This small business website checklist will help you get ready for what could be the best holiday season yet. According to the 2026 Intuit QuickBooks holiday shopping survey, consumers plan to spend about $278 billion this season, and around $118 billion of that is expected to go to small businesses. That would be a record and an 8.3% increase over last year. The same survey found that 89% of shoppers say it is important to support small businesses over big retailers.
The opportunity is real, but shoppers will only buy from you if they can find you and if your website makes buying easy. Black Friday falls on November 27 this year, Small Business Saturday on November 28 and Cyber Monday on November 30. That leaves about five weeks to get ready, so now is the right time to work through each step.
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Why You Need a Small Business Website Checklist This Season
The holiday rush leaves very little time to fix problems. A slow page, a broken checkout or wrong opening hours can cost you sales on the busiest days of the year, and most owners only notice when customers complain. A simple small business website checklist lets you find and fix those issues before the traffic arrives, while you still have time to test everything calmly.
The 7-Step Small Business Website Checklist for Black Friday
1. Test your website on a phone
Most holiday shoppers browse on their phones. Open your website on your own phone and try to do what a customer would do: find a product or service, add it to the cart, book an appointment or send a message. If any step is slow or confusing, fix it now. Check that text is easy to read without zooming, that buttons are large enough to tap and that pop-ups do not cover the page.
2. Make checkout fast and flexible
Every extra step in checkout loses buyers. Offer guest checkout, keep forms short and accept the payment methods your customers use, such as cards, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Younger shoppers also use Buy Now, Pay Later more often: in the QuickBooks survey, 21% of Gen Z and 24% of Millennials said they plan to use it this season.
3. Be clear about shipping and pickup
The survey found that 41% of shoppers expect higher shipping and delivery costs this year. Surprise fees at checkout are one of the top reasons people abandon a cart. Show your shipping costs, delivery times and last order dates for holiday delivery clearly on your product pages. If you offer local pickup, say so on every product page and at checkout.
4. Promote what makes you different
Shoppers told the survey that they choose small businesses for unique gifts (47%), to support their community (46%) and for better customer service (38%). Put those strengths on your homepage. Show your best products, tell your story and make it easy to contact a real person by phone, chat or email.
5. Connect your website to social media
Social platforms are becoming a real sales channel. In the survey, 23% of shoppers said they would most likely buy from a small business online through social media, up from 16% in 2024. Link your social profiles to your store, share your holiday offers there, and make sure every post leads to a page where people can buy or book.
6. Prepare your website for extra traffic
A website that crashes on Black Friday costs you sales and trust. Check that your hosting can handle a traffic spike, update your plugins and security tools, and make a full backup before the season starts. These are small tasks, but they prevent the most stressful problems of the year.
7. Update your Google Business Profile
Add your holiday hours, post your offers and upload fresh photos. Many shoppers check Google before they visit a store, and correct holiday hours prevent wasted trips and bad reviews. More shoppers are also using AI tools to find gifts, so read our guide on how small businesses can get found in Google AI Mode.
Do Not Have an Online Store Yet?
There is still time. SMARTSYTES builds complete online stores with cart, checkout, Stripe and PayPal payments, and mobile-friendly design. Our ecommerce packages start at $999 for a Basic Store with up to 50 products, delivered in about 10 business days. Our Growth Store ($1,599) adds coupons, a wishlist, advanced filters and multiple payment gateways, which are useful features for holiday promotions. To compare all your options, see how much a website costs.
Quick Recap: Your Holiday To-Do List
Here is the small business website checklist in one place, so you can work through it this week: test every page on a phone, shorten your checkout and add the payment methods your customers use, publish clear shipping costs and last order dates, highlight what makes your business special, link your store to your social media profiles, update your plugins and make a full backup, and add your holiday hours to your Google Business Profile.
Try to finish the most important steps at least one week before Black Friday. That gives you time to fix anything you find and to test your website again. After the holidays, look at your sales, traffic and customer questions, and write down what worked. Those notes will make next year’s small business website checklist even easier.
Small Business Website Checklist: Frequently Asked Questions
When should I start preparing my website for the holidays?
As early as possible. The QuickBooks survey found that 67% of small businesses had started preparing by September. If you have not started yet, begin with the steps that affect sales the most: mobile testing, checkout and shipping information.
Can I complete this checklist myself?
Many steps, such as testing on a phone and updating your Google Business Profile, are easy to do yourself. Technical tasks such as backups, plugin updates and hosting checks are safer with professional help, especially right before your busiest season.
Is it too late to build an online store before Black Friday?
Not if you start now. A basic online store can be ready in about 10 business days, which still leaves time to add products and test everything before November 27.
Get Your Website Holiday-Ready
We design websites for businesses all over North Texas, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco, McKinney, Denton and Aubrey. Each city page explains how we can help local businesses there, and our SEO services in North Texas can help your new website get found.
SMARTSYTES is a web design, hosting and digital marketing company based at 1404 W Walnut Hill Ln, Suite 118, in Irving, Texas, and we work with businesses across the United States. If you want us to go through this small business website checklist with you before the holiday rush, or you need a new online store in time for Black Friday, contact us, call +1 682 347 6026, or email info@smartsytes.com.
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