That post-Christmas lull when the phone stops ringing quite as much? Most business owners dread it. But here's the thing: it's actually a gift.
While your competitors are watching the clock until January, you can spend a few hours getting your website in shape. The stuff you've been meaning to fix all year? Now's the time.
I'm not talking about a full redesign. I'm talking about practical updates that take an afternoon but pay off all year.
Why December Is Perfect for This
Let's be honest: during busy season, your website is the last thing on your mind. You're serving customers, handling orders, putting out fires. Who has time to update the About page?
But here's what happens when you ignore it: 75% of consumers have skipped a purchase because a website looked outdated. That's not because of missing features—it's the small stuff. Old dates. Broken links. Information that doesn't match reality anymore.
The slow season gives you breathing room to actually address these things. And when January hits and everyone's searching for local businesses to work with, you'll be ready instead of scrambling.
Update Your Hours and Contact Info
This sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many business sites still show hours from two years ago. Or have phone numbers that go to old lines.
New Year means new schedules for a lot of businesses. Now's the time to:
- Update your regular business hours
- Add any holiday closures for January
- Double-check your phone number, email, and address
- Make sure your contact form actually works (test it—send yourself a message)
Why does this matter? Because when someone can't reach you, they don't try harder. They just call your competitor. 88% of users won't come back to a site after a bad experience. A wrong phone number counts as a bad experience.
Hunt Down Broken Links
Here's a stat that surprised me: about 42% of all websites have at least one broken link. Not sketchy sites—all websites. Yours probably does too.
Broken links happen over time. Pages get deleted, you restructure your navigation, someone removes a resource you linked to. The problem is, broken links make your site look abandoned.
The SEO impact is real too: sites with broken internal links see a 21% drop in organic traffic. And if more than 1% of your links are broken, you're 30% less likely to show up on Google's first page.
The flip side? Fixing broken links can boost your rankings by up to 15%. That's a good return for an hour's work. (Want more detail on this? Check out our guide on how to tell if your website is hurting your Google rankings.)
Quick way to check: Tools like Screaming Frog (free for small sites) or the Broken Link Checker plugin can find them automatically. Or just click through your main pages manually—you'll spot the obvious ones.
Check Your Site Speed
When's the last time you loaded your own website on your phone? Not on wifi—on cellular data, like your customers do?
53% of mobile visitors will leave if your site takes longer than 3 seconds to load. That's not a suggestion—it's a cliff.
Even smaller delays hurt: conversion rates drop 4.42% with each additional second of load time. If your site takes 5 seconds instead of 2, you might be losing 13% of potential customers to impatience alone.
How to check: Go to Google PageSpeed Insights and type in your URL. It'll score your site and tell you exactly what's slowing it down. (Want a full health check? Our 15-minute website checkup guide covers this and more.)
Common culprits:
- Images that are way bigger than they need to be
- Too many plugins or widgets you don't actually use
- Cheap shared hosting that gets slow during peak times
- Videos that autoplay when the page loads
You might not be able to fix all of these yourself—some require technical know-how. But at least you'll know what the problem is.
Update Your Copyright Year (and Other Dead Giveaways)
Small thing, big impact: nearly a third of websites still show last year's copyright date well into January.
Legally, it doesn't matter much. But psychologically? Visitors notice. A "© 2023" in your footer sends the message: "This site hasn't been touched in years. Is this business even still open?"
Other small things that scream "outdated":
- Blog posts with dates from years ago (and nothing recent)
- References to "coming soon" features that never came
- Team photos of people who don't work there anymore
- Testimonials with no dates (they look fake even when they're real)
- Holiday promotions from last year still on the homepage
These are quick fixes. 30 minutes, tops. But they make a real difference in whether people trust you enough to call.
Refresh Your Main Photos
Look at your homepage. Is that photo from when you first opened? Is it showing products or services you don't even offer anymore?
75% of users judge your credibility based on your website design—and photos are a huge part of that first impression.
You don't need a professional photoshoot. Just:
- Take some new photos on your phone (natural light helps)
- Show your actual current space, products, or team
- Make sure the images are clear and not blurry
- Remove any photos with outdated branding or signage
Authentic and current beats polished and old.
Review Your Services and Pricing
If your prices changed this year (and whose didn't?), is your website updated?
Outdated pricing causes problems both ways. If it's too low, you're setting wrong expectations. If it's too high, you might be scaring people off before they call.
Same with your service list. Added anything new? Stopped offering something? Make sure your website reflects what you actually do right now, not what you did when you built the site.
This is also a good time to think about your service descriptions. Are they clear? Do they answer the questions people actually ask? If you're getting the same question over and over from prospects, consider adding that info to your site.
Make a Plan for 2026
Maybe you've realized during this review that your site needs more than just a few updates. That's okay—but don't let "overwhelm" turn into "ignore."
Research shows that the average website needs a significant refresh every 2-3 years just to keep up with changing expectations and technology. If it's been longer than that for you, a full redesign might be worth considering. (If procrastination has kept you from updating, you're not alone.)
For now, write down what you noticed:
- What's working well?
- What's outdated or broken?
- What do you wish your site could do that it can't?
- What complaints or questions do customers bring to you that your site should answer?
Having this list ready makes it much easier to talk to a designer later—or to tackle improvements yourself over the coming months.
The Quick Version: Your End-of-Year Checklist
Here's everything in one list you can work through:
- Hours & contact info: Are they current? Do they work?
- Broken links: Click through your main pages or use a checker tool
- Site speed: Test with PageSpeed Insights, especially on mobile
- Copyright year: Update the footer for 2026
- Photos: Current and clear?
- Services & pricing: Does it match what you actually offer?
- Old promotions: Remove any seasonal content from last year
- Blog dates: At least remove obviously outdated posts
You don't have to do everything today. Pick 2-3 things and knock them out. Even that puts you ahead of most of your competitors.
What YouGrow Does Differently
Not everyone wants to spend their quiet season fighting with their website. I get it—you went into business to do what you're good at, not to become a web developer.
That's exactly why we built YouGrow. For $79/month, we handle all of this for you:
- Need hours updated? Email us.
- Broken links? We fix them proactively.
- Slow site? Our sites are built fast from the start—they load instantly and rank better.
- Copyright year? Updates automatically.
- New photos or pricing? Send them over, done within a day.
- Design getting stale? We include a complimentary refresh every 3 years with our Everfresh Guarantee.
No logging in. No figuring it out yourself. No annual "maybe I should look at my website" guilt. Your site goes live in days, not months, and you can cancel anytime—month-to-month, no contract.
We're based right here in Arroyo Grande. When you call 805-439-6288, you get a real person who knows your business. And as a founding member, you get $0 setup fee and lock in $79/month for life.
If you've been putting off website updates because you just don't have time for it, get your website built and managed for you. Take "fix the website" off your 2026 to-do list for good.