If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you know that I am crazy about 3DCart e-commerce platform.
Back in 2014, I set up my first website on this platform and last year, I moved my largest ecommerce sites to the 3DCart platform. I continue to be delighted with the easy to use interface.
You can read my review and updates on 3DCart here:
Along with the great interface, 3DCart sends out periodic emails on marketing tips for their users.
The newest update included a pdf guide on Preparing Your Online Store for the Holiday Season.
Below are a few of their excellent tips:
Get Started Early: If you really want to get in on the online retail explosion of the holidays, you have to start preparing early on. When the first holiday shoppers visit your store in early November, you need everything ready to make an impression on them as a great place to do at least some of their gift shopping. Your online store needs to project that holiday image to any customer that views your site with their future gift recipients in mind.
Create a Marketing Plan: Your holiday marketing plan is vital, and needs to be mapped out first to help inform the rest of your preparations. Without a good multi-part marketing strategy, all the work you put in getting your store ready for the holiday season will be for naught. You need to come up with a detailed, step-by-step plan for marketing to holiday customers, and that plan needs to take everything into account.
Prepare Your Store — If your marketing goes well, your online store is going to experience a massive spike in website traffic and the customer service requests that come with it. Your store needs to be ready to handle this holiday rush, so we strongly suggest you make the following preparations.
Update Your Homepage
Optimize Your Website
Prioritize for Mobile Shopping
Redesign Your Email Templates
Optimize Your Product Photos
Upsell and Cross-Sell Your Products
Revamp Your Inventory
Revamp Your Website’s Copy
Create Call-to-Action Buttons
Strengthen Your Support TeamEmbrace the Holiday Spirit: Every single aspect of your marketing and advertising should embrace the spirit of the holidays. This includes your homepage design, email templates, Facebook cover photos, Twitter background images, and everything else you can think of.
Target Your Audience: Before you can effectively put your marketing strategy into action, you need to know who your audience is and how best to reach them. More and more people are spending time daily on social media, and it pays to invest in advertising on these platforms.
If you hurry, you still have a bit of time before the holiday rush to get your website up and going on 3DCart! Check it out here!