For store owners, small businesses and creatives
Your holiday website refresh, sorted by how much time is left.
What you can change depends on how close the date is. Here is an honest guide, from weeks out down to the day itself.
- By urgency
- Safe changes first
- Five platforms
Tools we work with
Shopify
Squarespace
WordPress
Elementor
Showit too. Product names and logos belong to their owners and are shown to describe the platforms we work on.
The honest version
The closer the date, the less you should change.
This season: Thanksgiving is Thu 26 Nov, Black Friday Fri 27 Nov, Small Business Saturday Sat 28 Nov, Cyber Monday Mon 30 Nov, Giving Tuesday Tue 1 Dec and Christmas Fri 25 Dec.
Everything that makes a site feel fresh can be done early. Everything that can break a site should be finished early. The timeline below sorts the work by how much time you have left.
- Refresh early, test a week out
- Small, reversible changes near the date
- Nothing on the day itself
- Take a backup before every change
Timeline
What to do, by how much time you have.
3 or more weeks out
Refresh pages, update imagery, build a gift guide, tidy product photos and rewrite descriptions. This is the time for real work.
1 to 2 weeks out
Banners, sale pages, offer copy and shipping cut-off dates. Then place a test order and check the site on your phone.
48 hours out
Text and image swaps and your announcement bar only. No new apps, plugins or themes, and no checkout changes.
On the day
Do not touch it. Watch your orders and messages, and fix only what is truly broken.
Plenty of timeWeeks out
Refresh while there is time to check.
With three weeks or more, you can do the work that makes a site feel ready for the season. Changes at this stage can be tested and corrected.
- Update the home page and key landing pages
- Swap in seasonal photos and product images
- Build a gift guide or a featured collection
- Rewrite product descriptions that are thin or out of date
- Check that links and forms still work
Platform tips are on our pages for Shopify, Squarespace, WordPress, Showit and Elementor.
Test itOne to two weeks out
Sales, banners and cut-off dates.
This is the window for the content that tells customers what is on offer. Keep it simple, and test it.
- Add a sale or offer page and a clear banner
- Write the offer copy, with the real end date
- State shipping cut-offs for Christmas orders
- Place a test order from start to finish
- Back up the site before you publish
For the biggest sale of the year, see our Black Friday website help page. Shopify documents how to place a test order.
The last days
48 hours out, and on the day.
Small and safe, then hands off.
Safe at 48 hours
Text edits, image swaps, an announcement bar message and a corrected price shown on a page.
Not at 48 hours
New apps, plugin or theme changes, layout rebuilds, and anything that touches checkout or payments.
On the day
Leave it alone. If something is broken, fix that one thing, and nothing else.
Straight answersA calmer way
Say what you need, and we tell you what is realistic.
Send a request with your platform, your date and what you would like changed. We reply with what is realistic before your date, and a date before we start. If we are full, we say so, so you can plan around it.
- Tell us the platform and the date
- We say what is realistic
- You get a date before we start
- If we are full, we tell you
An owner-led studio
Kruti runs delivery, and answers messages.
Kruti runs delivery and answers messages. When you write in, she is the person who gets back to you with what can be done.
We are a small, owner-led studio working on Shopify, Squarespace, WordPress, Showit and Elementor.
What clients say
In their words.
It has been a pleasure working with Fryloop for the past three years at Voltage Studio. They have consistently delivered exceptional work on even our most challenging projects, showing incredible dedication, skill, and adaptability. Their problem-solving abilities and professionalism make them an invaluable part of our team.
I wanted to take a moment to thank Fryloop for their outstanding work on the RNB Sports & Music website. Throughout the process, their professionalism, attention to detail, and technical expertise truly stood out. They handled all aspects of the project with great skill, from the initial design stages to the final implementation.
Read more
Related guides.
FAQ
Questions about last-minute changes.
What can I still change two days before a sale?
Should I redesign my site just before the holidays?
What should I test before the busy days?
Why should I not touch my site on the day?
Can you help if I am short of time?
Which platforms do you work on?
Start with a message
Tell us what you need before your date.
Send a request or book a time that suits you.
Book a call
Book a time that suits you, any day.
Thirty minutes about your site and your date. No pitch, no pressure.
Prefer to write? hello@fryloop.com or the contact form. We sign an NDA before any detailed discussion.