The Winery Web Site Report

Mary Baker Tells All

Well, at least she was interviewed by the Small Business Blog of the Day.

The blog has connected us with a whole community of people interested in wine that would not otherwise know about us.

For my money, Mary is one of the best winery bloggers out there, so you get a look at how she thinks about blogging for her winery (Dover Canyon).  I can tell you for a fact that her blog increased Dover Canyon's gross revenues by at least $324, since it compelled me to buy a case of their '04 Dusi Old Vine Zinfandel (fabuloso!).

Winery Blogging: 10 Myths

Actually, they're 10 small-business blogging myths, but since most wineries are small businesses by whatever metric you choose, here they are:

1. Blogs are for teenagers, not [wineries]
2. My [winery] doesn't need a blog
3. Blogging takes too much time
4. Creating a blog is hard
5. Writing a blog is hard
6. No one is going to read my blog
7. Blogs get companies into trouble
8. Negative comments will ruin my reputation
9. A blog informs my competitors
10. Blogs are a fad

Read all the details (especially about 2 and 3) at Pajama Market Small Business Blog of the Day.

Do I talk about winery blogs too much?  Let me know in the comments.  After all, this blog is about winery Web sites, not just their blogs.  Feel free to ask questions, and offer opinions.

New Winery Blog: Eno Winemaking Journal

It's been a while since I encountered a new winery blog.  This one is from so-called "urban winery" Eno.  The blog is titled  Winemaking Journal, and I'm a little embarrassed, since it appears that winemaker Sasha Verhage has been blogging since May, 2002!  Looking at their archive by date, they usually post a few times a month.

Presently, the blog home page displays the text-only beginning of each post with a "Full Story" link.  I think this a poor choice, because I almost missed a great post like this one.  Be sure to check out the YouTube videos of Jeff Newton describing the soil at Stolpman Vineyards.  Bottom line: they don't post so frequently that they should be worried about posts "falling off the page" as new ones are added.  The benefit would be a livelier looking blog with photos, text, and even video.

My other disappointment is that they don't display a "subscribe" link for people like me who use RSS readers to efficiently keep tabs on our favorite blogs (I use Bloglines.com).  Bloglines also provides a way to say "Subscribe to this blog", but it only works if you are at the Eno home page, not inside the blog itself.

Regardless, I've subscribed to their feed, and added them to our comprehensive list of winery blogs.  Thanks to Grape Radio for the pointer to these urban wineries, including Eno.

The World's Most Irritating Web Site

The good new: according to Gerry McGovern, it's not your Web site. But his rant does offer a cautionary tale to winery owners.  You need to remember that customers arrive at your Web site with a goal already in mind.

Repeat after me: "We are not the center of the universe. We are not the center of the universe." It's a big, bad world out there, full of unkind and cruel customers who care only about themselves.

As we say at The Winery Web Site Report, it's all about visitor effectiveness.

Read all of The Most Irritating Web Site in the World to find out whose site really ticked off Mr. McGovern, and why.

Lazy Sunday: Is Wine Stuck?

The latest from Seth Godin: When Culture Gets Stuck

So classical music gets stuck because the new stuff isn't like the regular kind, the classics. French food got stuck, because no restaurant could risk its 3 stars to try something new. ...Inside most fields, we see pitched battles between a few people who want serious change to reinvigorate the genre they love--and the masses, who won't tolerate change of any kind. Hey, there are still people arguing vehemently about whether Mass should be in Latin or not.

Somehow, this reminds me of the 100-point scale, the three-tier system, screwcaps vs. corks, and how to market wine.

It's Sunday, so take your cuppa and go read the full text of Seth's post.

Saturday: Your Global (Winery) Microbrand

Hugh McLeod, the man behind "Stormhoek, the $10 cult wine" has a great case study on how blogging helped one small (non-wine) producer establish a "global microbrand" via blogging.

Case Study: English Cut

The lessons are bullet-pointed for easy reading.  My favorite: 

7. Sovereignty. The only people we had to please were the two of us. No bosses or bank managers to keep happy. Bosses like guarantees, but there aren't any.

If you already write a winery blog, or are wondering why it might be worthwhile, check out the whole post.

Wineries: To Blog or Not To Blog...

Actually, and with apologies to Hamlet, Jeff Stai of Twisted Oak Winery says that *isn't* actually the question.

The main issue for a winery isn't, "to blog or not to blog;" but whether or not to develop the changes necessary to keep your Website alive and interesting. Either you make the investment, or your Website is effectively a stagnant brochure.

