Black Friday exposes every weakness your site has. Slow pages push customers away. A site that doesn’t work well on mobile frustrates shoppers. Ignore accessibility, and part of your audience can’t reach your deals. Publish your landing page too late, and no one finds it in time.

The good news? You can fix all of this! With a bit of prep, your site can handle the rush, convert better, and stay up while others crash. Here are five mistakes that hurt websites during Black Friday and how to avoid them.

Mistake 1: Launching your landing page too late

Most organizations launch their Black Friday landing page way too late for search engines to notice. If you publish yours the night before, by the time it gets indexed, the day is already over. Search engines need time to crawl and index new pages. If your page isn’t live early, it won’t show up when shoppers start searching for deals.

Start building your landing page three to four weeks in advance. Add a clear title, a short intro, and a bit of context about your upcoming Black Friday deals. You don’t need final details yet. Think of it as a teaser that tells visitors what to expect. This way, your page is already indexed and ready when traffic starts picking up.

Once your offers are set, prepare all promotional content in the backend. Upload banners, product images, and text ahead of time so everything is ready to go live. When everything is prepared, schedule the content to publish automatically on Black Friday. Just make sure your site’s timezone is set correctly so your page goes live at the right moment.

You can also keep a general Black Friday page live all year. Use the same URL each season and update the content when deals change. Search engines reward stable URLs, and your visitors always know where to look.

Mistake 2: Neglecting site speed

A slow site sends customers elsewhere. People won’t wait longer than a few seconds for a page to load. Site speed is even more important during Black Friday, when competition is high and patience is short. If your site feels sluggish, shoppers will simply move to a faster one.

Test your site speed before the rush starts. Use Lighthouse to check your site’s performance and see what slows it down. Lighthouse also gives clear suggestions to help you improve. Run a test for both desktop and mobile to see how your site performs under real conditions.

If your scores are low, start with the basics. Compress large images, remove unused plugins, and limit heavy animations or pop-ups. These simple fixes can make a big difference in how fast your pages load and how many customers stay.

Mistake 3: Forgetting mobile users

Most Black Friday visitors shop on their phones, but not every site is ready for it. Around 83% of visits come from mobile, yet desktop converts better. That gap shows how much room there is to improve the mobile experience. If your site is hard to use on a small screen, you will lose sales fast. Tiny buttons, long forms, or pop-ups that cover the screen drive shoppers away.

Test your site on an actual phone. Scroll through your homepage, click every button, and complete a full checkout. If it doesn’t resize well or feels slow, improve it. 

Simplify your layout and keep navigation clear. Remove distractions and make sure your buttons are large enough to tap easily. Check that pop-ups are easy to close and do not block the main content. Optimize your image sizes so pages load quickly.

Mistake 4: Ignoring accessibility

Accessibility is always important, but during Black Friday, it can set you apart. Many sites have flashy banners and quick deals, forgetting that not everyone can use their pages the same way. Making your site accessible means more people can shop with you, broadening your audience and building trust.

Start with the fundamentals. Make sure your text has strong contrast with the background, your buttons are easy to click, and your images have alt text. Add clear labels to forms and check whether you can move through your site using only a keyboard. Keep animations and pop-ups under control, since moving elements can distract visitors or interfere with assistive technology.

Accessibility doesn’t just help users with disabilities. It improves the experience for everyone.

Mistake 5: Skipping backups and updates

Many site owners forget to update their plugins or themes before the big day. Outdated software can leave your site open to bugs or security issues. Plan your updates early and make sure your WordPress core, plugins, and theme are up to date well before Black Friday.

Backups are just as important. If something goes wrong, a recent backup lets you restore your site quickly. Most hosting companies offer automatic backups, but check that they’re active and running daily during the sale period. 

You can also create a manual backup before you make any big changes, so you always have a safe version to return to.

Ready for Black Friday

Black Friday can put your site under pressure, but most problems are easy to prevent with a bit of planning. Launch your landing page early, keep your site fast, make it accessible, test it on mobile, and double-check your backups and updates. 

A little preparation now saves you stress later and helps you make the most of the busiest shopping day of the year.