We're sending out a press release tomorrow, and one of the things it mentions is that you can get your winery's overall Web site visitor effectiveness rating, free of charge. So by reading our blog, you get first crack at it (and we get a gentle test to make sure everything's A-OK).
Via e-mail, you'll get the "X out of 100 points" score that we award to each winery Web site in The Winery Web Site Report database, based on 25 distinct measures of visitor effectiveness: branding, compatibility, contact information, domain name, freshness, information on current releases, information on past releases, media kit, navigation (for browsers, buyers, the trade, and the media), navigational consistency, linking to home page, site map, newsletter, obstacle-free, personalization, RSS, responsiveness, search rank, shipping information, site search, marketing materials, and last but not least, visual appeal (whew!).
Everybody arrives at a Web site with a goal already in mind. A site that is "visitor effective" makes sure they reach their goal and leave with a good impression. If it's hard to figure out, or it's unpleasant, chances are they won't be back.
By letting you see how your winery Web site scored in an independent evaluation of visitor effectiveness, we hope to get you interested in what purchasing The Winery Web Site Report has to offer:
- A printed report, specific to your winery. For each of the 25 rating elements, it includes
- Why the element is important to visitor effectiveness
- How we scored the element (some elements are worth more points than others)
- How over 2,200 wineries scored on this element, broken down by winery size
- A best practice checklist, based on our comprehensive site review
- A year of online access to our private Web site, including access to
- A current evaluation summary of every winery Web site (we add new sites and update our evaluation of sites on a continuous basis).
- Ccurrent statistics with additional breakdowns not in printed report (e.g. top 10 sites for each rating element)
- Our experts to address your specific questions (via form or e-mail)
- New features as they become available
- Free site re-evaluation, so you can see the effect of changes you make based on your purchase
- An unconditional money-back guarantee
So, what are you waiting for? Go request your score! And come back tomorrow for our year-end announcment.
I'm going to put a link to your website on my blog because there are a lot of Finger Lakes winery websites that could benefit from your expertise. I am just surprised by the lack of attention that is devoted to updating winery websites. Today's wine buyer is internet-savvy and a website can be a huge marketing tool to grab and retain customers. I hope that you send out your email to all of the Finger Lakes wineries. I know that the winery owners and winemakers would probably say that they would rather devote their time to making great wine rather than a great website, but it seems to me that promoting and selling that great wine has to be one of the top priorities of a winery. So I commend you for your efforts to pull winery websites into the 21st century. Though you may have to pull them kicking and screaming. P.S. I am working on a blog post that I am posting by the end of the month that rates the best Finger Lakes Winery websites. I know it's proprietary information, but I would be grateful if you could provide any general ratings on the 70-some Finger Lakes wineries. Thanks!!!!!!! Finger Lakes Weekend Wino. http://fingerlakesweekendwino.blogspot.com
Posted by: weekendwino | December 14, 2005 at 05:49 AM