What keywords do the top online wine sellers target?

How many clicks do they get from them?

Should smaller wineries use or avoid these keywords?

To get some understanding about the answers to these questions we have done some analysis that will be in two parts:

What keywords do the top 10 wine sellers target? (top 10 by Google search ranking)

What keywords do the top 10 wineries target? (top 10 wineries by volume that have a webstore)

This post is about the first question.

In late May we looked at what wine sellers are listed in Google’s top 10 when you do a search simply for “wine”.  Most of these companies are not wineries, but rather distributors of wine who sell a wide range of products, unlike wineries, which are typically limited to their own brand.  It is natural to assume there are differences in how the two categories of businesses do their marketing and advertising.

The top 10 wine sellers we looked at are:

Again, these were the top sites returned by Google from doing a search on “wine” on a particular day in late May, and selecting only the results that were actual sellers of wine.  Google results are constantly shifting so the results today will certainly be different.

At any rate, we took these wine sellers and then looked at all the Google ads they have run in the last six months and which keywords they targeted for those ads.

There are a number of ways to slice up this data.

For example, here are the most popular keywords targeted by all online wine sellers and how many different sellers targeted them in the last six months:

Another question: which keywords generated the most clicks per day in the last six months?

A simplistic view of this data might lead you to think you should target the keywords getting the most clicks.  But there are two primary considerations against doing this:

1. Those are often the most competitive and most expensive keywords – if you’re a little winery, with small volume, you can’t possibly cost justify purchasing those keywords to the same extent as the big guys.
2. Clicks on general keywords, like “wine”, do not deliver nearly as focused and motivated buyers as do more specific keywords like “Napa Valley chardonnay”.

And what were the most expensive keywords targeted by these top 10 wine sellers?

Those are some very expensive clicks – they sure better convert them to sales!

You may wonder who was spending so much money on these ads.  In this high-priced, highly-clicked group it was cawineclub.com, brix26.com and klwines.com that invested the most money.

There is a whole other aspect to this analysis we have not yet touched on and that is doing the proper keyword research to see what people are actually searching for.  You might presume that companies that would spend so much on advertising would do thorough research, but I can tell you from past experience that it definitely is not always the case.

In a future post I will review what I call “keyword arbitrage”, which is looking for opportunities in the spaces between what is searched, what is clicked, what is targeted and what is bid.

How You Can Use this Information

If you are a winery selling your own brand online this should primarily be an article about what you should not do.  You should not try to compete directly with these companies.

What you should do is focus your efforts on smaller niches which you target consistently in all your marketing.  But before you start targeting you should begin by doing your research and understanding what people are actually looking for.

For the full report of nearly 6,000 keyword usages by these top 10 wine sellers, contact us here.

What are wineries doing with their Facebook pages?  What creates customer or fan engagement?  What increases sales?

To answer those questions we reviewed the Facebook posts of 550 wineries over the past week.  While this is not the complete set of wineries on Facebook it is a good start and it provided some interesting insights.

What follows are samples of those posts – these particular ones were included because:

• subjectively they seemed interesting, or
• there was significant fan engagement

How to interpret the numbers shown below:

1359/5/10

1359 is the number of people who “like” the winery, formerly known as fans

5 people “liked” the post

10 people commented on the post

Timing:  these posts are shown in reverse chronology, as you would see them on Facebook.  The age is important because newer posts will not yet have as many likes or comments.

Overall – browse this for ideas, not so much for hard analysis.  My occasional comments are in bold.

Current Day

Boeger Winery Do you like classic cars? We sure do and are excited to announce that we will be hosting our first annual ‘Vintage Ride’ Classic Car Show on Saturday, July 31st from 9am-1pm. If you have a domestic, classic car/truck that you would like to enter into the show, contact us. Greg and Justin Boeger will both have their classics there, and you too can be one of the few to join them at this special event!

