitate to look for a new and better hosting platform. 

VPS hosting (virtual private server), for instance, can allow you to enjoy a better and quality service. It’s a dedicated server that allows you to enjoy your own operating system and resources, making sure that your business remains safe and reliable—IO Zoom offers you the best on the market. 

We are a privately owned company in the United States, dedicated to helping businesses grow with affordable prices, convenient servers, and excellent service. Reach out to us today!