Websites are a cornerstone to modern day marketing. Studies show over 80% of people now research products and services on the web prior to purchasing them. This holiday season those purchasers will be surfing the web in droves. Will you be ready to capture their business? Here are 5 ways you can get the most out of your website during the holidays.

1. Include a holiday graphic on your website.

One of the easiest thing you can do to show your customers you're relevant is put a holiday graphic on your website. When people see you've been keeping up your website their confidence increases and they're more likely to buy from you. Your graphics don't need to be fancy or overwhelming. A simply holiday greeting somewhere on your homepage may be enough.

2. Run specials and discounts.

Everyone knows about all the deals they can get during the holidays between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Don't miss out on the marketing hype -- make sure you run sales for these days. People love sales and doubly so when there is a reason to be having one.

3. Keep your follow up email relevant. 

Just like it's important to show people you're keeping up your website it's also important to show people you're keeping up your mailing list. Mention something about the holidays in your email so your customers know there's a real person on the other end of that email that's aware of what'g going on this time of year.

4. Crank up the advertising efforts.

The term Black Friday was originally coined to represent the day retail stores finally go into the "black". That means it's the first day of the year they turn a profit. It's not unusual for a retail store to run at break even all year until the holidays. There are more people looking in the make purchases during these times than all year long. Don't short change yourself -- make sure you're getting maximum exposure by increasing your advertising budget this time of year.

5. Make sure you have a way to take money online.

One of the nice things about a website created with WebStarts is the fact they're created for business. And because we created WebStarts for business payment acceptance is built right in. WebStarts has partnered with WePay to allow you to begin accepting Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express instantly from your website. To start  selling all you need to do is click on the Sell Products app and enter the name of your business and types of products you're selling. You can then setup your product and start accepting payment directly from your website right away.