8 Things Your Winery Website Should Have

I think about this list every time I start working on a new website

1. Google Analytics, because if you can't measure something, you can't improve it.
2. A custom 404 page (or handler), to help visitors find what they're looking for.
3. A robots.txt file, to manage how your website is crawled by search engine spiders
4. A favicon.ico file, so your site stands out in browser favorite/bookmark lists.
5. Uptime notification, so you know if your web site is unresponsive.
6. Google Webmaster Tools, to see how Google sees your site.
7. An XML sitemap  for Google, to make sure than Google sees your site correctly.
8. A reboot notification (for hosted sites), so you know when your hosting company reboots your server.

These are all things which your winery website should have in place.  If you don't manage your own web infrastructure, ask your webmaster about them.

Comments

[Larry Chandler]

All excellent points. One thing I've noticed, however, is that many of the smaller wineries appear clueless when it comes to any aspect of maintaining and analyzing their sites. The larger wineries and multi-brand operators will have a tech or web person on staff, but the smaller ones frequently have a non-tech such as a tasting room manager to maintain their site.

Perhaps the web developers could work more closely with wineries once the site is launched. I sometimes wonder if wineries really grasp how important it is to be on top of all of this.

[Stuart Henry]

Thanks for not including "Age verification" in your list.

Age verification splash pages are annoying and useless, and often poorly designed at that.

[Mike Duffy]

Stuart, I completely agree.

[Mike Duffy]

Larry, the problem is that many wineries don't consider their websites to be worth much attention, because they represent a fraction of their sales. It makes more sense to spend time courting the trade or working on the wine club or focusing on the tasting room. From a steely-eyed business perspective, they may be right.

[ChrisO]

Thanks for sharing this great list! I am going to take action right now and implement these on my website.

[rick]

Larry - web developers certainly could... but they can't do it for free. And, like Mike notes, smaller wineries tend to place themselves in a Catch-22 - the site's a fraction of their sales, so they don't work to make it better... so it remains a fraction of their sales.

[Gilberto Pagua]

Many wineries in South American could read this and agree with all the points but finally will do nothing about.
They see all this effort as a spent and not as an investment.
Sadly but true.

[Leif Miltenberger]

Everything here should really be part of any business/organisation website... not just winery websites. I'd be much more curious to hear about what you think actual winery websites should include... things that aren't just parts of a competently built website.

[Norbet Wine]

Yes, but also wineries need to look outside the box, and not only have Facebook and Twitter pages linked to their site, but actually use them properly. Set up an auto RSS to FB and Twitter everytime something is added or changes on the website, and grow fans organically.

Also take the time list in directories online, many are free, and creat excellent link bait, such as http://vineyardia.com/enwiki/Main_Page or http://www.wine-searcher.com

[Cheap Air TN]

Set up an auto RSS to FB and Twitter everytime something is added or changes on the website