Absolutely.  Well said.  Hear, hear.  You get the idea...  Our research for The Winery Web Site Report shows that the number one failing of winery Web sites is freshness, and a well-kept blog is an easy antidote to that problem.

Jeff ("El Jefe") normally writes Twisted's blog, but the quote above, along with the rest of Jeff's thoughts are part of a guest blog post at Basic Juice, entitled Blogs are Por[s]ches.

Is Your Winery Provocative?

It probably should be.  At least more than it is right now.  Here's why (substitute the name of your winery for "You"):

I shamelessly borrowed this graphic from Kathy Sierra's excellent post, Be Provocative. Among her other suggestions:

• Be visual (use photos in your winery blog)
• Change things regularly (that's why winery Web sites needs a home page that gets updated)

A worthwhile read from someone who knows her stuff (I heartily recommend the entire Creating Passionate Users blog).

(Winery) Blogging Do's and Don'ts

Good general small-business-blog advice from Pajama Market:

Do:

1. Write a good headline for your posts
2. Have good layout
3. Add photos to your posts
4. Keep your sidebar(s) uncluttered
5. Link to Web sites within posts
6. Create a "favicon"
7. Write clearly
8. Do it before somebody else does

Don't:

1. Apologize for missing a few days
2. Create a character blog
3. Put other companies' advertisements on your blog
4. Add too many links to your posts
5. Hard sell your readers

There's a lot of detail for each of the items in these two lists. Click on "Do" or "Don't" to read more.  There are lots of ways to write a winery blog, but these suggestions are worth thinking about.

If you missed it the first time, Pajama Market did a week of winery blog reviews back in April.

Lazy Sunday: Pajamas Torcido

Pajama Market interviews Jeff Stai of Twisted Oak Winery in Calaveras County, CA about his blog, El Bloggo Torcido ("the twisted blog").  The interview briefly mentions that they chose TypePad in part because of a recommendation from this blog.

El Bloggo Torcido was Pajama Market's Small Business Blog of the Day last week, apparently because Jeff suggested his blog, and the reviewer (Brian Brown, proprietor of Pajama Market) liked what he saw. 

So I checked out a blog from a winery that asked me to review them. Wouldn't you know that I would end up loving it and spending an hour reading the damn thing...

Note that Brian invites people to submit their small business blogs for review, subject to the following criteria.

Anyway, it's Sunday so take a minute to read the review and the interview over morning coffe.  As always, I invite you to check our list of winery blogs (including El Bloggo Torcido).

(And let me offer this thought:  you're not in the wine business, you're in the business of marketing wine.  At least, you need to be if you intend to stay in business.  It's another way of saying that without customers, you haven't got a business.  Winery blogging is just one way of marketing your wine.  If you enjoy writing for an audience, as the Twisted folk clearly do, it may be an effective way to distinguish your wines and invite customers to buy them.)

Saturday: Big Ass Accord

In a world where getting along seems to be a foreign concept, this is good to read: Cheeky Labels Dispute Settled

Nice that everyone involved gets to continue making product.  No big asses here.

• Adler Fels (Big Ass Cab, Chard, and Zin)
• Milano Family Winery (Big Ass Red)
• The Wheat Beer Company / Jack Russell Brewing Company

(I wrote about this type of dispute late last year when food purveyor Fermentations (not giving them any link love) decided that Tom Wark couldn't continue using that as the name of his well-know wine marketing blog.  So now, Tom's blog is FERMENTATION and it's still excellent.  Check it out.)

Teaching Wine to Sell

No, you can't teach the wine to sell - you need to teach people about wine instead of selling it to them.

Oh, never mind.  Just go read Don't Sell... Teach over at Copyblogger.

WineAuctionPrices.com - a first (and maybe last) look

I like wine auctions, particularly those for good causes.  My kid's school does a big auction fundraiser every May, and many of the lots are for fabulous wines and winery-related events.  So I was intrigued to see the announcement of WineAuctionPrices.com, particularly since I review winery Web sites for fun and profit.

My initial take on the site - aside from looking reasonably good, and having solid navigation, they got everything else wrong.  They aren't using their home page to any effect whatsoever.  There's no story about the benefit that signing up (which costs money) will give me.  There's no "we'll give you something interesting if you give us your e-mail" offer.  They've buried the demo (a good idea) at the bottom of a borrrrrrrring "Learn More" page.  The site offers very few pages that I can view without signing up.  Where's the free 30-day trial?  This is not rocket science, boys & girls.  There are successful subscription sites all over the Web to copy.

