Decorate your website for the holidays

We decorate our homes for the holidays. We decorate our offices and stores, too. But the question is: are you also decorating your online place of business, i.e., your website?

Every year businesses have tried to do something to acknowledge the Holiday season. We've seen holiday images in posts, some add ”Christmas lights” along the top of the site or sidebar while others have created special holiday messages and holiday-themed articles.

But this year we recommend taking a page out of Google’s book and actually decorate the logo. Google does this for major (and not so major) holidays each year. Here are two Google Holiday logos from years past:





Yahoo also has a history of decorating its logo. Here is a Yahoo Christmas logo from 2006:



You may ask yourself, with all the projects planned for this year, why would I feel compelled to decorate the website, of all things? One answer to this question comes from no less an authority than Jakob Nielsen, the website usability guru. On the topic of decorating websites for holidays, Nielsen notes:

There are two main reasons for websites to recognize holidays and special events, and both reasons fall under the same general category: To respect users as human beings, rather than simply as “eyeballs” or a source of e-commerce transactions. Commemorating special events is a way for websites to connect to users and be seen as welcoming environments, rather than places focused solely on money grubbing.

More specifically, the first reason for a website to commemorate a holiday or special occasion is to appear current and up-to-date. Major holidays and special events are important to users, and they constantly see these special days reflected in the physical decor of their surroundings. A website that doesn’t reflect what’s currently topical and important to users will feel out of touch. Worse, it might feel stale, and users might think it’s outdated in other respects as well.

The second reason for a website to feature holiday or event decorations is to increase joy of use. Even simple ornamentations like a Christmas wreath, a Valentine’s heart, or a soccer ball can create a small moment of happiness for users as they’re reminded of the greater happiness the holiday or special occasion brings. A user might be engaged in the dreary task of researching “enterprise solutions,” for example, and be reminded that it’s Christmas and a happy time of year.

We also recommend adding a video holiday greeter, email andy@themediazoo.com for more details.