In comparing traditional websites to blogs...blogs win!

At the end of April I reviewed a series of winery blogs for Wine Week. At the time I was spending my weekends in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York where dozens of wineries are thriving. As a result I was trying more wines than I ever had in my life and was really enjoying the experience of visiting different wineries and seeing the ways in which they marketed themselves.

Sometimes my reviews have ulterior motives and I thought that if I found a Finger Lakes wine blog and visited that winery I might score myself some free bottles. Alas, I couldn't find a single winery in the region that was using blogs.

Instead, I looked at over 50 wine websites that were all the same. Oh, they may have had different designs, but they all said the same things. They had a home page, an 'about' page, a page for directions, a page with contact information, and of course, a page to buy their wines. All the websites were less than ten pages in depth.

At the same time, I was reviewing wine blogs from all over the world. Wineries that added stories about their customers, about the process of making their wine, about the events that took place at the vineyards, about the promotions they were running. These websites were alive! Every couple of days there was something new at the site while the old, traditional sites hadn't been updated in months or years. Even the hippest designs of these traditional sites came across as having cobwebs all over them.

There is no comparison. A blog is vibrant, exudes personality, and contains tons of content that gives readers information, entertainment, and a personal connection to the business. When looked at side by side, traditional websites are impersonal, uninformative, and leave the reader feeling cold.

Tags: reason to blog, start a blog, blog vs. website, traditional website

Comments

[El Jefe]

blog n., a web site that you can add content to anytime without paying a web designer.

That's why! - j

[Brian Brown]

Huh. That IS a lot faster to say.

[Mike Duffy]

The Winery Web Site Report (tries to) track all English-language winery blogs. Our up-to-the-minute list is always at http://www.winerywebsitereport.com/blogs.html for those interested.

And you're right - there aren't many winery blogs (29 at last count)! Thanks for your attention to these small businesses.

In your eyes, is there *any* small business segment that seems to have taken to blogging?

Thanks for writing a great blog, Brian - I find both the reviews and the interviews to be quite interesting.

[Brian Brown]

Hi Mike. I answered your question in a post called The
types of businesses that have a lot of bloggers.