Last Friday, I wrote Should A Winery Blog? Probably Not. It didn't make me very happy.
So I thought some more about VinTank's view of winery blogs as last on the list of marketing activities for wineries. It's instructive to remember why blogs became a powerful extension (and later, alternative) to Web sites.
It's all about updates.
The number one problem with winery Web sites was -- and remains -- freshness. Most wineries hired people to create their Web sites, and any change required the designer/webmaster's involvement. This lead to changes which were slow and expensive, and hence, infrequent.
In contrast, a blog offered freedom. Without any assistance, winery people could go to Blogger or TypePad or WordPres, set up a blog, and begin cranking out regular updates.
As I've said before, your Web site should change on a monthly basis. It's not hard if you sit down once a year and plan the next 12 months.
If you're not getting your Web site updated on a regular basis, a winery blog may still be your quickest (and best) solution.
How do you tackle the problem of updating your winery Web site? Leave a comment with your best tip or biggest problem!
Good points, but instead of "it's all about updates" I'd say "it's all about entertainment".
Judd's Enormous wine show has only posted 3 times, but I have enjoyed each post, want to see the next post, and want to party with Judd.
A lot of blogs I subscribe to I don't look forward to reading or read at all.
Posted by: David Horowitz | May 11, 2009 at 08:06 AM
The blog has been vital in making our site more dynamic - without it would mean headaches to create HTML pages for each bit of news...
It's been a great experience to share with everyone what we are doing here in Lodi, our family story, and our wines - we wouldn't be able to do that in an interesting way without the blog.
Cheers!
Posted by: Joe Lange | May 11, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Hi, we exchanged some correspondence back in oct/nov 2008, when I was asking for advice on setting up a webpage/blog for my vineyard/winery.
This is just to say that I've finally managed to create a blog (no webpage yet), but unfortunately I haven't been able to follow all the advice that you and your readers gave!!! In the end, I just decided to publish, even though it's by no means perfect. It's here: http://www.blogspot.vinosambiz.com
Some of the things that are wrong with it are:
1) it's on 'blogger.com' (you have a whole post dedicated to why a good blog shouldn't be there!)
2) the URL name is not the same as the winery's!
3) lots more things probably! you tell me! (I'd appreciate any constructive criticism!)
But at least, I've now got a name and a logo. It's taken me 6 months to do this, which is incredibly slow and fustrating, but what can one do? :)
My next task will be to do an English-language version. (I started with the Spanish version as this is where all my customers are at the moment!)
In answer to the question 'Should a Winery Blog?', I say Absolutely Yes! and if you can afford to have someone do it for you, even better!!!
Regards,
Fabius (Vinos Ambiz)
Posted by: Fabius | May 25, 2009 at 07:34 AM
oops, sorry! wrong URL above. The correct one is: http://vinopuchero.blogspot.com
Posted by: Fabius | May 27, 2009 at 02:01 AM