There are some people where you always know exactly what to get them.
People you're really close with — parents, spouses, best friends.
Then there are those people you're not too close to, but you have just enough social contact with them to feel like you should give them something for the holidays.
These are prime scenarios for gift cards.
But then there are those people that lie somewhere in between.
You know them too well to just throw a gift card their way, which can sometimes feel impersonal. But you don't quite know them well enough to know about something specific you can get them that they want.
Tons of people end up in this situation every December, and one of the solutions they go for is a content format called a “Gift Guide.”
Think “20 Cool Gifts for Science Lovers,” “15 Best Gifts for Musicians.” Interesting or useful little items, usually in the $20-50 range or so, arranged around a theme.
This kind of content is pure gold for niche sites, and performs especially well during the holiday season.
(Not that it isn't essentially evergreen, considering birthdays, Valentine's Day, and other gift-giving holidays. But Christmas is where they really peak.)
It's a great way to change up your content strategy.
In a recent blog post, Shopify offers the details on how to construct cool gift guides that convert without being salesy.
Many shoppers do a lot of research before big sale events and holidays.
In fact, shoppers are researching Christmas gifts and gift ideas earlier than ever.
According to the National Research Federation, 40% of customers begin researching their holiday shopping as early as October.
This is where gift guides come in.
Many shoppers looking for great gift ideas will look to gift guides and buying guides for inspiration.
In fact, there are likely websites in your niche that specialize in sharing gift guides including products very similar to yours.
Most gift guides are roundups of gift ideas for a loved one or friend with a particular interest.
Sometimes, they’re compiled for a particular holiday such as Christmas, Mother’s Day, birthdays, and so on.
A survey by NFR found that consumers will spend an average of over $450 on gifts for their family this Christmas.
Getting your products in gift guides can help more shoppers discover you, especially if you have a very unique or niche product that makes a great gift.
In this blog post, I’m going to show you how to get your store in gift guides, create your own gift guides, and drive more sales during the holidays.
What Gift Guides Look Like
To give you an idea of what a gift guide looks like, here’s one that caters to guitar players.
As you can see, this particular guide is actually a post on a blog for guitar players.
This is one of the top search results for “gift ideas for guitar players,” a phrase that shoppers looking for gift ideas for the guitar player in their life might be searching.
This blog post lists 20 unique gift ideas, with a link back to each store selling the mentioned product.
What we, as store owners, plan to do is find websites that create gift guides in our niche, and reach out to them to feature our products in new (and even existing) gift guides.
You can read more about how to create gift guides in the full blog post from Shopify.
CHALLENGE Yourself to Profit!
Free Download: Build Your Profit-Generating Online Business With This Free Blueprint
Sign Up, follow the easy steps and You'll get the tactics, strategies & techniques needed to create your online profit stream. It's free!
