The Winery Web Site Report

My Annual Harvest Fair Rant

Last night (Saturday, September 24, 2011), the winners of the Sonoma County Harvest Fair were announced:

• Wilson Winery: 2009 Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, Sawyer Vineyard
• Kenwood Vineyards: 2010 Pinot Gris, Russian River Valley
• Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards: 2007 Brut Rosé, Carneros

As I write this on Sunday morning, this story is the most-read news article on the Santa Rosa Press Democrat website.

BUT, not a single one of these wineries has the good news on their websites (either on the home page, or on the "news" page of their site).  People are reading the news, searching for the winery on Google, visiting their home page, and finding...nothing.

(Update: as of 8AM Monday, 9/26, Wilson Winery has updated their home page.)

Consider the lost PR value of this oversight.  It happens once a year -- you'd think people might plan for it.  And yes, it's a weekend, but last time I looked, wineries are open for business on the weekends.

To their credit, Wilson Winery and Gloria Ferrer have updates on their respective Facebook pages (here and here), but unfortunately, these updates will only appear in the news streams of people who already Like them, and will disappear fairly quickly in the news stream.

As Vin|65 pointed out, your winery website is the hub of your (online) marketing activities.  Something as newsworthy at this award should be featured on your home page for a week after the event.

Obviously, these winning wines may soon be sold out.  A winery in this glorious position should still have an offering of some sort for people who missed out (a different vintage, a special deal).

You lose the value of publicity when you fail to engage the people who look for your winery and wines as a result of that publicity.

(previous rants: 2009, 2005)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Explained

Still not 100% sure about what SEO is?  This quick video from Common Craft is a good introduction.

Of course, your chances of ranking highly for a general search phrase like Pinot Noir are low.  But you probably want to rank highly for searches that associate your winery (e.g. Kosta Browne Pinot Noir) and/or region (e.g. Russian River Pinot Noir) with a particular varietal.

Another example: V. Sattui recognizes that they are a popular picnic spot, and has optimized their site for searches relating to winery picnic.

If you don't know the top 3-5 search terms that bring visitors to your winery, talk to your Webmaster.  Then take a look for yourself at where your site appears in the results when you type those phrases into Google.  If you're not happy with the outcome, it's time to tackle SEO for your winery website.

QR Codes In Plain English

If you're still wondering about QR codes and whether they are a fad or not, you might find this video from the nice people at Common Craft of interest...

The Little Things Count: Link Color

Yes, there are winery website disasters.

But even small changes, like a red link vs a blue link can make a gigantic difference in click-throughs (and perhaps, conversions as well).

And that's why you have to test and measure!  For the record, I guessed wrong.

(PS - if you worry about website conversion rates, Which Test Won? is worth subscribing to...)