1. Test your site early and often.
Plan ahead to make sure your site can handle the holiday shopping frenzy.
2. Test the integrity of your content.
Check for misspelled words, broken links, busted pictures, etc. An unprofessional appearance may lead to a
bad customer experience and kill your chances to sell online.
3. Make sure images load quickly.
A slow-loading page may simply drive customers away to click on to the next site. You want to minimize page
download time.
4. Make sure you’re up to snuff on patches.
Install, verify, test and lock down all patches and upgrades now, before the season gets too busy.
5. "Load test" your site.
You’re expecting (or at least hoping for) a rush of customers. So it’s a good idea to determine how much
traffic your Web site can support. You can’t sell online if customers can’t reach your site.
6. Create sample transactions.
These can simulate expected customer traffic and Web transactions. By running "synthetic" transactions
periodically - say, every five to 15 minutes – you’ll know there’s a problem before your customers do.
7. Check the performance of your network provider.
You can do this by looking at a site that’s similar to yours and in your area, but connected to another network.
In a fiercely competitive business, every second matters.
8. Add cross-sell and up-sell opportunities throughout your site.
This means, for example, suggesting table linens on the dinnerware, silverware and glassware pages. Offer Top
Gift Suggestions or Best-Sellers to improve sales and drive impulse purchases. More buying choices means
more chances to sell online.
9. Make your policies easy to find and provide customer service contact details for a real person.
Providing an easy-to-find phone number on the site helps online shoppers feel more secure and increases your
chance to sell online. Clearly state your company’s return policy. Remind customers of the last possible day to
order and receive a product in time for the holidays.
10. Make your search function more effective.
Your search function should accommodate common misspellings by returning similarly spelled items or your
site’s most popular search terms.
11. Get your back office in order.
Increased online shopping traffic can expose small business operational errors caused when the front and
back office systems aren’t integrated. Common mistakes include shipping the wrong items, not shipping an
order at all, shipping partial orders or charging incorrect prices. These errors can reduce profit and result in
declining customer satisfaction. By connecting front and back office systems, you are better prepared to
survive spikes in sales while increasing productivity and profitability.

Blog Classroom

If you’ve got 10 minutes, great, you’ve got the time to start getting instant traffic using a blog.
Before you even start getting afraid of the word ‘blog’ and start thinking that it’s something technical, I want to clear up the misunderstanding right now.

A “blog” is actually the EASIEST way to start a website - even easier than putting up an opt-in page.
There are actually free software that will let you automatically install a blog within 3 easy steps…
But the real trick after that is getting traffic and maintaining the blog.

What if I told you can do that in about 10 minutes a day too (once you get the process down)…
Two very well respected marketers, Anik Singal and Rosalind Gardner have finally released a training program which I think is the easiest way ANYONE can started online -

Blog Classroom.
Their entire goal is to teach you how you can get everything you need set-up in just minutes and then even MAINTAIN it in just minutes a day.