NY Wineries Getting Internet Marketing Help?

I've written before about how poor a job, in general, New York wineries do with their websites and Internet marketing. Some wineries don't have websites at all. Others have sites that were built years ago and get updated maybe once a year. And many ignore contact forms and emails that come in via their sites.

In short, very few "get it" when it comes to marketing themselves and their wines online. It's a shame really as Internet marketing can be one of the most cost effective forms of marketing available.

Of course, some of the smaller producers just don't have the extra money laying around tol put into the intial start up of a quality website. But, New York State is trying to help. The state will make $500,000 available to wineries and vineyards to improve their sites. The funding is designed to help vintners better market their wines out-of-state.

Matching grants of up to $2,500 will be made available to vintners. Applications need to be submitted the state agricultural department by Aug. 7, 2006.

This is definitely a good thing. But, I hope that Long Island wineries are careful with this money if they get some. I see a lot of East End design agencies taking what little money wineries do have for Internet marketing and producing poor-quality sites.

That happens all over the place (both geographically and by industry) but I hate seeing it in my own backyard wine industry. And, I don't think there are many, if any agencies locally that have any wine-specific expertise. It's a definite gap.

Comments

[Mike Duffy]

Sounds like an interesting program, Lenn. Thanks for posting about it.

Of course, I have to offer my blog ( http://blog.winerywebsitereport.com ) as a free resource about building effective winery Web sites, plus our free monthly newsletter "Effective Winery Web Sites" (sign up on our home page: http://www.winerywebsitereport.com ). I'm even happy to answer questions from Lenndevours - just drop me an e-mail (mike@winerywebsitereport.com).

[Mike Duffy]

Oops - that shoulld be "Lenndevours readers" in the last sentence. Read twice, post once.

[Dan McGurn]

Lenn - off-topic, but Eric Asimov has a good column in today's NYTimes - positive news - of course, we already know about the age-worthy wines from certain LI producers.

[Jared S.]

"And, I don't think there are many, if any agencies locally that have any wine-specific expertise. It's a definite gap."

True, but unfortunately, not a very lucrative niche for those agencies. Heck, if it were, I'd quit my day job and go into business with you, Lenn, covering this niche!

BTW - Did you see Asimov's column today?
"On Long Island, a Case for Respect"
Good stuff!
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/dining/07pour.html

[Lenn]

Dan and Jared,

A nice story indeed. Glad to see Eric giving the local wine industry some love.

Jared,

Right you are. Until the industry grows a bit (maybe through more outside investors) there may not be enough money to go around. But, if that ever changes...consider this a standing offer to start that agency ;)

[Jason Feulner]

Lenn, I couldn't agree with you more about the bad quality of NY wine websites, but I'm not sure it's an issue of money. In fact, maintaining a good website is often one of the cheapeast forms of marketing out there. The domain name costs very little each year, hosting is only a bit more, and there is an endless supply of computer nerds who can make a functional, if not decent website.

I think it's really a matter of perception. Some people who came-of-age before computers may use them but don't really understand how websites work, how web searches work, how ideas and thoughts and products travel over the internet. I'm sure many winery folks are included in this group. In my own experience, my father gets the internet but my mother is completely clueless (and admittedly so).

I hope that the money goes toward website appreciation and training and not just physical costs. Like all grants, however, those who apply are usually least in need because they knew it was important to apply in the first place...