I've written before about how most websites are way too noisy, and could perhaps take a lesson from mobile websites, which are severely constrained about how much they can display.

This came back to me when I saw the website for the upcoming Facebook movie, The Social Network.  It looks like this:

 

And, as you may be able to see, the site navigation (at the right of the screen) looks just like an iPhone.

It's an interesting design.

Want ideas for how to sell an extra 40 or 50 cases of your wine? Take a look at this article from Wines & Vines

Thomas explained that Donelan’s unique marketing program is based on the personal touch: “When you sign up for the mailing list, Joe (Donelan) makes a phone call,” he said. “When you buy a bottle, you get a handwritten note. These people become our continuing ambassadors.”Even when people buy online, the personal touch can't be beaten.  This is one thing that small wineries can do that sets them apart.  Technology can help (e.g. giving you that list of people who get a handwritten note), but it's all in support of making that personal connection with someone who is interested in your wines.

 

This is a great teaser for a book called All My Friends Are Dead.

This sort of simple (but not easy) lots-of-white-space-cute-graphics-tell-a-story kind of thing could be done for a wine.

The key to the appeal of this teaser is (a) simple and attractive, and (b) you want to find out what happens.

Anyway, just some grist for your creative wine marketing mill...

If the person who answers your phone isn't completely familiar with your winery website, they should be.

Otherwise, how are they going to help someone who needs help with the website?

For example, today I called a business because the event schedule on their website was out of date.  When I mentioned that fact to them, they said "Gosh, it is?  I'll let someone know."  I'm not real confident of a fix, because the person I mentioned it to on the phone clearly has no way to see if the problem gets fixed (assuming that they are interested in such things to begin with).

I don't expect anyone in a small winery to be sitting at a desk waiting for the phone to ring, but when it does, they should have a computer with access to the Web sitting in front of them.

As a manager or owner, you should be visiting your Web site on a weekly or monthly basis, at the very least, to make sure you're happy with what your visitors are experiencing.  It's easy -- just add a repeating event to your calendar.

A great post from Leah Hennessy of Millennier on how winery branding is pretty stuck:

...here’s my beef. I’m SO TIRED of people in EVERY ASPECT of the wine industry automatically handcuffing wine to media and branding that has been used for the last 40 YEARS. If you want new consumers then you have to do something new. This captures exactly my rant about "yet another winery website with a picture of a vineyard."  Not that I'm opposed to pictures of your vineyard, but (a) for most people, one vineyard looks pretty much like another (just like wine labels), and (b) everybody else is doing it.  At least use a *distinctive* picture of your vineyard (to check if it's distinctive, ask yourself if someone looking at the picture alone could tell it was your vineyard -- you see my point).

Wine is a traditional product.  I think it's still hard for consumers to give up corks.  Can you imagine the uproar if wineries tried different packaging (even it were more imaginative than a damn cardboard box)?  So, some things we're sorta stuck with.

Think of the Old Spice Guy and The Most Interesting Man in the World, and then think about how, just maybe, you might step outside your comfort zone for marketing your wine.  Like rubber chickens.  People actually like seeing a new approach (at least if it's well-executed).

PS - this is a much better OK GO video IMHO (alas, video embedding is disabled for this one).

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.

Here are 6 tips that sound pretty smart to me.

Literally.

If you don't follow Serious About Wine, you're missing out on some interesting design and marketing ideas.  Those wacky Kiwis!

Now from Facebook, it's MyVineyard.

Quote: Run your own vineyard, harvest grapes, make delicious wine, and share it with your friends!

Don't have one?  Neglecting the one you already have?

This post points out why you might want to reconsider the value of a winery blog.  With a new emphasis on fresh content, Google's latest search engine update (called Caffeine) makes regular posts to your winery blog even more valuable.

Of course, you should already know (using a tool like Google Analytics) what percentage of your traffic comes from search engines, and that will help you make an informed decision about the value of search engine traffic.  Here's a picture of the traffic sources for this blog over the past 30 days from Google Analytics:

What's yours look like? 

I occasionally rant about how most wineries seem to look and sound alike.  You know, the whole "picture of a vineyard on the home page" thing.

This post from Naomi Dunford is a great explanation of why you should make an effort to do something different from every other seller of fermented grape juice.  Basically, because your brain is designed to attenuate repetitive stimuli.  We tune things out. 

Consider this commercial.  It's so effective because you've never seen anything like it before.

There's now a sequel, which is still fun, but less effective because it's the second one.

 

I bet you didn't think about it (I sure didn't).  But almost any big event can be an opportunity to promote your wines in an interesting fashion.

Here's a clever World Cup marketing program that sells web design books, of all things.

If computer geeks can do it, so can your winery.  It just takes a little imagination and planning.  This sort of thing becomes easier if you have a (rolling) 12-month plan for marketing your wine online, something I highly recommend.

