It's not quite Halloween, but brick-and-mortar shop owners are already thinking ahead to the holiday season — and after this Grinch of a year, the forecast may not be looking so merry and bright. Many retailers haven't had to depend on their websites for sales in the past, but this year will be different — and a little preparation can go a long way in getting your site ready to sell.

At Infomedia, we love small businesses — and we want to help. So tomorrow (Wednesday, October 28) at 10:00 a.m., we’re holding a free webinar on How to Optimize Your Ecommerce Site for the Holidays. Our speaker is Carrie Rollwagen. Carrie’s the host of the Localist, a podcast for small business owners, and she’s the co-founder of Church Street Coffee & Books in Mountain Brook — so she knows what it’s like to run a local shop. Carrie’s also our VP of Strategic Planning, so we think you’re going to love her talk. Here are a few things we’re going to cover:
User Test Your Site and Forms (for free)
This year, you need every sale you can get. Be sure your shipping is set up correctly and be sure to test everything. Get friends to walk through your site for you — user testing doesn’t have to be expensive.
Double Check Your Shipping (and consider local delivery)
Just like so many things this year, shipping looks very different during the pandemic. Mail is running more slowly, and it’s important to underpromise and overdeliver. Don’t forget to consider local delivery — it can put you ahead of the pack.
Choose Your Discount Days
Unless you know they’ll perform for you, there’s no reason to set up different discounts for Black Friday, Shop Small Saturday and Cyber Monday. We’ll talk you through the pros and cons of engaging in discount holidays.
Boost Your Traffic with Social Media and Emails
Creating the blog posts and social media needed to promote your site doesn’t have to be exhausting — seriously. We’ll talk you through reusing content in a way that works for you and your customers.
The class is free, but you’ll have to register. Click here to sign up for tomorrow’s How to Optimize Your Ecommerce Site for the Holidays webinar!