How to Make Your Business Website Ready for Summer Vacation

Summer is a hot time of year for business owners. Vacations are planned down to the last detail to make sure your time away is everything you want and need to get a real break. But what about making plans to ensure your business website is ready for that summer vacation? 


Chamber member Spring Insight, a digital strategy firm here in Bethesda, has all the tips you need to make sure that your business website is ready for your vacation. Taking steps to ensure your website is vacation ready will help you really relax and get away from it all. Most importantly of all? These tips will ensure that your clients can continue engaging with your business and have their needs met, even when you are miles away soaking in the sun. 

In this article, the experts at Spring Insight will share:

• How to make your homepage ready for summer vacation
  
• What to do to make sure your clients can communicate with your business while you are away
  
• Why automation or outsourcing may be the best option for your business in the summer
  

How to Make your Homepage Ready for Summer Vacation

Your website is frequently the first place your clients will go to make contact with you. And if your information is outdated, your business is at risk for losing connections with those clients, which ultimately affects your bottom line. 

Make your homepage vacation ready in three simple steps. 

1. Seasonal Offers: If your business is affected by seasonal dips in the summer, special promotions should be clearly displayed and offered right on your home page. Don’t forget to add a clear call to action with a super simple way for your customers to buy.
   
2. Summer Hours or Changes to Your Availability: Summer hours are increasing in popularity, especially in light of the Great Resignation and workforce demands for greater flexibility. If you want to bring this stack of benefits to your team (including yourself!) make sure the homepage of your website clearly communicates this change. 
   

For a more in depth look at homepage considerations, including what to do when you get back from vacation, check out the article Spring Insight wrote about that here. 

Prepare for Client Communication Channels in the Summer

You will want to make sure that every visitor who wants to engage with your business can do so easily and satisfactorily this summer, no matter where you are or what you are doing. Spring Insight has two recommendations to help. 

1. Vacation ready your website’s contact form: Most business websites have a contact form that sends gathered information to a dedicated email address. This is set up on the back end of your website. Decide who will receive those emails and explain how you’d like each type of communication handled in your absence. 
   
2. Delegate live contact responsibilities: If you have a physical office space, a live chat feature on your website, or a business phone number, someone needs to be responsible for answering that phone and greeting those potential clients. Delegate these roles explicitly and ensure that your team member understands what you expect of them. 
   

For more information on these important communication considerations, check out an article that Spring Insight that gets into the topic at a deeper level. 

Consider Automation or Outsourcing 

Small businesses have to stay connected to their clients to maintain revenues or, better yet, grow them. Business owners can benefit greatly from automation or outsourcing of critical communication channels. You may want to consider automating or outsourcing your email, newsletter, and social media communications.

1. Automation: To keep communication touchpoints current and consistent, you need to plan in advance how you will keep them going while you are away. Many platforms include automation features that make this task much easier to achieve. You will have to spend some time in advance writing and scheduling your content, of course, but automation makes it possible for that content to be delivered at the time you want it sent without your direct involvement. 
   
2. Outsourcing: Business owners who choose to outsource their communication tasks need to choose carefully! You want to work with someone who really understands your business and what you are trying to accomplish. Outsource this critical business component to an established, trusted, competent partner.
   

Spring Insight understands that business owners need partners they can rely on to keep their businesses running effectively no matter what. To learn more about outsourcing and automation, click here.  

Need help staying in touch with your clients this summer? Get in touch with Spring Insight. They are an established web development and marketing strategy firm, who are proud Chamber members in Bethesda!