1125/6/0

Adams County Winery

1001 fans! Thanks bunches, boys and girls!

Don’t forget to attend our FREE concert series starting on July 3rd. That’s free. No charge. Nicht geld. Every Saturday from 1300 hours (1 o’clock p.m. to 5 o’clock).

1001/5/10

New Kent Winery It’s the BIG DAY!! “A Taste of New Kent” Wine Festival.. today 11-6!

1329/5/10

Buckeye Winery Perfect new profile pic for us! If you haven’t had a chance, stop in and check out the new place. If you have, hope you come back!!!

357/5/6

Jordan Vineyard & Winery Viticulturist Brent Young discusses cover crops grown between vineyard rows. A video tour of the estate during spring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIq2T3i8YPY

2183/18/1

Siema Wines We are hosting a FREE tasting from 5:30 to 7:30 this afternoon at Unwined, Belle View, Alexandria, VA. Come find some wines perfect for the weekend!

1063/1/0  

Cedar Ridge Winery & Distillery Terry McCauley will be here from 6-9 this evening~ Top 40 songs from the 50’s through the 90’s! Terry is mostly acoustic with the likes of America, the Bee Gees, John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Young as his main influences. His shows are consistantly uplifting & fun!! Join us!

1923/2/3

New Kent Winery All the tents are up and we are almost ready for tomorrow! It is going to be a lot of fun! Who is coming to the 2nd Annual “A Taste of New Kent” wine festival tomorrow?

1329/8/12

Hatcher Winery Hey fans, don’t
forget to stop by our tasting room this weekend to help us celebrate
Passport weekend. Enjoy our famous potato salad, marinated flank
steak BBQ’d to perfection and live Isleton Crawfish. Make it a moment to strike up a conversation and partake in some amazing Hatcher Wines!

285/3/1

Conalbi Grinberg Manor & Winery

(three pictures shown here in Facebook)

VISITORS and FRIENDS at CONALBI GRINBERG Casa Vinicola

2085/27/5

Columbia Crest Winery – Official Page The 2007 Grand Estates Merlot (with new label design) and 2009 Two Vines Pinot Grigio released earlier this month – anyone try them yet? Both great for Friday night happy hour and weekend entertaining!

1745/10/2

Sutter Home Wines Staying in? Going out? Where will you enjoy Sutter Home this weekend?

Sutter Home has a fairly large and engaged fan base.

3102/4/13

Standing Sun Wines I found (5) cases of our previously “sold out” Pinot the other day, mixed in with a pallet of Syrah Grenache blend. We decided to do winemakers special release… check it out. Only (60) sets available

1285/3/4

No Wimpy Wines (Ravenswood Winery) We’re feeling genuinely humbled right now by our amazing fans. Don’t believe it? Check out the incredible entries in our wine-photo showdown. And while there wasn’t a wimpy one in the bunch, the crowd has spoken: Mike Pucci’s surreal Sonoma-at-sundown shot is indeed The Gutsiest Wine Photo of All Time (This Month)!

18,633/39/20   likes and comments are about the beautiful vineyard picture that was shown

This winery also had a poll underway of wine pairings with pizza – it had received 116 votes

Inniskillin Wines Looking for something to do this long weekend? Why not visit Inniskillin Okanagan?
Experience our new Icewine Tour or try our Winery Exclusive Discovery Series Sangiovese.
Facebook Fans will receive complimentary Vidal and Riesling Icewine tastings-this weekend only!

4,238/5/0

One Day Old

Naked Wines Have a relaxing weekend folks. Let us know what you’ll be slurping your way through…

2.995/2/20

Nederburg Wines Happy Friday everyone! We need only 45 more fans to reach ONE THOUSAND by the weekend. Suggest your friends!

974/1/3 – added 20 fans in 24 hours with a direct plea

Vinteloper Wines is working on the back label text for my 2010 Pinot Gris. What are some funny things winemakers write on back labels?

