As I pointed out already, took me 2 weeks, from start to finish, to learn the code and refactor it to our requirements. Add in less than $200 for plugins (shipping, coupons, etc, just wanted more flexibility than built-in). And roughly $10 per month for hosting. Shopping cart is free and comes with WooCommerce (free ecommerce platform add-on to WordPress), and connects to Stripe, Square or PP, for payment gateways, all free, you can switch on the fly. Really, not much time and money. Really hate to see so many companies taking advantage of small wineries, or even large ones, when most of the code/templates/plugins come free to begin with. Heck, now that I know what WordPress/WooCommerce look like I can easily tell which site runs on them, and even which templates in many cases. There are other platforms similar to WooCommerce, but seems WooCommerce runs a significant portion of ecommerce sites the globe over, probably the largest slice.
There is a bunch of templates, mostly paid, that claim to be able to run a winery site. Most are designed in EU where alcohol shipping laws seem way easier than ours, and do not account for issues we run into. Many templates are badly coded and run like molasses. Some are buggy as hell, and then many do not allow much customization. Some masquerade as wineries, but are really wine retail shops. I spent 10-12 days going through all the offerings before I came across a free template shop for WordPress that has 20 odd templates out of the box that cover almost any industry. The level of detail and customization offered is stupendous, and most of the features a winery needs are already built in, actually way too much in our case and I spent the time deleting and/or limiting features. But the point is that all one needs comes free for the most part and is readily available and configurable.
Still have no idea what OP would like to see on a winery website to make it a âdestinationâ, and to be honest, this being an older thread it completely escaped me to ask when I saw him at an OC offline recently.
Great conversation here, despite the original post being as Michael noted full of technical errors. Now I am getting a 404!
I donât agree that Wordpress is the answer to everything; although it depends on your size and complexity. It can be a challenge from a speed and security standpoint, but if you are smaller makes a lot of sense. The more professional platforms will always have more features, but also cost more and be much more customized. With shipping, taxes, etc. can be a real challenge. I would love to see an open source model here where smaller producers can get something free or hire their own consultant to put together; but someone bigger can pay if they want it fully managed.
That said, what your website runs on is a separate conversation from how you market your winery. What are the best tips people have for setting themselves apart and answering âWhy should someone buy our wine at X price instead of the other wine at X price of the same quality?â as Roy mentions?
Care to say this in English? What does https have to do with anything.
I am 40+ years IT pro, feel free to explain. Same applies to the anti WordPress self appointed âexpertâ above, feel free to explain whatever you meant to point out. Large wineries also use WordPress, you seem to be lost in the discussion and have no notion of the subject.
You got me, Greg! I donât like Wordpress. Yes, lots of wineries and websites use it, but that doesnât mean itâs the best answer. Lucky us, though, we can all use the software we prefer. I didnât mean to start the WP flame wars.
What matters is:
Your wine
Your story
Your site has good technical SEO
Your site is easy to navigate
Your site is easy to purchase on (if an option)
Your makes it easy to call or reserve
Your site is responsive/mobile friendly
I would agree that many winery websites donât do this. Lots of room for improvement and lots of platforms or tools to do it.
For example, what if I want to pin or share a note on a bottle of wine to my social network? Many sites donât have good images, or only have wine info buried in a PDF.
Nobody likes shopping in a store with mostly empty shelves. When they go to a wine/liquor store, they expect to see stuff to buy on the self. Fairly simple huh??? If they go back a couple times and the shelves are still mostly bare, they go elsewhere.
Itâs the nature of the beast. Go to many of the winery websites , during major portions of the year, and the shelves are bare! One gets â Here are the two wines we have leftâ! After awhile, they stop visiting because they just expect empty shelves .
Our LWS will tell you they hate taking on small batch wineries. The LWS puts out all the work to introduce, Market, and sell a producerâs wine, to then learn they canât get more until next year. The vast majority of wine Buyers want availability of wines they like! Show them enough empty shelves ( out of stock websites) and theyâll look elsewhere permanently.
Let me add: If that popular gamay Noir you make is typically released in Mid January, the put that on the website!!! Not just some stupid out of stock comment and nothing else for the wine. Most winemakers know when the release dates of the various varieties or bottlings are. Try clearing putting it on the website and inviting the browser to come back then ! Some websites act as if release dates are some State secret!
When and where did I say that WP is the best platform for wineries? I did point out that a good number of wineries do run on WP, but thatâs it. If you know of another platform where one can be operational in days for under $200 with all the bells and whistles I will definitely listen. Until thenâŚ
Feel free to list wine sites that do not provide for easy navigation and ordering. Have no idea what youâre saying, nor implying.
What is it youâre trying to sell here? Because it looks like amateur hour from where I sit. Should I point out that 99.999% of readers here donât really care about âYour site has good technical SEOâ being CONSUMERS and not running wineries, as one example. You should try selling on some business only site, this site is not your target audience.
Youâre asking what I sell, because Iâm not selling anything in these posts. I do not sell websites. Thatâs probably why it doesnât look like Iâm doing a very good job at selling, because I am not. What are you selling?
Explains your total cluelessness, then, not that it was in need of proof already. Asking again to list wine web sites that do not have easy navigation and ordering.
Basically, google does not support non https at this point, it is required to rank in google (organic search) and their own browser (chrome) will literally warn you not to go there. Bad for business
Have no idea why weâre discussing any of this, and really have no idea what the hell you guys are talking about. You just posted an image from some blog site, who the hell cares if its https or not.
I know some âhttpsâ sites (not wineries) who will take your order and not ship, how does that help anyone, or Google search, or whatever. Whatâs your point?
Most hosting providers will issue the certificate for free these days with a multi-year contract, takes a few minutesâ time to get it done, literally, and in the end changes absolutely nothing for the consumer. Google either finds such a certificate on your site, or it does not, actual Cart and billing/processing doesnât care one way or another. You know, the eCommerce side of it. Its a gimmick, and a false sense of security in real terms. Any eCommerce enabled winery missing one is either lazy or ignorant, but it has nothing to do with the discussion. I coded our web site and can assure you that ALL of the features and functionality, including Cart and billing/processing, is exactly same with or without the https certificate and Google dispayling that stupid lock in your web browser or not. The only difference is that one small file located on our web site. Its just another way Google makes you âdependentâ on their control of your daily life, and if some company out there wants to rip you off there is nothing that Google does, or not, that will change it.
OP wanted SITE CONTENT to drive winery sitesâ visits, and whether a winery runs a https site, or not, is irrelevant to the original point the OP made. Still waiting for anyone to clearly point out what it is they think that will compel consumers visit a winery site daily, or in-between releases/ordering windows. Having a https certificate or âbasic SEOâ (whatever the hell that means) has nothing to do with the discussion.
Can we go back to the OPâs and his question? If anyone wants to discuss technical aspects of web site coding and hosting just start another thread, we have veered way off OPâs premise by now.
Sorry to bump that old subject but I really interested about that and have an opinion. So one of the key reasons wineries may struggle with eCommerce is the lack of data-driven decision making. Without utilizing data and analytics effectively, wineries may struggle to understand their target audience, their preferences, and their purchasing behaviors. By leveraging data-driven decision making, wineries can identify trends, optimize their product offerings, and personalize their marketing strategies to better meet the needs of their customers. Analyzing data related to customer demographics, purchasing patterns, and engagement metrics can provide valuable insights for wineries to make informed decisions and improve their eCommerce performance. Additionally, data-driven decision making enables wineries to track the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, identify areas for improvement, and allocate resources efficiently.