For another interesting take on monthly wine marketing on your winery Web site, take a look at what Swanson Vineyards is doing.  Each month they have a specific lifestyle-related promotion, featured on their homepage.  Of course, you have to commit to updating your Web site every month, but you should already be doing that.

Probably not.  But, at least you think you can.

30 reasons why websites and e-mail are your best bets as a small business.

...for most growing businesses who have a limited budget, focusing on a well-designed website and e-mail marketing are the essential elements they should focus on, before diving too deep into social media.

Just make sure that (a) your website is easy to change, and (b) let a professional (e.g. Constant Contact, AWeber) handle the mechanics of running a e-mail list.

We're the same, we're the same, we're... from the certifiably brilliant Seth Godin.

There are some great lessons for wineries in this post, entitled The Shop I Want. 

We’re in a world where you can find anything you want, which is great, except when you realize there’s a lot of everything...The shop I want is full of people who are dedicated to their opinion. Who are happier understanding a thing rather than wanting it. These people will happily tell the story of [how they] happened upon this opinion and I want to hear it because the opinion of someone I trust is just as valuable as my own.

He goes on to talk about Twitter as (one example of) a source for opinions about stuff.

There are some great thought-starters here for those who are willing to ponder a bit.  We live in a world full of wines.  We're looking for opinions with stories behind them.

We are all suckers for a good story.

(PS - When you find a blog post that's interesting, don't forget to read the comments as well.  In general, comments are at least as valuable as the original post.  It's where you see what the author missed, for one reason or another, and get the insights of other smart people.)

 

On the off chance you've been locked in a freezer today, please check out  Josh Hermsmeyer's latest post on pinotblogger: Why I Quit Facebook, and Why Wineries Should As Well

After all the hype and recommendations about Facebook as a method of connecting with your customers, this is a pretty big deal, and you should read his post  (and the comments, which are always a valuable part of any blog post).  At the same time, I need time to consider his points before giving my own opinion.  I encourage you to comment on Josh's post.

Stay frosty.

(full disclosure: this is not the online sales graph for a winery)

What happened in December of 2009?  The company involved started to make changes in their Web site, one at a time, measuring the changes.

Notice that I didn't say "they redesigned their entire Web site."  And it was pretty horrible to start (and it's still no prize, in my opinion).

They just started with a pretty horrible design, and started removing the "rocks" that impeded customers from making a purchase.  Turns out, they didn't have to remove too many.

You can read the full story here.  If your site gets at least 50 visitors a day (which may be the first problem you need to solve), you can get the same treatment (for a price).

I apologize that this story isn't about a winery Web site, since that's what you come here to read about.  But I think it's valuable because it talks about incremental changes guided by measurement, which applies to your winery Web site as much as it does to a site selling The Amazing Bible Timeline.

Here, with minor edits, is the opening paragraph of an e-mail I received from a winery today:

Dear [redacted] Customers,

We’ve decided to re-send last week’s e-mail announcing the release of two new [redacted] wines, since many of our customers encountered difficulty in placing their orders on our website. We have since learned that our website vendor was having serious server problems that prevented some of our customers from completing their orders (other orders were placed successfully). Over the week-end, the problems were fixed and the ordering system is now in [sic] working. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your e-mails, alerting us to these problems.

First of all, breathe a sigh of relief that this wasn't your winery.

What would have happened if some frustrated customer hadn't sent them an e-mail?  They might still have a broken e-commerce site.  They might be wondering why that e-mail offer they sent isn't generating as many orders as usual.

I could be cynical and assume that this is just a way of sending another e-mail blast to get people to take action.  But I'm not.  I feel sorry for whatever revenue this winery lost (my understanding is that they are, like many wineries, trying to move slow-selling products).  I suspect it also had some impact on their customer's perceptions as well.

I took a moment to look up the IP address for the winery's Web site (they host their own e-commerce solution).  Doing a lookup through ARIN (the entity which assigns blocks of IP addresses for the US), I could see that their IP address belongs to their Web host, Bay Area Network Systems.  Presumably, that's where the problem occurred, although it's hard to tell from the winery's description.

What can you do to ensure that you won't experience the same breakdown?  Ideally, you have a way to place an order (from outside your own network) that flows all the way through the system and shows up as received.  That's the only way to really be sure.  And even then, as the letter above shows, that's not a guarantee that it's working for everyone.

If you're like most wineries, where Web sales aren't all that important to the bottom line, you probably don't care.  But if you're doing significant revenue via your Web site, you should be asking yourself, "How do I know that my e-commerce site is actually working?"

(If you supply winery e-commerce solutions, I'd appreciate any comments you care to add.  Thanks!)

A great post from the always-a-pleasure-to-read Mary Baker at Central Coast Wine Blogs: 10 Signs Your Business Is Sinking, and how to recover

For each of the 10 signs (taken from a more general article), Mary brings it home for wineries who find themselves taking on water.

Man the pumps!