Information for Winery & Vineyard Owners
from AllAmericanWineries.com ®
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March 1, 2014 News Flash!
AllAmericanWineries wine directory site exceeds 22,045,000 hits,
4,600,000 page
views, and 2,535,000 visitor sessions since our January 2001
inception. We accurately projected our ten millionth hit during October
2006 (after just seventy months of operation), and our twenty millionth hit during
February 2012. In
perhaps our crowning achievement, we experienced our one millionth
unique visitor in January 2009,
after just eight years of
operation!! Some websites play games with their stats,
showing only hit counts. You should be aware, however, that the number of claimed
hits by a website has much less meaning than page views,
visitor sessions, or unique visitors. Share any of these numbers with your webmaster
and ask for their professional opinion. No matter which of the above metrics you compare with other
winery locator and vineyard directory sites, you will find we are near,
if not at, the top! Click here to view full
AWStats report |
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What *YOU* Are Saying
About AllAmericanWineries |
|
Tom T., Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, FL
- "Hello Bob - Love your site. [Here] are a few more
wineries..."
|
|
JUNE 2005 - ALLAMERICANWINERIES IS INDUCTED INTO THE TOP 100 WINE SITE HALL OF FAME! |
Information on this page is intended for winery and vineyard
use, and covers the following categories:
1. Your Winery and its Listing with
AllAmericanWineries
2. Your Winery's Listing Sequence on
AllAmericanWineries
States Results Page
3. Subscribed Enhanced Listing vs. Standard Listing on
AllAmericanWineries State Results Page
4. Webtrends Reports - Analysis of Visitor Traffic
to AllAmericanWineries and Your Winery
5. Obtaining Your Winery's Own Internet Domain Name
6. Online Orders by Customers from Your
WineLite WebSite© Page
7. Want Ads - Miscellaneous Odds and Ends
1. YOUR WINERY AND ITS LISTING ON ALLAMERICANWINERIES.COM:
AllAmericanWineries was created in January 2001 to
connect visitors searching for wine, wines, a winery, wineries, a vineyard or
vineyards open for public visits with your winery or vineyard. With recent monthly
hit rates that consistently range as high as 250,000 hits (based on
seasonal variability), wine lovers are finding this site, and through this site, they can find you.
Visitors don't even
have to know your winery exists in order to find you. They don't bother
to come here unless they are actively seeking wineries to visit. I am indexed
specifically on sites likely to receive traffic from wine lovers.
If you are a winery or vineyard that is open to the public
for wine sales, wine tasting or winery tours (even if by appointment only), and you are already indexed on
this site, please notify us of any change to your winery name,
location, telephone numbers, Web site URL, or E-mail address. All you need
do is click on
this Update My Winery
link and provide us with any updated information. If necessary, I will
contact you telephonically to verify the information before posting the updated
information within
three working days.
If you are a winery or vineyard already open to the
public for sales, tasting or tours,
but are
not listed on this site, AllAmericanWineries wants to know!
If you are within six months of your anticipated
opening and are ready to receive inquiries from the public, I will also list you
with currently open wineries. If you are over six months away from opening
to the public, I will be happy to list you in the "On The Horizons"
section at the bottom of each state results page. Just click on
this List My Winery
link and provide the following information for your listing. I will contact you telephonically to verify the information
and update the state results page to list your winery, typically within three working days.
1. A point of contact name (for
verification purposes only, it will not be published on this site);
2. your winery name;
3. the street address, city, state, Zip Code of
your winery, and distance and direction from a city on my state maps;
4. the public Internet Web site Uniform Resource
Locator (URL) of your winery (if you don't have one, please say so);
5. the public E-mail address of
your winery (if you don't have
one, please say so); amd
6. the public telephone numbers
for your winery (with area code) for voice phone,
toll-free, and fax
2. YOUR WINERY AND ITS LISTING SEQUENCE ON OUR SEARCH RESULTS PAGES:
All businesses find it
both desirable and advantageous to be listed near the top of any search results
page. AllAmericanWineries groups wineries on each state results page into one
of the following two categories:
1. Subscribed Enhanced Listing winery - Grouped
first, at the
top of your state results page, then chronologically by initial subscription
date (see section 3, immediately below, for information about this optional listing and its benefits); and
2. Standard Listing for all
other wineries - Grouped last, alphabetically by winery name.
3. SUBSCRIBED ENHANCED LISTING vs. STANDARD LISTING:
As a Subscribed Enhanced Listing winery, you benefit
with a higher display level on the search results page, a highlighted bold text
listing, a hyperlink to your Web site, and display of your toll-free
telephone number. In addition, if you host weddings, parties, etc., you
will receive inquiries two weeks before being submitted to standard
listing wineries in
your region. Your subscription helps defray the Web Hosting Service and the Internet
Service Provider costs incurred by AllAmericanWineries to support this site.
