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Aussie Wines Website ... We Need Advice Please
Posted By: lindsayaus* on 5/16/2005 3:21 AM (CST) 125 Points
We are a small Aussie wine wholesaler/exporter delivering quality boutique Australian wines direct to customer's door, anywhere in the world. www.aussiewinestoyourdoor.com So far, our customers have only come from direct marketing (wine tastings). We have re-worked our website twice but are still not ranking on any searches so people are not finding us. What are we doing wrong please? Also, is our message clear? I would appreciate any advice and help from this expert panel.
I would offer more points but I'm a new subscriber and need to save some for another question. Many thanks in advance.
Lindsay

Posted by: Sanjeev Kumar Vyas Member Response
5/16/2005 5:34 AM (CST)
Many search engine take 2-3 months to change your ranking after you make changes to your site.

Your site will need to contain the keywords your target customers use to find your wines. There are a lot or articles and previously asked questions here that could help you.

In the mean time you could do some CPC advertising using google ad words and others.

By your question I think youneed to do more advertising to get the traffic 1st before you conclude that your site design is no good.
 
Posted by: NuCoPro Member Response
5/16/2005 8:56 AM (CST)
You need to have your site mentioned on other sites and blogs to REALLY drive traffic. Also, this will help with your search rankings.

It doesn't matter how wonderful a web site is anymore, as there are millions out there and probably into the hundreds of thousands in your particular niche.
 
Posted by: ak* Member Response
5/16/2005 9:09 AM (CST)
As an Aussie living in the US, I can appreciate your desire to seek out new opportunities. With respect to getting your site ranked, what keywords do you hope to appear under? Also, is your content dynamic or static, I couldn't tell very easily as you appear to use PHP scripts but they could be either.

Just a couple of things for US consumers - you could very easily rent a US 1-800 number that automatically ties to Australia. In fact, go to www.vonage.com and find a US-based friend to buy you a Vonage kit. Put the 1-800 telephone # at the top of your web site for US visitors (look at their IP address, US visitors easy to distinguish). It costs US$24.95/month + 6c/min for the toll free number. All you need is a broadband internet connection, doesn't matter where in the world you are.

On the issue of credibility, nowhere on your web site does it tell me where you are based nor what your physical address is. If you want people to plop down their credit card details from 8,000 miles away, you better let me know I can trust you. And let me know how I can be guaranteed that my wine won't break in transit and what you'll do if it does. Maybe show pictures of the packaging?

You might also want to check out www.thesearchguru.com for search engine optimization. I know Leslie, the Guru, personally and she's reasonably priced and was trained by some of the best. We've found her very helpful and knowledgeable.
 
Posted by: NoStressXpress Accepted Answer
5/16/2005 9:11 AM (CST)
Hello,

Welcome to the world of internet marketing where I can assure you that the conventional rules of advertising and marketing DO NOT APPLY. You got the BASICS already established by your website and as far as websites go you have to continually keep asking these Question: Is my website doing a good job of SELLING and answering my customers questions? Is my website doing a good job of making it EASY for visitors to do business with us? With these questions answered to your satisfaction, then it is only a matter of driving customers to your website, which means that your website truly needs MASSIVE EXPOSURE. Simple in concept but NOT Easy!

Search engine placement takes a lot of time and you must use other forms of mass advertising like email advertising (the non-spam way) to attract more customers. There are a number of "pros and internet companies" who would gladly do this for you but then again you must NOT engage them before you know some useful facts about email marketing. Here are some:

1. In email marketing, the SUBJECT LINE of your ad is more important than the BODY of the AD. The subject line (in 100 characters or less) must convey your message and must compel your reader to OPEN the email. Otherwise, your reader will DELETE the email.

2. The BODY of the AD must have a compelling call to action for the reader to click on your website length. Therefore, the job here is not to sell but to arouse curiosity and imply that more information is available at the website. Many email advertisers make the mistake of putting too much info in their email ad. In other words, you have to make sure that the customer makes the BUY/NO BUY decision at your website.

3. If you intend to become a member of a safelist, you will be wasting your time. Most safelist members join safelists to advertise or sell something to the other safelist members without fear of spamming complaints. However, if you did this then it becomes Advertisers advertising to other advertisers......and this really doesn't make sense at all. Besides, all safelist members have to maintain what is known as a "junk" email address .. . where your ads will go to be unopened and unseen and not read and eventually deleted.