1,149/0/8 – example of crowdsourcing

Sutter Home Wines Sutter Home Executive Chef Jeffery Starr showed the folks on Good Morning Texas how to make the Fruit of the Vine burger. Check this video out!

3112/5/1

Kim Crawford Wines 2009 Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is “Wine of the Week” chosen by Stacy Slinkard on About.com – a lady with outstanding taste!

1426/14/5

New Kent Winery Channel 12 news & Channel 6 news were out here today interviewing Pete about A Taste of New Kent! Channel 12’s interview will air tomorrow night at 5:30pm. Channel 6’s interview will air tonight at 7pm!

1329/18/8

Boeger Winery Good times at Boeger Winery are just around the corner. Mark your calendars because June 11th kicks off our SUNSET SIPPIN’ WINE & MUSIC series. Come for the wine, stay for the music! Here are the deets – http://www.boegerwinery.com/boeger/news/show_event.jsp?id=1013

1125/15/5

Two Days Old

Cinnabar Winery So what do you think about this new French study?

A Half Bottle of Wine a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

blogs.villagevoice.com

You know how scientists are always warning us that a glass of wine is fine, even good for you, but…

462/4/6

Three Days Old

Gary Farrell Vineyards & Winery has Pinot on the brain …

1181/12/1 – sometimes innocuous comments seem to get attention – it may be from personal friends

Sutter Home Wines How many of you love bread and olive oil appetizers? This summer serve up this easy starter with our Pinot Grigio!

Really LOVE olive oil? Enter Wine & Burger University’s monthly giveaway today for a chance to win one of four Colavita Olive Oil gift baskets now!

Wine and Burger University

www.sutterhome.com

Watch videos and read wine and burger facts to earn course credits. After earning 8 course credits, apply for a chance to Win a Trip to Napa for Build a Better Burger 2010.

3112/7/6

Biltmore Wines Winery 25th Anniversary Celebration begins this Thursday with lots of events: Private Winemaker’s Tour & Tasitng (only a couple of spots left!), grape stomp, demonstrations, and more.

2361/12/3

Arniston Bay Wines Win designer shoes in the ‘Head over heels for Arniston Bay bubbly’ competition. For more info click the link.

1092/0/0 – why no response?  Being more specific about the prize may have been more motivating.

Jordan Vineyard & Winery Rob Davis talks about the evolution of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon and his excitement for our new release from the 2006 vintage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVPiC8Atn7w

Wine Release: 2006 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley

www.youtube.com

2183/10/5

Little Black Dress Wines Has everyone met the entire family of Little Black Dress varietals? If you haven’t yet, please introduce yourself! Which one is your favorite?

1002/4/5

Four Days Old

eco.love wines Why don’t people ever order wine when they go to the club/lounge? Is it against the rules or something?

1171/1/6

Novelty Hill-Januik Winery Things are greening up nicely at Novelty Hill’s estate vineyard. These photos were taken Thursday, May 13th.

1303/7/2

Stryker Sonoma Winery & Vineyards Congrats to Craig! He’s our 1,000 fan! He’s gonna get the VIP treatment at Stryker for himself and 5 of his wine loving friends!

1000/4/2

How Small Businesses Use The Internet For Marketing

Almost half of the small businesses surveyed said they did not have a company website.  But overall, the small businesses surveyed indicated that they plan to spend the same or more on the following internet marketing activities:

• 57% on email campaigns to existing customers
• 57% on developing or improving their website
• 55% on email campaigns to prospective customers
• 50% on SEO, Search Engine Optimization
• 41% on Search Engine Marketing (Google Ads)
• 31% on blogging
• 28% on online video, such as YouTube
• 21% on mobile advertising
• 21% on podcasting

While these are interesting numbers and have some value for your own planning, bear in mind a couple things:

• Many of these people may be acting with very little expert advice or insight
• These various types of activities have very different levels of effectiveness depending on your type of business, existing position in the market, existing marketing assets, etc

How Small Businesses Use Social Media

Another part of the survey examined the use and effectiveness of social media.  Nearly 60% of the small businesses believed that social media is good for increasing business and for knowing what people are saying about your business.  Nearly half of the businesses wished they knew more about social media.  You may wonder whether the other half already knows it well, or are just not curious.  Over a quarter of respondents believed that social media is used only by young people – apparently not aware that the 55 and older crowd is the fastest growing segment on Facebook.