Subscribed wineries are guaranteed permanent grouping at the top of
the search results page for as long as you maintain your subscription, which is
renewed automatically for succeeding 12 month periods for as long as you chose,
or unless cancelled by us (the latter has not ever happened except for
non-payment or winery closure).
During the first 60+ days of your newly listed winery
on AllAmericanWineries, you will receive a Complimentary
Enhanced
Listing on our site, along with a welcoming message. This introductory period
will allow you to see the benefits and increased Internet traffic of having your winery
listed with the premiere Internet directory and locator, without risk or obligation.
Your Complimentary Enhanced Listings will include the following:
1. A 
image adjacent to your winery name with the date your winery was added to our
site;
2. your winery name and a hyperlink to your
winery's Internet Web site:
3. your winery address, city,
state and Zip Code (and ultimately, distance and direction from the nearest city
on the state results page map);
4. your winery's E-mail address
and a hyperlink to that E-mail address; and
5. your winery's commercial
telephone number and fax number for public contact.
Shortly before your Complimentary Enhanced Listing period
expires, AllAmericanWineries will contact you and offer you
the opportunity to convert to a Subscribed
Enhanced Listing at the price of only $60/year (wineries and winery tourism
businesses in North Carolina's
Yadkin Valley higher due to brochure costs). If you accept our offer of a Subscribed Enhanced Listing, your winery
name will be moved up to the top of the state search results page immediately
under any earlier Subscribed Enhanced Listing wineries and the text for your
winery listing will be increased to bold
font. If you decline our offer of a Subscribed Enhanced Listing,
at the end of the introductory period, your
entry will be changed to a Standard Listing.
The Standard Listing will still contain only your winery
name, address, and commercial telephone and fax numbers. However the
hyperlink to your
Internet Web Site will be converted to plain text and the toll-free number for
your winery will be changed to "n/a" for your listing. You are under absolutely no obligation to convert your Complimentary Enhanced
Listing to a Subscribed Enhanced Listing, but taking
advantage of the offer before the end of your introductory period will guarantee your
permanent grouping at the top of your state search results page for as
long as you remain a subscribed winery. It's first come, first served!.
Please note that if you opt for a Subscribed listing after your trial period,
fees are not refundable - our labor and hosting costs have already been incurred
in updating our website with the information about your business.
For additional information about our Subscribed Enhanced Listing,
click here.
Ask any additional questions in the pre-addressed E-mail message, and we'll answer
them promptly. If you decide that upgrade option is for you, just let us know. Your listing will be upgraded within three working days and only
then will you be invoiced for the upgrade.
4. TRACKING INTERNET TRAFFIC TO OUR SITES - AWSTATS/WEBTRENDS REPORTS & E-MAIL:
You should clearly expect
increased visitor traffic to your Internet Web site as a result of your
Subscribed Enhanced Listing (or your Complimentary Enhanced Listing) in
the AllAmericanWineries locator and directory. Our web- hosting firm provides monthly reports using a package called
AWStats, that lists data about the number and source of visitors to this site. Prior
to September 2007 we utilized WebTrends. We recommend
that you ask your own Internet hosting firm for regular reports about visitors
to *your* site. Many hosting firms provide this capability to their clients at no
charge. Those reports will confirm the number of visitors to your site from AllAmericanWineries.com.
A second method of determining traffic to your site from AllAmericanWineries.com
is through the use of the phrase, "via AllAmericanWineries.com:" in the subject line of any e-mail
address sent to you via our site. We have inserted code in our E-mail
links to you from visitors who click on your
E-mail link from our site. Obviously, this subject line tag does not show up in
E-mails sent directly from any contact forms built into your own web pages.
Rest assured that the contents of any E-mail sent to your winery by visitors to our site is not
readable by AllAmericanWineries.
To see the traffic to our AllAmericanWineries
AWStats/WebTrends Report, including results since our January 2001 inception, click
here. The exponential growth of our site will benefit your
winery as well. Since AllAmericanWineries is highly visible to
search engines, visitors who find our site have the ability to easily locate your
site even if they don't know your winery exists.
5. YOUR WINERY AND THE INTERNET - OBTAINING YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME:
If you do not have your own Internet Domain Name, you
really need to read this section. If you have already reserved your own Internet Domain Name,
click here to
skip to the next section.
Why do you need to obtain your own Internet Domain Name?
