With Christmas quickly approaching, gift buying is at the forefront of most people’s minds. In a recent Blackhawk Network article, they discovered that due to the elevated expenditures during the holiday season, people are more likely to research online prior to buying in order to shop around for the best deal or bargain. This means that as people are looking for direction, a gift guide is a great way to help your readers find items to purchase for everyone on their list. As we know, everyone has different considerations when gift buying. Factors such as price or practicality can come into play depending on who is buying the gift and whom the gift is for. We’ve highlighted a few tips that will make creating a gift guide for your blog a breeze.
Cater to a Variety of Audiences
The goal of a gift guide is to narrow down the overwhelming amount of gift options by honing in on one specific category or topic. We suggest looking at your website analytics to determine a few different demographic profiles in order to select a few possible categories of interest. Segmenting out a few categories that are hyper specific is better for SEO and can help fill your content calendar with ideas for posts in the many days leading up to the holidays. Some sample topics are:
- Gifts for the Athlete
- Toys for Tots
- Gifts for the Man in Your Life
- Presents for New Parents
- A Guide for Wine Lovers
Include a Variety of Prices
When you’re researching products to highlight, make sure you include a variety of price points. While holiday budgets can be tight for some, others will spare no expense to find the perfect gift for a loved one. There’s no hard and fast rule as to what a gift should cost so we suggest listing at least five options. How low to start will depend on the category so don’t put too much weight into coming up with the perfect price model before you start scouring the Internet. $50 or less, $50-$100, $100-$150, $150-$200, and $200 and up are fairly standard ranges, though.
Don’t Post it if You Personally Wouldn’t Buy It
Your readers are looking to you for expertise as an authoritative resource so be honest with your recommendations. If there are any doubts about a product or the site from which you found it, either skip it or disclose your concerns. There is no shame in saying something along the lines of “while product A may be a bit more expensive, I wasn’t sold on the material used in the cheaper option” or “while other sites have more color choices, I’ve had great customer service experience from x.com.”
Organization is Everything
The organization of your post isn’t just how you list the items i.e. lowest price to highest or vice versa, but also in the information you include. Create a format that provides all the necessary product information such as the item’s name, a photo, the price, a short description, and a link to purchase. If you really want to get crazy, you can include a few bullet points with testimonials or specifications, but we’ve included a basic layout below: Keurig K250 Coffee Maker ($130) This Keurig is perfect for the coffee lover in your life because it comes in a variety of colors, has a touch screen display and makes anywhere from a cup of coffee to a carafe (which the whole office will love).