First suggestion: get that demo offer on the front page.  Prominently.  And a well-written interesting blog wouldn't be a bad idea.  They *must* have some great stories to tell, wouldn't you think?  And did I mention a free 14-day trial?

Their service is only $99 a year, which is probably reasonable if you spend a lot on fine wines at auction.  But they're not telling a story that is going to get people involved ("One of our clients found a rare Bordeaux at auction...") or useful information ("The World of Wine Auctions"), or even entertaining ("The Danger of Drinking and Bidding - a day at Auction Napa").  Hopefully, these things will be forthcoming.

Their press release, which got picked up on Wine Business Monthly's daily news e-mail, was pretty good.  But if people read the story and click through to the WineAuctionPrices.com home page, there's a good chance that only the very motivated will click far enough to become interested.  Note that they spent $399 for this press release, which was released through www.eRelease.com (I've written about my own experience with PRWeb.com, another online press release service).

Visitors who came and went because they couldn't find what they were looking for (a good reason to sign up) are less likely to pay attention in the future ("Oh yeah.  I saw that.  Wasn't very interesting.").

You may only get one shot to connect with potential customers.  This is applicable to your winery Web site just as much as to WineAuctionPrices.com.

Lazy Sunday: Invite Bloggers to Visit

I was reading the Perrin Family Weblog (the family behind Beaucastel wines), and they pointed to this blog post by Courtney Cochran of the Hip Tastes Blog:

Stoned at Beaucastel

Go read it.  Now, could you think up a more interesting, authentic advertisement for your wines? 

Probably not.

So, my small suggestion for this Sunday morning is to spend some time making a list of wine bloggers that might be interested in visiting your winery.  No obligation, no strings attached.  Show them around, pour and talk about your wines.  Let them take pictures of the large stones in your vineyards:

It doesn't take much effort - find a wine blog that focuses on your region or varietals that you enjoy reading (you actually *should* read the blog to get a sense of the author and whether you might actually like meeting them in person), and drop them an e-mail or add a comment to a *relevant* post ("If you liked X, I'd like to extend an invitation to visit us and try Y").

(If you need help finding wine blogs, check out Wine Blog Watch or check the sidebar over at Fermentation.  If you'd like to see if someone has actually mentioned your wines, go to Technorati or Google Blog Search and search on the name of your winery or wine.)

My very smart friend Philip says that "invitation alters relationship."  It's quite true, and it can work on behalf of your winery.

(By the way, Beaucastel and other Perrin wines periodically show up in Costco's wine department, and I'll be heading over there this afternoon to see if I can buy some, based on Courtney's blog post.)

PS - based on Courtney's post, I might recommend picking wine bloggers who take pictures!  Don't forget that millions of years of evolution have wired us up for being interested in pictures of stuff.

Yikes! (profitable after ten years)

Check out this quote from George Vare in this interview by Paul Mabray on the REthink Wine blog:

It is no secret that Luna has been in business for over 10 years and has great distribution. The winery produces 40K plus in cases, and this year was the first year we showed profit.

Any winery launching now that is under 20K cases needs to put a major emphasis on direct sales.

Ten years, solide Napa wines with great distribution, and this is the first year you turn a profit?  No wonder selling almost anything (e.g. a report to help them improve their Web sites) to smaller wineries is an uphill fight.  Yet investing in direct sales is critical to the survival of smaller wineries.

What are you doing to improve your direct-to-consumer sales?

The Easy (and Smart) Way to Deal with Onerous Wine Shipping Laws

Don't.

That's right.  Don't.

Now, I'm not advocating that you break the law, but as Paul Mabray points out in this smart post over at the REthink (Inertia Beverages) blog, the 80/20 rule (Pareto's Principle) applies to direct shipment.  It's simply not worth agonizing over the onerous direct shipment laws of some states.  Just don't ship there.

As Paul implies, you should know which states are most important to you (i.e. states having the customers who order big or order often), and focus the bulk of your marketing efforts on getting your best customers to "flip the funnel."

(As an aside, it would be cool if someone put up a Web page where a wine buyer could input their  ZIP Code, see the restrictions placed on wineries that want to ship direct to them, and send an e-mail directly to their state senator/representative if they don't like what they see.  Wineries could link to that page for states to which they have chosen not to ship.)