4. The best form of email advertising is one that is called "permission based" and one where email recipients allow emails to go into their primary of "contact" email address. However, to ensure that your ad will not be blocked or deleted because of new anti-spam technology employed by ISPs and Anti-Virus programs, I would recommend that you or your internet advertising agency use "EMAIL ANALYZER" software to scan for words or symbols that Spam detection software normally looks for.

5. I recommend that you Don't buy email address LISTS and send ads with your computer to the names on the list. No matter how careful you are there is almost a 100% probability that you will be accused of SPAMMING by somebody on that list. A few complaints to your ISP and it's all over. Let someone else do your email advertising for you.

My only other advice is for you to hire a very good "search engine placement/ranking " consultant who will strive to make sure that your company name and link will appear on the first page on any search by a prospective customer.

Hope this helps.

Conrad
 
Posted by: elambert Member Response
5/16/2005 9:55 AM (CST)
To expand on Sanjeev comment - your pages need to include appropriate meta tags for keywords and description.

Admittingly, these tags are not as important as they were years ago. However, it would be well worth the little time they require to develop.

I also agree with Vevolution about linking or having your site mentioned in BLOGS is a good idea. Crosslinking or linkings from other sites in general will definitely improve your search engine ranking.

As Conrad suggested, I would work on your AD/BODY. Often less is more, have the benefits, specials, warantees, call to action JUMP OUT at the reader instead of being buried in a long string of text.

The web site design could use some work as well. The jumping kangaroo is cute, the first jump, but I do not know of many grade school wine drinkers. Check out one of the most successful online wine retailers, www.wine.com (formerly Virtual Vineyards) and see what others said made them a great success: http://www.inc.com/magazine/19960615/1966.html http://www.coursework.info/i/61373.html.

Hope this helps.

Ernie
 
Posted by: night_butterflz Member Response
5/16/2005 1:34 PM (CST)

Because I think you are entering into a select market, you will need to target target target an audience. Who drinks wine...? Are you in the yellowpages? Have you contacted popular search engines- google, yahoo. ARe you familiar with VALS? I think the website is fine.

Survey or conduct a focus group on existing customers. You may find what you are looking for. Give your current customers are referral card. If they refer you to someone and they buy, they get 5$ off the next purchase, or 10% off. Something like that.

Getting back to your market though, I have these questions that you need to ask to help you target.

1. Who buys your wine- female, male, age? income, location, demographics etc.
2. Where can you buy adv this group of people comes in contact with?
3. How much money are you willing to spend to get your company out there? I ask because the creative things you could do are endless.

jen
 
Posted by: NuCoPro Accepted Answer
5/16/2005 2:31 PM (CST)
Run a contest on your site with the prizes being a selection of your premium wines. Perhaps something like - grand prize = two cases; two first place prizes of a case; and 6 second place prizes of half cases.

The registration process will require participants to supply sufficient information for you to know how to reach them. Also, they must answer a (short) series of questions about their wine tastes, AND what they are willing to spend on wine shipments.

Have the contest highlighted on your Home page and "push" it out to every wine web site, publication, etc. you can think of. I'm thinking the chance at some FREE premium wine would attract a LOT of wine enthusiasts from around the world. I know I would certainly enter!

Only allow one entry per address. You should leave the contest open for around six months to build traffic. You also, might consider giving away a couple of bottles each month to keep things current. If you do that, don't forget to post the winners on your web site.

You will also want to initiate an email campaign coupled with marketing analytics to turn your contest participants into repeat buyers.
 
Posted by: ilovemydoggy Member Response
5/16/2005 3:18 PM (CST)
My mouth is not "watering". You need to be more creative. Really hit people with why Austrialian wine IS UNIQUE!! JAZZ IT UP!

SAMPLE SUGGESTIONS:
NEW HOME PAGE
http://stockmarket-direct.com/aussiewine

PERSONAL VIGNETTES:
wineries that grow wine you sell:
http://www.stockmarket-direct.com/wineries.htm

COMPETITION -- Look at this competitor:
http://www.winewalkabout.com/ww/home

http://www.winewalkabout.com/ww/wine_regions

I like "Taste the Wonder from Down Under" - cute. Use brown, tan, rich colors to remind people of Australia. COPY on MAIN PAGE is boring.... EXCITE PEOPLE.
Warm regards, Nancy Mehegan
Email: safeinthewoods@hotmail.com
 
Posted by: lindsayaus* Author Response
5/16/2005 11:43 PM (CST)
Thank you all so much for your speedy responses. This information is a huge help. Please keep them coming. As Conrad said, none of the conventional rules of advertising & marketing apply so it’s like I’m starting all over again. I have some questions from some of your answers:
Sanjeev: What is CPC advertising. Is it click per ….?

