A Guide To The Guide— Creating a Holiday Gift Guide That Will Actually Make You Money
It’s that time! Actually, it’s probably a little past that time. You’re brainstorming the best ideas for content and collaborations as the busiest season of the year comes around— and I’m here to help!
If you’re like most of us, easy online shopping is a must for knocking out everyone on your list, making it affordable and making it fast. And if that’s what you’re looking for, you can bet it’s also what you’re audience is looking for. Considering online shopping increases anywhere between 10 to 15% every year, tapping into this world is well worth it!
If you’re ready to finally make your very own gift guide (instead of reading and drooling over every one else’s) and making a little extra cash this season— here are some tried and true things to remember and tricks to make you’re holiday gift guide a success.
Just like anything as a blogger, your main job is to share a useful recourse + solve a problem. When you do a great job of solving someone’s problem, you tap into exactly what they’re looking for.
Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the basics.
So, what is a gift guide?
The best way to describe a gift guide, is a round up of your favorite products or services that you think would benefit your audience. This is a great chance to promote brands that you love and have worked with throughout the year as well as provide solutions to anyone who’s looking for some great holiday ideas.
How do I make money?
If you’re using the gift guide for more than just a resource, and to make some extra cash for your blog— using affiliate platforms such as Amazon Influencers, Target Affiliate or LIKEtoKNOW.it are great ways to cash in on all of your suggestions. When someone shops through your links, you can get commissions off of anything that is purchased through the platforms. It sounds easy, but if you’re not already affiliated with one of these programs— Getting accepted can take some time, so don’t wait!
One of the best part about gift guides is how they provide a fun and trustworthy way for you to market yourself, your blog, and the well-known brands you are promoting. It’s genius!
Gift Guides— Best Practices
Provide trustworthy value
First & formost—you want to make sure that you are promoting and listing brands and companies that you genuinely believe in. Although incredibly useful to your business and your partnerships, try to avoid an entire gift guide of only sponsored products. You want your audience to feel connected to your reviews and suggestions and that you’re tapping into gifts you, yourself would actually purchase and use.
Do your research
Not only should you be suggesting products and brands that you love and use— but also remembering that everyone has different tastes, budgets and needs. Some that might be drastically different than yours. You want to make sure that you are researching the hottest gifts and what seems to be the most popular at the moment. Providing clickable links and customer reviews will make the reader’s purchasing decision quick and easy! Check out “Trending Ideas” on Pintrest for the most searched gifts!
Using categories to provide simplicity
Categorizing your gift guide (or making several different ones) into separate sections is going to make it seamless for each individual reader to find exactly what it is they are looking for. Here are some examples —
By Gender (His + Hers Gift Guides)
By Budget
Gifts under $50
Gifts under $10
By Niche
Gifts for Mom / Dad
Gifts for Grandma
Gifts for a Techie
Gifts for Teens
Gifts for Coworkers
Stocking Stuffers
Emotional Appeal
Ways to Donate
Homemade Shops
Small Business
Local Services
Designing graphics
Aesthetically pleasing graphics, like the one above, are going to make it visually appealing to your readers to use your clickable links. Explaining each individual product, and always mentioning price point and brand. Canva is a great place to design these!
Market to everyone— not just your niche audience
I’m going to bet that your husband probably isn’t reading my blog right now— or any, for that matter. What I can bet my money on, is that just like your readers, he will frantically be looking for ideas as well. You want to make sure that you’re different gift guides are marketed to all gift buyers— not just the typical audience in your niche.
Some great titles to catch attention—
Wife Approved Stocking Stuffers
Gifts For Your Leadership Team
Gifts For The Busy Traveler
If Thomas can drink beer while online shopping, and I get everything on my wish list — everyone wins!
Promoting your Gift Guide
Now that you’ve curated the perfect gift guide, make sure that it’s being seen! Remember— you want to target every possible niche. Think outside the box of just your normal audience when it comes to promoting your gift guides.
Have an email list? This is the perfect time to slide into emails. Send your guide link through text messages to co-workers and family, share on Pinterest and definitely on your personal Facebook page!
When is the best time to promote?
Now! Studies show that the average American begins to purchase holiday gifts around mid October— with the highest spike in gift purchases between November 1st through Black Friday. Give your audience ample amount of time to shop through your different gift guides and find exactly what they’re looking for!
Addition sources of income
If you havn’t already, now is the perfect time to provide additional value to your brand partnerships! Be sure that with every pitch and every collaboration deal you are negotiating from now through the holidays, that you are including the option to mention them in your holiday gift guide for an additional cost. Depending on your blog analytics, the product and the brand— blog features can range anywhere from $50 well into the hundreds! That’s extra cash in your pocket, and if you don’t ask— you’ll never know!
For personal one on one coaching to prepare you for the holiday season, creating content or working with brands, be sure to visit the Work With Me tab on the homepage for more information!
Happy creating!