Keys to a Successful Winery Website

Having recently launched the R. Stuart & Co. Winery Website I thought it might be instructive to go through some of the key elements that we feel all winery websites should have, using the example of the R. Stuart site.

While this is, by no means, an exhaustive list of every feature we packed into the site, it does cover the most important. I hope you find it useful!

Wine Detail Page

While it seems obvious, many wineries forget that their website’s primary purpose is to introduce (and sell!) their wines to a passionate audience. You’ll see sites that are so jumbled up with things like Flash splash pages, music pairings, and navigation systems that bury the wine pages that it’s almost criminal (a crime against the wine). We focus on the wine. Each wine detail page is easy-to-read and offers layers of information for both the wine newbie and wine geek alike. These include: a detailed description, a large “buy now” button, previewable and downloadable tasting notes, spec data for the vineyard, vinification, and final products, a Google vineyard map, and photos.

The Store

Speaking of selling wine, we created a custom Volusion store (the store used by both Barack Obama and John McCain in the 2008 election and by the new Kangaroo) for R. Stuart which gives users a standardized (Amazon.com-esque) shopping experience. The store can handle quantity discounts, free shipping, price groups for the wine club, and gives a number of opportunities for marketing including coupon codes. It’s also PCI compliant and hosted on Volusion servers so critical data and transactions are ensured to be safe.

Contact Information in Obvious Locations

There is nothing more frustrating that going to a winery’s (or any company’s) site and having no clue where they are located or how to contact them. You are then forced to find the “contact” dropdown item where they may or may not have what you’re looking for. With R. Stuart, we placed the pertinent info in the upper right of every page. It’s also at the bottom of every page, in the footer. Another bonus, pull up the site on an iPhone and the phone number is automatically a link to call.

Blog / Social Media

While wine is the product and, if it’s tasty can sell itself, a good dose of personality is also required. Enter social media and the blog. We place the social media all in one spot (the jquery drawer on the left of the site) so that users aren’t distracted by it, but can easily access it at any time. The blog is integrated into the site and is divided into three sections: winery postings (From the Winery), trade postings (On the Road), and recipes. We give the power to the winery staff to update the blog (and all content, for that matter) themselves. The more they blog, the more they look like a happy, vibrant business and the more it helps their searchability. Oh, and check out a recipes page and note the “Share and Print” button. You can easily print any page of the site (practical for recipes) and even instantly create a PDF of it. Very cool.

Trade Page

Every winery should be as accomodating to trade as it can. We gave trade a one-stop page for all necessary information. This includes: contact information, distributor list, winemaker bio, logo art, and tasting notes, label image, and bottle image for each wine.

Simple Navigation

This isn’t so much a wine-specific feature, but a website feature in general. We subscribe to the philosophy that less is more. This is particularly the case when trying to relay a large amount of information in an easy-to-understand manner. Navigation needs to be obvious and consistent. If a user doesn’t know exactly where a link is going to take them, they aren’t going to click (example, if you have a blog, call it a blog for goodness sake…don’t try to be cute or clever with its name).

Calendar of Events

Most wineries have a calendar of events but make two major mistakes with it: 1) It’s rarely updated so it looks like your winery doesn’t do any events and/or 2) The calendar is difficult to navigate. We created a simple and clean list of events which quickly gives the user all of the necessary details. If the user wants, she can click “Calendar” to see the classic calendar view. Clicking on any one event brings the user to a detailed event page where they can comment on the event or share it via their social networks.

Why Your Winery Should be Using Foursquare

Some social media experts have declared that Foursquare, the geolocation application for mobile devices, to be “the next big thing” in social media. Others believe it to be a passing fancy that will disappear when people tire of the novelty of it.

I, for one, don’t care about the longevity of the product. It is my job to use these tools, trendy or not, to help people increase business. This week, it’s my job to help wineries. So, here we go with a list of why your winery tasting room should be making use of Foursquare, trend or not.