Vevolution: How do you go about getting mentioned on other sites and blogs? Love the contest idea but how do you ‘push’ it out to wine websites as they would see us as competition.

Alex (ak): Great to hear from an Aussie. What is meant by our content being dynamic or static and what are PHP scripts? As you can see, I didn’t put the site together myself. The 1-800 number is a great idea and we’ll investigate. We have a great shot of our shipment packaging on our main Shipping & Charges page but it must be ‘below the line’ – should we move it up? Also, full address details are given on Contact Us, Privacy Policy and Site Terms pages – are these too obscure? Returns Policy is listed on Site Terms page – again too obscure?

Conrad: How do I find a recommended ‘permission based’ email marketing company?

Elambert: How do you mean benefits etc. JUMP OUT? Any examples would be great plus should we lose the jumping Kangaroo. We wanted to try something other than shots of vineyards, wine glasses etc. Also I’ve tried the link for Inc.com magazine article about Wine.com but cannot find the article. Would love to read it – help.

Jen: Love the referral card idea. Quest. 1, mostly male but some professional females, 40+, $75,000+, live mainly cities, professionals, businessmen and self funded retirees (golfers). How do we target these people effectively? Budget – well it’s a Catch 22 situation really.

Nancy: Interesting – we thought people would want to know about what we do but you suggest we give more flavor of Australia. I need to think on this for a while.

I know some of my questions above are pretty basic but I beg your indulgence here – I’m a middle aged women struggling with a new and dynamic medium! Again, thanks. Lindsay lindsay@aussiewinesonline.com
 
Posted by: NoStressXpress Member Response
5/17/2005 8:09 AM (CST)
Hello Lindsay,

Please do a Google search for "Permission Based Email Marketing" and you will get an overwhelming response to that inquiry. There are essentially two types of service. The first type is where you use your computer (and their software) to do your marketing. The other type is where They DO EVERYTHING for you (except write your ad). I have experiences with both but I would recommend choosing the latter for spam reasons.

A good example of the latter is www.adfaqxpro.com which combines email marketing, classifieds, ezines, FFAs... etc.

Another example is www.adfaqxproplus.com which is strictly permission based email marketing.

Both of these services are owned by the same company and have been around for over 7 years ... which is a good indicator because most internet-based companies go out of business within the first 90 days. I am not giving an endorsement for you to use these services...I normally refer merchants to these sites so that they can gather more facts about internet marketing. These sites are quite "wordy" but they contain a lot of useful information that will take novices years to find out.

I hope this helps.

Conrad
 
Posted by: NuCoPro Member Response
5/17/2005 9:30 AM (CST)
I was referring to web sites on wine that are not directly associated with wineries or distributors, like Wine Spectator, and many others. I would do some research to find out who the popular writers are in the wine field (i.e. Robert Parker) and inform them of the contest. There are aggregator sites for blogs now (sorry, don't have the links) which you can query for blogs that deal with wine.

On another subject, its become somewhat of a standard approach to have your contact information listed in the footer of EVERY page - you don't want people to have to search for it. Also, your Returns Policy has nothing to do with Site Terms - they are business terms and should be accessible directly from pages dealing with ordering and shipping.
 
Posted by: elambert Member Response
5/17/2005 10:22 AM (CST)
Reasons why customers should buy Aussie wine or buy from you should not be burried in a string of text. It should JUMP OUT by being listed seperately, maybe in a larger different font and/color, in a short blurb. For example:

- Exclusive (or hard to get) boutique Australian wines

- Highest quality blends, wide variety to choose from

- Buy direct and SAVE

- Hassle free ordering and delivery worldwide

Personally, I am not a fan of unnecessary graphics or animations. However, I would not loose the kangaroo, maybe just have it hop one and position it in the top left corner of the page.

The comma at the end of the string was the problem with accessing the Inc.com article: try
http://www.inc.com/magazine/19960615/1966.html

Ernie
 
Posted by: ak* Member Response
5/17/2005 11:27 AM (CST)
Lindsay

Aussies have a great reputation in the US and you are truly privileged to be able to serve the US market from Australia, there is an element of trust already established and you would be wise to use it.

Elambert is right on the money with respect to advertising. Blend this with the fact that most Americans think of Aussies as laid back, sun-bleached, fun-loving Mick Dundee types with kangaroos and koalas in their backyards. I've never heard an American criticize Australia so take advantage of that in your message, you are starting from an enviable position with respect to many other countries.

