Whether you blog or do social media campaigns, we all know the busy work is in the HOLIDAYS. Retailers, brands and PR companies plan months in advance and we need to be ready with them. Having a blog or website that attracts shoppers and brands can be a monetary boost for you too over the holidays, especially if you are established as an affiliate.
But, the Holiday Gift Guides are only part ‘link to products and sales’ and mostly ‘engaging content and images’!
I do Gift Guides year round and if all I did was list items and links I would have nothing engaging for my readers to remember to come back! Many sites offer deals and gift ideas, you need engaging posts to stand out.
Here are 3 resources that are a must-have! Obviously, there are more than 3 in total for a full season of a successful gift guide, but I am talking about esthetics, the look and engaging posts!
1 – Images
Isn’t that a fun ‘penguin’ image above. I did not create that myself. I am not creative enough, but I found it on iCLIPART. All of the images in this post are from iCLIPART. They have over 8 Million copyright-safe clipart images, photos, fonts, sounds, video and web graphics. Even using a website labeled for ‘free stock images’, you are still in danger of not only downloading images infected with viruses but also violating Canadian and US copyright laws.
It’s not worth the risk. iCLIPART has subscription plans that are actually affordable (have you seen the royalty prices of some photo stock sites?!!). Here they make it affordable and safe because many people need access to stock photos – teachers, school organizations, charities, Bloggers and more. None of us have a huge cash flow just so we can get our newsletter or posts some engagement.
I have a code: PARENTINGHEALTHY that you can use at iCLIPART to save 20% on all 1 Year Subscriptions.
2 – Newsletter
You posted some great deals…sweet! But who knows you just posted? Where are your actual followers? Whether you have a blog or e-commerce site you need a subscription sign up!
I use MadMimi. Their free version is just plenty for a standard or small blog and website. If you need more, they have a few plan options to choose from. I like using the pre-designed newsletters.
3 – Social Web Suite
You wrote a great piece, added engaging images and let our readers know it is live! You have your affiliate links in place and now you want to send it to your socials. That takes time! Social sharing schedules take more time than writing most articles. You can get some help if you have a blog!
My setup and forget help comes from Social Web Suite! It looks like 1 large scheduling platform and can make many feel overwhelmed when you visit social sharing sites. However, all you do is sign up, connect your Twitter, FB pages and groups and Linkedin (Instagram coming soon), then connect your blog. Head into each social settings and set it up. Go to your categories and choose what posts you want into each category. Now schedule – what days, times, socials and save. They have many YouTube videos on their channel to walk you through every step. You can get started here!
That should cover the look and engagement for the Holiday Gift Guide on your Blog!
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