The Whys

1. Drinking Games are Fun – I know, it’s inappropriate and even crass to say to a high end winery, but, it’s a fact: Drinking games are fun. That doesn’t mean Joe Bob and his friends (they’ll be starring in the rest of the article) will use FourSquare to get tanked, but it does mean it adds that extra je ne sais quoi to the wine tasting experience. Foursquare is, at its core, an online game that incentivizes visitors to real world establishments with virtual points, badges, and titles.

I worked off and on in my family’s winery tasting room for over a decade. Some of our biggest days were those when we took part in various treasure hunts or stamp events. People got very excited about collecting stamps…probably a bit more so than they would have had wine not been involved. So, in summary, Foursquare and booze, in any form, are a good match.

2. People who don’t know about it, don’t know about it – Let’s be honest. People who don’t get social media, or even specific social media applications, tend to be hostile toward it. You don’t want to annoy those who want nothing to do with social media. Foursquare is kind of like a secret club. Joe Bob can check in via his own personal web device without Crotchety McGee having a clue.

3. FourSquare check-ins disseminate through various social media networks – When Joe Bob checks in to your establishment, this information is not only shared with other FourSquare users, but, if Joe Bob set up his account in a social way, that information will be shared with his Twitter followers and Facebook friends. Bonus: If Joe Bob happens to have 20,000 Twitter followers and 600 Facebook friends, you just got a lot of word of mouth advertising.

4. FourSquare is a user generated review site – While FourSquare isn’t necessarily billed as a geolocation tracking Citysearch or Yelp, that’s pretty much what it is. If you provide an excellent product and your staff provides excellent customer service, FourSquare users will let other FourSquare users know about it. Better yet, since the the “reviews” are billed as “tips” these reviews tend to be a bit more specific, thus more helpful, than those found elsewhere. For example, instead of saying something like, “Good wine, staff was nice”, Joe Bob may say something like, “Ask to try the Temperance Hill, it’s wonderful,” or “Katie works Saturday afternoons, and she knows her stuff!”.

5. Chances are your tasting room will be added, with or without your permission – Foursquare users can add businesses to the directory themselves. It’s always my opinion that your business should be listed in the way you want it to be listed. Take control early. Not only will you be able to name your business as you want to name it, but putting your business in the Foursquare directory will increase the likelihood of being visited by Foursquare users.

The Hows

1. Nothing required – As mentioned above, Foursquare is primarily a user driven game. You don’t have to do a thing for your business to be involved. Just trust that, some day, it will be. So, do nothing, or add your business yourself.

2. Incentivize the incentives – Foursquare, itself, provides great ideas of how to use Foursquare for your business. Specific to tasting rooms? Offer a 10% discount to anyone who checks into your tasting room. Again, think of it as word of mouth advertising. If you’re a Wine Bar, and have regular customers, offer a higher discount to the Mayor (the person who has checked into your establishment the most), thus creating a little discount competition. Get together with other wineries in your area and offer a small prize to anyone who checks into all of those wineries.

If you’re not ready, yet, to offer any discounts, a simple chalkboard with the Mayor’s name on it can be enough to create buzz for your company’s presence. Not to mention, there’s wine involved, so you’ll probably be taking pictures of many Mayors…which will, inevitably, be uploaded to various social media networks.

Best social media reads of the week (thus far)

It seems people were thinking hard about social media over the holiday break, as some FANTASTIC social media articles and blog posts have been published this week. Below you will find a list of the writings we considered to be the best of the best (thus far).

1. Pepsi Chooses Social Media Over Super Bowl (Media Bullseyse) – If you’re only going to read one article about social media this week, make it this one. Just as the title suggests, Pepsi is redirecting its Super Bowl fund to a Super Social Media campaign. In other words, “It’s been decided that they would rather be talked about in a positive light by millions than have their ad seen by millions of people, even it is the Super Bowl”. Cool move, Pepsi Co.