With respect to the dynamic/static, ask the person(s) who designed your web site whether your content is optimizable for search engines. Most dynamic content is not optimizable (think CNN and news sites whose content changes regularly).

You should also consider signing up for a service that analyzes your web site's log files. There are any number out there (www.urchin.com for example) and they will tell you who is visitng your site, from where, how they go through order pages, abandon rate, etc, a wealth of information. You need to put something like this in place several months in advance of when you think you'll need it as it can take time to get a statistically significant amt of data.

I'd be happy to donate a few of my ideas via telephone too, get in touch with me via e-mail and perhaps we can set something up, always happy to help Aussie entrepreneurs.
 
Posted by: KSA Accepted Answer
5/18/2005 12:34 AM (CST)
Lindsay,

A lot of information has been thrown at you, but just keep going and pretty soon it will all be old hat.

I think Sanjeev meant PPC - that's pay per click. Try this site: http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/. It will take you to the pay per click info for what was Overture that has been purchased by Yahoo. When you do a search on Google or Yahoo, etc. you always see the "Sponsored Links" at the top of the page and down the right-hand margin. Those are PPC ads. While Google has most of the search market, Overture/Yahoo's advertising goes to many places and usually gives you better coverage.

I agree with Alex that you might have a search engine problem. To a search engine, your links look like this: http://www.aussiewinestoyourdoor.com/contact_us.php?osCsid=72a554fc80bac49f... Ask your web developer if a search engine can follow that type of a link. Many times you would just see http://www.aussiewinestoyourdoor.com/contact.html or something similar to link to other pages in your own site.

Search engines place a great deal of weight on links that are pointing to your site. Go to this site for example: http://www.winesearch-online.com/. You can add a link to your site for free. There are also many general online directories. You'd probably want to look at the Shopping Category, Food and Beverage, Wine, or something similar. You'll need to add some pages to your site for link exchanges, but don't call the pages links! Include some related information so that the page is useful and contains the links.

Overall, I'd suggest that you step back and write down who your target customer is. Not only the demographics, but why would they want your wine? Then, put that as the thing that jumps out on your home page. Can you appeal to them wanting to be exclusive, and your wine is hard to find in the US? Then, you might use "Be the first to host an Aussie wine tasting with our premium Australian wines!" or something like that - you get the idea.

Lastly (whew), once you figure that out, think about how people would search on the internet to find your site, and do some keyword research to choose your best keywords. A simple search can be done here: http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/. You'll find that Australian Wine is searched for about 270 times a day according to Overture.

Or, you could just hire someone to help you. Sorry this turned into such a book!

Best of luck,

Kathleen
 
Posted by: ablereach* Member Response
5/19/2005 2:57 AM (CST)
Wow! Thorough answers above. We must have some wine lovers on this list. :-)

BEFORE hiring a Search Engine Optimizer/Marketer:
--Have a solid set of info on your target demographic and their interests. Save any customer questions. Any common question can become a targeted page of its own.
--Give http://www.google.com/webmasters/ a good read, all of it, to familiarize yourself with some of the concepts and language.
--Get a good site stat program going - these can be a great source of insight for a SEO.

Don't hire a SEO/SEM who does not also consider site useability.

I think a newsletter would be a good way to keep in touch with interested site visitors. Wine lovers are probably also foodies, right? Offer ideas for what would bring out the (list of qualities) in a featured wine. Cheeses or simple recipes would be a natural. The recipes could become an additional search engine draw.

A search like - food to serve with shiraz - has 49,000 results in Google at the moment, as opposed to 2 1/2 million for - aussie wine. Nice, targeted niche. A foodie newsletter might be a fun area to play with... classy lemon-pepper BBQ with pinot noir... I'm making myself hungry. ;-)


Elizabeth
 
Posted by: mrgiordano2000 Member Response
5/19/2005 1:52 PM (CST)
A lot of great suggestions here, I just wanted to add to ablereach's comment of a newsletter. That is one of the easiest and cheapest (free) ways to begin gathering valid opt-in email addresses for an email campaign.

Another Idea that can be relatively inexpensive is to choose local markets in the US you want to reach and then undergo a local Google Adword campaign. It would help you to be prominent in the geographic areas you want to break into.

https://adwords.google.com/select/success.html
https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6382&hl=en_US
https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6119&hl=en_US

There are some relavelant links about how Google Adword works and what the budget should be.

