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How to use gift guides to create passive income
Want to make some extra money for the holiday's while also providing your audience incredible value?
We all know the holidays can be a time for well, let's just be honest, stress.
Searching for the perfect gifts, being crammed into tiny shopping malls with 2,000 other people doing the same thing you are.
This is where you come in and save the day with a solid and incredibly valuable, gift guide.
Disclosure: There are some affiliate links below which means I may receive a small commission for purchases made through my links at no extra cost to you. and if you do, I appreciate you!
How To Use Gift Guides To Create Passive Income
Simply put, gift guides are guides posted on your blog or a specific page, showcasing a specific type of product(s) to help your audience easily find a bunch of gift ideas in one place.
Because you are making a list of products to purchase, these guides are perfect for earning passive income through affiliate marketing.
If you're not 100% clear on affiliate marketing or want to learn more about how to actually make money in general with affiliate marketing, check out this post.
The really incredible thing about gift guides is that you can make them as evergreen or as seasonal as you want which means you can continually make money from them year after year!
And they're perfect for every niche!
As always, it's not as simple as slapping a giant list of gifts from Amazon to a page and calling it a day.
Foundation of a Profitable Gift Guide
The biggest point of a gift guide is to serve your audience and make their life a little bit easier during the holidays.
You have to be careful about what types of gift guides you create.
This means you can't just start writing gift guides about everything you can think of.
Think of your audience, what do they come to your blog for and then start figuring out what they would find interesting to buy.
Chances are, your audience is very similar to you, so start by making a list of different gifts you like to buy for yourself or your family during the holidays.
I like to think about the toughest people in your family to buy for and start there.
Also, think about getting specific because if someone lands on your blog for the “best gifts under $25” and doesn't find what they're looking for right away, they're going to leave.
Instead try, “10 of the best Amazon gifts for Toddlers who love animals.”
Remember, you're trying to help out your audience and save them as much time as possible.
Choose your Products & Affiliate Companies
Next up is to choose the products you are going to promote and which affiliate company or companies you are going to use.
You can pretty much find affiliate companies for any and every product/company you like by doing a quick google search.
Essentially an affiliate company is how you're going to get paid. I have an entire post on the 5 best affiliate programs to make money, so make sure to check that out.
People are going to be more likely to purchase from companies they know and trust.
Like Amazon or Etsy.
Amazon's affiliate program is called Amazon Associates and is super easy to get into and because you've probably used Amazon for most of your Christmas shopping over the years, it's super easy to use to create a gift guide with them!
If you want to join the Etsy Affiliate Program you have to sign up to an affiliate company called Awin and then you can join Etsy's Affiliate Program.
Just be aware, Awin requires $5 upon sign up which you get back after your first affiliate commission.
You can sign up for Amazon Associates here and for Awin here.
The list goes on and on for affiliate programs so just find one that fits with the products you want to offer in your gift guides.
Write Your Gift Guide
Like I said, writing a gift guide isn't as simple as slapping a list together of super cool products you love.
Remember your user experience.
Gift guides with just a bunch of words don't do it for me. I want to see pictures of the products.
Side note on images: make sure you are reading the terms for how you can legally use images for each individual affiliate program.
Utilize product images as well as a bit of text telling your audience WHY that particular gift is so awesome.
Tell your audience why they should buy that gift and why they're gift recipient is going to love it.
Also, remember to keep the descriptions short and to the point.
You can also offer multiple options for gifts.
Such as a higher priced gift and a lower priced option and explain the pros and cons of each.
Think of your gift guide as someone shopping, what would they need to know, what's important about this item, what isn't and so on.
You can also create different sections for your gift guides at different prices.
That way, your audience can scroll directly to the price point that works for them which saves them a ton of time.
It can be tempting to add 50 or even 100 items to your gift guide to increase your affiliate income but make sure you adding only the BEST gifts to your guide and not just everything you can find.
Check out my other blog Two Crafty Gals to see examples of gift guides that have done well.
Make Your Gift Guides Evergreen
This is my favorite part about gift guides, they're not only for the holidays.
People are always looking for gifts throughout the year whether it's for a birthday, a graduation, a wedding, a special occasion, whatever.
One way to make your gift guides evergreen is to avoid putting too many gifts in your gift guide that are holiday specific, like ornaments or stockings.
Think outside of the box.
Another way is to avoid using holiday specific terms in your URL.
Your URL could be something generic like, “best blanket sets” but the title of your post could be something more holiday specific like, “10 Best Blankets Sets for Christmas”.
This will help keep your posts evergreen and more relevant throughout the year.
Which means you can continually make passive income regardless of the time of year if someone lands on your blog and purchases something.
Making Pinterest Friendly Images For your Gift Guide
I'm going to preface this by saying, each affiliate program has their own “rules” on how images can be used on social media including Pinterest. So make sure to read those rules before doing anything else.
That being said, pay close attention to the wording you are using on your gift guide pins.
Make sure it is pulling your audience in.
I'd recommend creating multiple pins for your gift guides and testing out different wording to see what is resonated with your audience the best.
Having relevant images as well as solid text on your pins is going to be even more imperative for gift guides if you are not allowed to use certain images on your pins. *again, specified by each individual affiliate program*
If it's a gift guide for baking, use an image with a rolling pin or something related to baking and so on.
Utilize the Advanced Marketing Institute Headline Analyzer to get a feel for what will resonate with your audience on an emotional level.
You can also check out this post for an even more in-depth look at creating Pinterest pins that convert.
When To Start Marketing Gift Guides
NOW
Remember, gift guides are there to save your audience time so having them in front of your audience now helps target the people that are getting a jump start on their holiday shopping.
It can also take a bit of time to get your posts circulating out there so just start marketing them right now.
Have you made gift guides to create passive income?
Does Amazon’s affiliate terms allow the use of creating gift guide-style collages? This is what I most want to do, but I fear it doesn’t because I can’t find clear terms on it.