It is September 3, 2014.  That leaves us with 112 days until Christmas. However, there are only 85 days until Black Friday.  Why are the days remaining important?  Well for small business or giant retailers that means the busiest shopping season of the year is near.  Last month we talked about "Christmas in August" here on the blog.  We discussed ways to upgrade your systems for the holiday rush. Well, it is getting a little late for major upgrades for this season. So today let's focus on things you still have time for.

We have discussed the increase in e-commerce and mobile shopping in 2013. There was a 20.6 percent increase in online sales for the 2013 holiday season. How has your business prepared for the 2014 season?  If you have not had the time, money or desire to upgrade your systems by streamlining online orders, inventory management, etc at least take a look at the site you have and make sure everything is working.  Let's take some time to do a site audit to make sure small, easy fixes don't turn clients or potential clients to your competitors.  Below I have listed 7 items to check on your site.

1.  Links. Take the time to go through each page on your site, do a little website maintenance and try all the links. Make sure they are all still in working order and go to the page you intended.

2. Contact Us.  If you have a contact us form, do a test run. Make sure it's functioning without errors and that you receive it.

3. Contact Information. Take a minute to double check that all your contact information is up to date. Make this information easy to find.

4. Services. Make sure you have a clearly defined service offered section so that customers know exactly what you offer.

5. Hours of operation.  If you have a physical store or office make sure that you clearly state your hours of operation.  If you have special holiday hours, make sure they are up to date. The last thing you want to do is waste a customers time by having them come to your place of business and find you closed.

6. Images.  If you have images on your site of inventory, your store/office, employees, etc make sure all the images load correctly.

7. Special Offers. If you have offered special offers in the past and they are outdated make sure you fix this immediately.  Nothing like having an irate customer because you have an outdated discount code that is no longer available.

Basically, take the time to make sure your website is presentable even if you did not have the funds this year for a site upgrade. Your website is in many cases your first chance at making a first impression on new customers. Don't stumble on your first meeting by having outdated information or broken links. These items are quick and easy fixes. In many cases, a qualified web developer can assist you to make these changes quickly and at a modest cost if it is something you cannot do yourself.