Hope this helps.

Michael
 
Posted by: ablereach* Member Response
5/19/2005 3:17 PM (CST)
thanks mrdiorgano. I dreamed about lemon pepper somethingerother with roasted red bell peppers last night. Seriously.

In my dream I was floating through a store looking for aussie wines, but I couldn't remember the shape, color or name on the labels. When I look for wine I skim for a familiar label - the bottles are pretty much the same shape, so the label is what differentiates. Your product shots feature the bottle more than the label. What do you think of adding a clear flat shot of the label?

If you make a strong enough impact online, people will look for the labels in stores. Don't benefit from brick and mortar sales? Well a little bit goes both ways. If people have seen your wines in person and find you online, the labels from your site will jog their memories.

One key to getting people to buy online is having formed an emotional attachment to your product and in turn (hopefully) your site. Cue into any existing attachment by making recognizing those labels drop-dead simple. Featuring a great guarantee replete with special wine lover's words would also ring a bell.

Re the newsletter idea - For a couple years I subscribed to Torani's recipe newsletter and read it eagerly. It's beautiful, direct, has links to more info on the site and is not too long. Because of it I bought different flavors of syrup and ice cream. You might want to look at their newsletter as an example. The redesigned site is a little hard to read, but much of the content and topic positioning is simply superb.
http://www.torani.com/create/joinmovement.shtml

Elizabeth
 
Posted by: ablereach* Member Response
5/19/2005 3:44 PM (CST)
Here I go again.

You're getting customers through direct marketing. While you've got them in your hands, what can tasters take away that includes your URL?
--Luscious recipe cards that have your URL on them, with a note that more ideas are online. A recipe that matches a purchased wine could go into the bag with that wine. More could be available on a table. You don't have to go full color if the paper is nice and the layout classy.
--Gift cards they can use to buy wine for others, through your site or at the tasting.
--Fliers or pamphlets should feel like they're a taste test with substance, plus lead to finding more online.

Tate every opportunity to gracefully point out that more is available online. Don't expect anyone to "visit the web site." Won't work. Give them a destination for something that interests them - demonstrate content.

When they get online, the content should already be there. You only get one shot to make a good first impression, especially online.

AND, do you belong to any online communities that discuss food and wine? Look for someplace like MarketingProfs for wine fans and join in. Once you know what they like and may need, write articles. Article authors usually get a link back to their own page. If you can offer value for the host site as well as whet the whistle for readers, getting published may get some clicks and incoming links. Incoming links can help your search engine rankings.

Right now a Google search for - aussie wines to your door - (no quotes) gives this thread the #13 place. What wine forums are high ranking? Introduce yourself and contribute. Put your URL in your profile, and use a sig line that includes your business name.

Yahoo doesn't have you in the top 100.

Your coding could benefit from some SEO. In the meantime most of what I've talked about can be very inexpensive & do-it-yourself.

Elizabeth


p.s

For recipes, pick titles that have a draw of their own - name special ocasions and favorite foods that have specific words.

xyz wines for Christmas Dinners

Romantic Date With Australian Shiraz and Lamb
Describe a date-worthy meal that can be cooked at home, raving, of course, about shiraz.

OK, I think I'm done now. ;-)
 
Posted by: lindsayaus* Author Response
5/20/2005 1:22 AM (CST)
I have to say I am overwhelmed with the response from the Forum - thank you all so much for your invaluable advice. Please know I am re-reading and researching EVERY suggestion and link to take full advantage of your wealth of knowledge. We are now re-writing our Title tag, key words etc. for SEO. I have taken note of your suggestions to ‘jazz up’ our website and give it more of an Aussie flavor but this will take a little time to make the changes. Any other suggestions for doing this would be appreciated. I love the Competition and Recipe ideas too.

With regard to more in depth ideas for e-marketing the site, I guess this will be an additional Forum question. Our wines are not available in liquor stores (thanks Ablereach for your suggestions), only thru us on our website which is what makes them so special. We are based in Sydney Australia and conducted a wine tasting in NYC just to kick things off and handed out a flyer plus fridge magnet/coaster with logo, website and info on it. Conversion results were a little disappointing.

Again, thanks so much for all the information – it will keep me busy for weeks! My regards to you all – Lindsay. lindsay@aussiewinesonline.com
 
Posted by: NuCoPro Member Response
5/20/2005 11:02 AM (CST)
Lindsay,

Don't forget to close the question! Otherwise the MarketingProfs staff will have to do it in a few weeks.
 


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