This quick intro section, and everything else on 'page 1' in the CMS, will stick to the top of your live blog. Introduce your deal-hunting audience to the page, what it's for, how it works and how to get the most out of it.
When it comes to choosing which live blogs to do, keep in mind that stories/angles likely to develop over time are better for live blogs as subsequent posts feel natural and necessary. Stories without an ongoing narrative are always a bit more tricky to keep going.
Be sure to include all of the usual SEO considerations, but natural language works best with live blogs like this. Keep it concise and conversational, and don't feel the need to shoehorn in keywords and keyphrases that don't necessarily belong in the sentence.
Posts are presented to the reader in reverse chronological order, which means if you put the best deals into it early on, they'll then be buried underneath all of the subsequent posts. This is the unavoidable nature of live blogs, but we can use this first 'pinned' page to put a spotlight on all of the best deals and highlights so far.
The most effective way of doing this is to use bullets to condense all of the best deals into a simple list for people to scan. It works best if people can intuitively understand how we've built our list instead of having to think about it - so here we've got two lists:one list of quick links off to popular retailers which is always the most-clicked unit on the page, and another to highlight the best deals so far:
The best sales so far: Quick list
- Amazon: Black Friday prices on tech, home items, and toys
- Adidas: save up to 50% off shoes, clothing, and more
- Best Buy: Black Friday sale is live - 4K TVs, laptops, and headphones
- Dell: the XPS 13 is on sale for $649.99 - the cheapest price we've see
- Home Depot: up to 50% off vacuums, coffee machines and more
- HP: Black Friday sale, save up to 65% off sitewide
- Lowe's: appliance deals from Samsung, Whirlpool, and LG starting at $99
- Newegg: save up to 54% off laptops, headphones, and SSD cards
- Nike: save an extra 20% with code SHOP20
- Staples: discounts on laptops, office furniture, and AirPods
- Target: Black Friday deals now - to 50% off appliances, toys, TVs, and more
- Tempur-Pedic: save 40% on the Tempur Essential mattress - lowest price ever
- Walmart: Final Black Friday deals - 4K TVs, laptops, Instant Pot, and more
- Wayfair: standing desks starting at $169.99
The best deals so far: Quick list
- Cheap 4K TV deal: get this 50-inch 4K TV at Walmart for $199.99
- Toys: top gifts from Walmart for all ages starting at $12
- Robot Vacuum deal: iRobot Roomba 675 is on sale for $179.99 at Best Buy
- OLED TV deal: the Vizio 55-inch 4K TV drops to $899.99 - lowest price ever
- Instant Pot sale: save up to 40% off at Amazon
- Purple mattress: up to $500 off mattresses and sleep bundle
- Mixbook: up to 55% off everything with code BF2020SHIP
- Nectar mattress: up to $400 off + $399 of free gifts
- Fitbit deals at Amazon: save $50 on the Fitbit Charge 4
- Casper mattress: save up to 30% in the Black Friday sale
You can also include deal blocks in your 'pinned post' if you wanted to include some absolute stand-out deals that warrant highlighting. This is what pinned deal blocks look like in this top section:
"Morning deal hunters! It's executive editor Gerald Lynch here – I've pulled my apron on, put some flour underneath my laptop and have cracked some eggs for some indiscernible belief that it might help me channel the best kitchen gadgets for your browsing pleasure... "
^ Keep your posts light hearted and add a personal touch where you can, particularly when introducing yourself or signing off.
Each new post in the blog can have a text box like this at the top, so here for example we could be starting with the 4 best laptop deals we've seen so far, so we're introing that up here and then copying and pasting deal blocks from other articles into the space below:
The 4 best laptop deals we've seen so far:
We've found some great deals on Instant Pots!
This is an example of a standard post of image block above text block. To keep your page visually engaging, it's a great idea to include some excellent images for people to look at. Keeping the formatting mixed up throughout the lifespan of your blog will also make the page look fresh and dynamic so try not to use the same format on post after post otherwise it can look a bit repetitive.
3 best instant pot deals so far:
It's also a good idea to be as consistent with your layouts as possible. For example, if you start off by always adding 'new deals' as deals blocks, that will allow your readers to quickly scan down the page looking for those deals. If you use lots of different content formats, it makes it harder to scan. So for example you could use 'image block+text block' when you want to add some editorial commentary to the page, and then deal blocks when you want to add deals:
You can also add product blocks if you wish
Here's what product blocks look like on the page. Let's say there were three main/best hair dryer deals, you could use three product blocks like this (layout+hero) to compare those products to help people choose which one might be best for them:
3-4 word strap
Spec 1: AAA
Spec 2: BBB
Spec 3: CCC
+ Good thing 1
+ Good thing 2
- Bad thing 1
- Bad thing 2
This is your 60-100 word review of the product. For each page, keep to a word count for each product. Try to get to the heart of what it is about this product that makes it belong on this page. Why might someone choose this one over the other options, and equally, why might other people want to avoid it? Be insightful, add value, be an expert. Avoiding paragraph breaks in this section prevents it all looking disjointed.
Our rating: X out of 5 stars
3-4 word strap
Spec 1: AAA
Spec 2: BBB
Spec 3: CCC
+ Good thing 1
+ Good thing 2
- Bad thing 1
- Bad thing 2
This is your 60-100 word review of the product. For each page, keep to a word count for each product. Try to get to the heart of what it is about this product that makes it belong on this page. Why might someone choose this one over the other options, and equally, why might other people want to avoid it? Be insightful, add value, be an expert. Avoiding paragraph breaks in this section prevents it all looking disjointed.
Our rating: X out of 5 stars
3-4 word strap
Spec 1: AAA
Spec 2: BBB
Spec 3: CCC
+ Good thing 1
+ Good thing 2
- Bad thing 1
- Bad thing 2
This is your 60-100 word review of the product. For each page, keep to a word count for each product. Try to get to the heart of what it is about this product that makes it belong on this page. Why might someone choose this one over the other options, and equally, why might other people want to avoid it? Be insightful, add value, be an expert. Avoiding paragraph breaks in this section prevents it all looking disjointed.
Our rating: X out of 5 stars
Highlight trends and other useful tidbits of information that people will find useful
If you've noticed a trend out there amongst many retailers / manufacturers / categories etc, put that insight into a post in your blog. Black Friday is a mad day so content that helps people make sense of it all is very valuable. Sometimes it's great to navigate people AWAY from the bad deals as well as towards the good ones.
Do's and Don'ts:
It's really important that your blog deliver a commentary on the chosen topic. Be informative. Be opinionated. Be snarky if that's your style. Be funny. Be helpful. Be entertaining and engaging.
Don't try and sell products to people. Don't be repetitive. Don't be boring. Don't publish if you wouldn't be interested in what you're saying.
OK, one final post before I hand the reins of this tasty deals machine over to another team member. You love pizza? You Love toast? You love fries? Boom – the Ninja SP201 Digital Air Fry Pro Countertop 8-in-1 Oven has you covered.
On sale right now over at Amazon for a solid $60 off, it’ll cost you just $169.99 today, compared to its usual asking price of $229.99.
A big extra oven with enough room to make a 2lb roast, its air frying technology reduces the need for oil, making for less fatty, healthier meals. All the fun of the fries, with none of the guilt!
And I'm off! Have fun deal hunting, master chefs!
