Are you a local small business owner looking to increase your holiday sales during this holiday season? Let the Sentinel help. Starting Monday we are creating a local gift guide for shoppers who live in the communities we serve.
Did you know nearly two-thirds of shoppers are looking for curated gift lists online? Yeah, neither did we until we started doing the research on how to create a successful guide for our readers.
The Sentinel Holiday Gift Guide is designed to increase the visibility of your business and products. We want to help as many small businesses that we can ring in some extra sales over the next three weeks. Here's another fact: Gift guides are shown to more than double conversion rates and increase engagement by 76% especially for online retailers.
Like other small business ventures, the pandemic has kicked our virtual news tushy. With over 500 readers a day and plenty of time on our hands, we figure we can lend a helping hand to area small business with lots of free publicity. Sixty-six percent of holiday buyers plan to shop more at locally this holiday season and we want to make it easy for them by shining a light on products and services from area small businesses.
So what is this going to cost to be featured? Nothing. Zilch. Nada. We are looking highlight and share awesome gift ideas to our readers. Hopefully, our guide will keep people buying local and rebuild the local economy.
If you have a product or service you would like featured in the gift guide, simply copy the section below, paste it into a new email message to and advertising@oursentinel.com after you have answered the questions. Owners are welcome to submit as many items as they wish. We will select only one item every seven days to feature.
If you have any questions don't hesitate to email us at advertising@oursentinel.com or call 217.778.2197.
Name of Business:
Contact Name: Contact Phone Number:
Website Address:
Link to featured item on your website:
Description of the product or service:
Choose a category:
Category options: • Gifts under $25 • Gifts Women & Girls Will Love • Gifts for Men & Boys • Food • Gifts for Everyone
• Art & Home Decoration • For Newlyweds • Gifts for Students • Stocking Stuffers
Retail Price: Sale Price:
(Enter Sale Price if the product/service is being offered at discount)
Please attach a photo of the featured item or service. Make sure it is a sharp, well-exposed image will do your product or service justice. The better the photo the better your odds at attracting buyers. Photo should be no smaller than 400 pixels on the longest side at 96 DPI.
Questions? Email us at
advertising@oursentinel.com or peck 217.778.2197. Holiday gift guide features will be processed on a first come, first serve basis until December 23. Featured items will appear on The Sentinel website and shared on our social media platforms.