For those respondents who said they believed that social media is effective for business, the following numbers show which social media platforms were ranked as the most effective:

• 33% said Facebook was the most effective
• 21% LinkedIn
• 19% Twitter
• 17% MySpace
• 15% YouTube

Again, I want to caution you against using this information to form your own strategy.  The social media platform that is most effective for your business depends on a number of factors.

As for the benefits received from social media by the respondents who actually used it, the benefits were as follows:

• 50% said generating leads was the most significant benefit
• 45% keeping up with the industry
• 44% monitoring what is said about your business
• 43% competitive intelligence
• 41% improving customer experience
• 38% finding partners
• 33% resolving problems
• 27% recruiting new employees
• 27% background checks of employees and suppliers

What were cited as obstacles to using social media?  31% said their customers do not use it and 29% said they do not have time for it.

How You Can Use this Information

These numbers should give you a general sense of what is becoming standard business practice in marketing and customer service.  The report also showed that overall usage of internet marketing and communication increased from the previous year.  These numbers should also show you clearly that many people are in fact benefitting from using these technologies.

You should not so much use this information to establish a specific strategy for your own business, but rather to at least gauge if you  are keeping pace with how business is evolving.

If you’re a local small-medium business (SMB) owner in the Walnut Creek area you may wonder what people search for on Google that relates to Walnut Creek.

You may have thought it would be nice to show up in the top of those local search results.

Just thinking about it logically you might realize that the first thing you have to do is find out what people actually search for.

The analytic information supplied by Google includes 531 different terms that people have searched for that include the words “Walnut Creek”.  One thing to keep in mind is that Walnut Creek, CA is not the only Walnut Creek out there – for example I know there are some Walnut Creek apartments in Texas because they keep posting tweets in Twitter advertising their vacancies.

Of those 531 search terms that people used, the top one was simply “walnut creek”.  This was actually searched for half again as much as the total of all the other searches.  If you’re like me you may wonder what people were expecting to find by googling “walnut creek”.  As you might expect, the top results include the Walnut Creek city government website, the Wikipedia Walnut Creek entry and the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce.

But what were those other 530 searches?  For April 2010 the total number of more specific searches was just under 1,000,000.  The top two searches were for “homes” or “homes for sale” representing nearly 8% of searches or about 73,000 in number.  Following that were hotels, jobs, insurance, restaurants, schools, apartments, stores, inns, office, rentals, condos, movies, etc.

And I love these quirky things – as mentioned earlier, what were people expecting if they just search for “walnut creek”?  Surely they weren’t all after the city government – not over 1.5 million searches in April alone.  But here’s even more of a stumper, why did 15,000 people search for “walnut creek concord”?

Also of interest are trends in searches.  Google provides monthly figures for each of the last 12 months.  Unfortunately this makes it nearly impossible to filter out seasonal variances, but still some knowledge can be gained.

As you might expect, housing searches have increased the past three months.  But a little more surprising is that searches for restaurants have had a clear and consistent increase since the beginning of the year.  Searches for clubs have gone up the last two months, as have searches for John Muir Hospital (you decide).

How You Can Use This Information

This sort of keyword analysis is a crucial early step in developing effective internet marketing campaigns.  Understanding what people search for is a key factor in establishing your online identity and brand.

For a free copy of the complete report on Walnut Creek Google Searches with statistics on all 531 searches simply enter your name and email address in this contact form and specify which report you would like.