The Internet is quickly becoming a fact of life for
all businesses, including wineries. If you do not
yet have your own Internet Domain Name (or if you are using a convoluted site
name such as http://members.aol.com/YourWineryName/ or another ISP or a free Web page service), you need to seriously consider
projecting a professional image by reserving your
own winery Internet Domain Name *right now*, even if you don't intend to use it immediately.
There are people (I call them "squatters") reserving and parking domain names to resell at
inflated prices. For example, my first choice for an Internet Domain Name for this site was AmericanWineries.com,
but it had already been reserved for resale by a squatter who
offered to sell it to me for $2,500. I declined the offer, and selected
AllAmericanWineries instead. While your winery name may or may not be that
valuable, the longer you wait to reserve your winery domain name, the less
likely it is to be available to you. There is legislation in place that
permits you to sue a squatter for the turnover of a Domain Name that matches your winery,
but the cost and aggravation to force the turnover is not insignificant.
How can you obtain your own Internet Domain Name?
It's easy and fast to obtain your own Internet Domain Name! You can do it
online in less than ten minutes and should expect to spend no more than $60 for a two-year registration. To
protect your credit card and account information, you should make
your own arrangements directly with an ICANN-accredited Registrar vendor (one approved by
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
to obtain your
choice of an available Internet Domain Name. The Registrar vendor will charge you an annual fee
(which varies, but I recommend you pay no more than $30 per year). They obtain and "park" your selected
new Internet Domain Name if you are not yet ready to publish a web page.
IMPORTANT: Make certain your Registrar vendor can create
pointers for both your existing E-mail address and a future Internet Web site.
It's definitely worth a couple of extra dollars per year to use a Registrar that can provide
those two additional services. Once your new Internet
Domain Name is registered, any E-mail addressed to your new Internet Domain Name
should be automatically redirected (forwarded) to your existing E-mail address,
and Internet
users who enter your new Internet Domain Name in their browser should be
automatically redirected (forwarded) to your new home page (even if it is an
"Under Construction" page provided by your Registrar). It is
crucial that you select a
user-friendly Domain Name and that you ensure that the Registrar vendor you select is
both accredited by the ICANN and can provide you with all the services you will
need, including pointing to any location you ultimately choose.
AllAmericanWineries feels so strongly about
this important requirement that we will be happy to assist you in obtaining
your own Internet Domain Name from a ICANN-accredited Registrar vendor, without
obligation. If you don't have the time or the inclination to conduct your own search for a Registrar
firm, we will be happy to assist, just ask. Regardless of which ICANN-accredited Registrar firm you select, be certain
they have a reputable track
record and offer you all the services you will ultimately need. One of the most
popular and reasonably priced registrars is an affiliate of ours - www.GoDaddy.com
What Internet Domain Name should you select for your
winery? Based on years of experience, and believing that simpler is
better, I recommend the following: 1) Keep your Domain Name name as short as possible
while still retaining your identity. 2) Try not to use hyphens, ampersands
or underlines in
your Domain Name (it is very confusing to your internet visitors and underlines
can be difficult to see). 3) I recommend
using the word Wine, Wines, Winery or Vineyard in that order (again, the
shorter the Domain Name, the easier for visitors to remember and to type). Using
one of those keywords will also benefit your being picked up by Search Engine
programs.
What to do once you have obtained your own Internet Domain
Name? Once you have obtained your own Internet Domain Name, you can
either: 1) Leave it parked indefinitely with your Domain Registrar, since
it is protected from a squatter (just be certain you keep it renewed so
it does not expire);
2) build and publish your own
Home Page; or 3) have someone build and publish your Home Page for you.
AllAmericanWineries offers an optional very simple template-based WineLite Website ©
Home Page, customized
for
your winery. I can have you up and running within two business days. In fact,
with advance
coordination, we can even have your Home Page in place before your new
Internet Domain Name is activated, and you can have your new Internet Domain
Name point to your WineLite Website © Home Page when it is activated. You will then have an
*immediate* Internet Web presence without any hassle, and at minimal
cost. In fact, to assist new wineries with their basic Internet presence,
ask about our WineLite Website © Home Page service, available to you for a
two month
no-cost trial period.
For additional information about our WineLite
Website ©
Home Page offering, click
here.
6. ONLINE ORDERING OF YOUR WINES BY YOUR CUSTOMERS FROM YOUR WINELITE WEBSITE© PAGE:
Are you interested in customers being able to order your wines from your WineLite WebSite© page? Click here for information about online orders.
7. CLASSIFIED ADS - MISCELLANEOUS WINERY/VINEYARD RELATED ODDS-N-ENDS:
Have surplus equipment to sell? Looking for used equipment? Looking for a job in the winery or vineyard field? Looking for non-field help? Want to buy or sell winery property? We can help!! Click here for our classified ads page.
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