2. Why Social Media is Still a Red-headed Stepchild (Web Worker Daily) – So true, it’s almost painful to read. Highlights reasons why there is so much resistance from PR and marketing departments regarding social media.

3. How to Say Stupid Things About Social Media (The Guardian) – “Why do people care what I ate for breakfast?”, is a common comment we’ll hear from Twitter skeptics. This article explains why…and they don’t care what you ate for breakfast, so there.

4. 91% of Companies Used Social Media in 2009 (Simply Zesty) – Nice analysis of stats released by the Center of Marketing Research at UMass.

5. 3 Helpful Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2010 (Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide) – Jeremy liked this one so much, he wrote a full analysis of it here, that is equally important to read.

6. Breaking Up in a Digital Fish Bowl (NY Times) – This one doesn’t have anything to do with social media and business, but it is a fascinating read about dating (and breaking up) in the age of Facebook. So happy I’m married. So happy.

Three important and interesting social media trends for 2010

John Bell, managing director of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide has written a good article distilling many social media predictions for 2010 into three very important ones. Pay particular attention to the third prediction, “Blogs Will Resurface As The Popular Hub for Brand’s Social Media Effort.”

This year blogs will redefine themselves for brands. They will be the fast-publishing and ‘voice of the brand’ option for many brands who now have experience in social media via Twitter and Facebook and have a new confidence in expressing themselves socially. It is likely that many brand web sites will merge with their blog. Rather than the awkward examples of this to date where the blog no longer looks or behaves like a blog (more like just another page within the Web 1.0 Web site), we will see Web sites that bear many of the attributes of blogs and Web 2.0 (spontaneous, shareable, subscribable, etc…).

Blogs are not passe. Quite the opposite. They will become a valuable “get more” destination that corporate Twitter handles and Facebook “walls” can point people to.

A few thoughts…

1. We’re seeing, and have been seeing, the need for brands to merge their “web site” with their blog. I say “web site” in quotes because, truthfully, your web site these days should basically be a blog. That is, it needs to have social media and blogging built in with the attributes listed above, “spontaneous, shareable, subscribable.” I would add to that list a clean design with a low user learning curve (standardized navigation, buttons, etc.) and an editorial calendar to keep regular content flowing, which is then supplemented by the spontaneous postings.

2. There is a myth out there that making your web site a little more Web 2.0 (meaning a blog and social media features as a back bone) means that your site will be ugly, basic, square, and text-based. While it certainly can be and that would be perfectly fine as long as the content and messaging are good, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, many company sites can be redone with a CMS (content management system) and blogging built in, yet still look basically the same. In other words, just because your site is blog doesn’t mean it has to be stripped down, basic, or ugly.

3. I agree with the assertion that blogs can be valuable as a “get more info” tool via Facebook and Twitter. There is no harm in promoting your brand, product, etc. via the popular social media channels and then saying, “for more info, visit this page on my site.” With that being said, there are some philosophical and theoretical questions to be asked in regard to driving traffic to your FB page for more info, or to your site for more info, but that’s another discussion altogether.

4. One important use for company blogs, which is not directly mentioned in the article, is that blogs provide a central place for your info, promotions, communications, etc. It’s truly where you own your message and brand. Granted, once that message is out there in the social media ball pit, you will lose a bit of control, but your blog is a safe harbor in a violent sea.

The company blog is also important as a central place for postings because those postings, via an RSS feed, can be sent out to Facebook, Twitter, et al. without you having to do a thing, thus saving a good amount of time. This is particularly important for many of the small businesses with whom we work, who do not usually have dedicated social media and/or PR teams.

Source: 3 Helpful Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2010

Social Media for Small Business (Training Kit)

Lunabean Media’s Social Media Training Kit for Small Business

It’s time to join the conversation. Features Instantly downloadable 117-page eBook. Read it on your computer or print it out and create your own hard copy. Written by 10-year social media veterans who specialize in small business. More info… Broken into three sections: Strategies, Facebook, and Twitter. 9 how-to videos. Actionable marketing ideas that you can implement now! More info below $29.99

Details

Included in Lunabean Media’s “Social Media Training Kit for Small Business” is everything we offer in our small business media training sessions with the exclusion of our happy faces. Training comes in the form of Downloadable PDF documents and several easy-to-access training videos.

Whether you are completely new to social media or you just aren’t getting the results you need with your current social media campaigns, this Training Kit will help you!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Included you will find:

Social Media Strategies for Small Business (eBook – PDF).

This manual provides an overview of social media, best practices, brand reputation management, how to measure success, and most importantly over easily executable social media marketing ideas that you can use at your small business to engage customers, build a fan base, and create brand evangelists.

Facebook for Small Business (eBook – PDF).

Facebook is a powerful tool for small business, but you have to know how to use it effectively. This manual covers every detail of Facebook from creating a Fan Page to adding custom applications to creating a Facebook ad. Most importantly it details the type of content to post and how to effectively post it. In addition, it includes best practices and 7 how-to videos that will save you time and help to focus your efforts.

Twitter for Small Business (eBook – PDF).

Twitter provides small businesses a unique opportunity to not only engage their customers but, perhaps more importantly, to listen in to conversations about their product or service and your industry in general. The problem is there are many misconceptions about Twitter and many businesses get overwhelmed by the plethora of Twitter options and opinions. Our Twitter manual for small business explains Twitter and teaches you how to use it. You’ll be retweeting, tagging with hashtags, and using Twitter advanced search faster that you can say treding topic. In addition, it will teach you how to search effectively, create a following, and use tools that will help to manage and simplify your Twitter efforts. This manual also includes 2 how-two videos (Twitter basics and advanced practices).

Don’t kick off a social media campaign the same day Facebook launches a redesign

A letter from Jeremy:

Dear Facebook,

You screwed us today. Please send us $1 million of your $1 billion to make up for it.

Best,

Lunabean Media

Since that’s not going to happen, let’s just learn from this mistake, shall we?

Today was the day we were supposed to launch Lunabean Media on Facebook. I know, I know, it’s pretty late in the game to be doing so, but we are masters of perfecting our clients’ web efforts while ignoring our own.

Anyhoo, I began the day by contacting my 300 friends to let them know about the new Lunabean Media page on Facebook. I used the handy “Suggest to Friends” feature to do just this. When ten minutes went by and nary a friend had fanned, I knew something was wrong. I hopped on over to my home page and…ARE YOU KIDDING ME FACEBOOK DECIDED TO REDESIGN THE HOME PAGE NOW!?!?!?

I went into panic mode. My invites had been lost in the overhaul…or some had been. Others were received, but the Facebook generated link to my page didn’t work. And the worst part about it? That was my one shot. All 300 of my friends are now locked out of an invite, because Facebook thinks I already invited them.

So, here I am, on the eve of my launch, with 16 Facebook fans. Time to crack a beer, watch last night’s DVRed “Grey’s”, and get on with my life. It looks like I’m just going to have to get my fans the old fashioned way…kick ass content that people will be excited to read. BooYA! So, to the 16 of you, get ready, because I’m about to blow your mind.

Oh, and to my clients, those of you who pay for my expertise, I have two tips for you today:

1. Don’t kick off a social media campaign the same day Facebook launches a redesign.
2. Don’t invite your entire list at once. Instead, break it up into groups of 20 or so. This way, if you fail, your entire list won’t be shot to hell.

Did I mention I got in a car accident today, too? Yeah, and, get this, it was MY FAULT. Not a good day. At all.

Video: Social Media Revolution (In case you think social media is a fad)

For those concerned social media is a fad, give this video a watch. Social media is not a passing fancy, but a marketing revolution.