Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I just launched our blog a few weeks ago which will be a central component of our marketing plan. Everything seems to be in working order and I have setup google analytics, feedburner, etc. The main goal of this site will be to get people to sign-up for our mailing list. Having good content that readers connect with is obviously critical to converting visitors, but there is also a site design element to this too. I would be very interested in your thoughts and comments related to this as well as general commentary on the look, feel, and ease of use of the site. Thanks for the help!

http://blog.coveredbridgecellars.com



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Jeremy Cote
Owner
Covered Bridge Cellars, LLC

blog.coveredbridgecellars.com

When I first looked at the blog I did not even notice the mailing list sign up. I think it needs to be more visible, maybe mention it at the end of the "long" articles in combination with where it is at.

Just my humble opinion.

aaronserrands

www.weworkyouplay.net



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Aaron Burnett Owner of We Work You Play

Errand Service
Errand Service Blog

The image of the covered bridge bothers me because of the Photoshop filter applied to it to make it look "painterly".  Rather it looks like an out of focus photograph which is hard on the eyes.  I think you need an image which is a clear photo or a clear painting.  As it stands it`s hard to look.

Otherwise the blog looks good.  I would agree that some of the links/content in the left sidebar (like the mailing list) could be given more importance than others.

Hi, Jeremy:

I loved the look and "feel" of the blog...the impressionist look to the logo pix was fine with me...arty-type websites are not something I object to on the web!  It goes hand in hand with anything "artisan"...but I would recommend that you make the page a bit smaller so it fits in almost any monitor completely...mine cut off about 10% of the right hand side of the whole page so that I had to scroll over each line!

I also loved the idea of using it for a mailing list sign-up sheet!  Very innovative and cute, but....if you really want to do this for consumers (who will be buying your products), or even retailers (ditto...but for different reasons), then you should make the very first page about your product line...I really didn`t want to hear about the explosion of the yeast in your wines!!!!!  Even if it IS the newest post, it should be relegated to the second page with indexes or something.  YOUR FIRST PAGE OF A BLOG SHOULD BE DEDICATED TO DESCRIBING IN FULL WHAT YOU ARE SELLING, PARTICULARLY IF YOU WANT TO USE IT FOR PEOPLE TO SIGN UP ON YOUR MAILING LIST!

I also like that you used hypertext markup to send viewers to another page within your blog.....very nice.

All in all...a very well planned out blog and idea...very professional in my opinion.

Deborah

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Working Girl Gems...Artisan jewelry at affordable prices! http://www.workinggirlgems.com

Thanks for the feedback! Are you using a mini monitor? .... : )

I`m very interested in this part of your post since I have not seen this really hit upon by others.

"YOUR FIRST PAGE OF A BLOG SHOULD BE DEDICATED TO DESCRIBING IN FULL WHAT YOU ARE SELLING, PARTICULARLY IF YOU WANT TO USE IT FOR PEOPLE TO SIGN UP ON YOUR MAILING LIST!"

I get the idea of a landing page, which I think is what your referring to, but of all the other winery blogs I read I don`t see anyone doing this. I will be adding our winemaking plans and other product details to an HTML page that readers can click to hopefully soon. I would be interested in other peoples thoughts on the landing page idea for blogs as its something I haven`t really considered.

 

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Jeremy Cote
Owner
Covered Bridge Cellars, LLC

blog.coveredbridgecellars.com

I agree. I have been looking at that same picture for a while so it didn`t register with my eyeballs, but your right it needs some work.

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Jeremy Cote
Owner
Covered Bridge Cellars, LLC

blog.coveredbridgecellars.com

I agree exactly with what CampSteve said. The pic`s blurriness I hadn`t even realized might be intentional. To me it just looked like it needed to have its resolution adjusted.

The logo looks perfect for your business. Really like it.

Also might consider eventually redoing the left-navigation. Something like:

• About
• Products
• FAQs
• Archive

...or something like that. Also, I definitely like the idea of a mailing list, but I think it`d also be good to make it easy to buy for those who are ready to go ahead and try out something right now.

Best of luck!


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Accounting Made Simple | Sole Proprietor Tax Guide

Don`t use a landing page.

The weather thing I don`t get. You have a lot of stuff on the sidebar, but some of it shouldn`t be there, and some is just in the wrong order. In all, it`s not designed to encourage people reading it deeper.

The huge RSS button is awkward.

It should be "Blog Extras" not "Blog Extra`s" ... but I wouldn`t even call it that. I`d call it "Special Features" or "Featured Reports" or whatever.

I think you should sit down and make a numbered list. Call it "WHAT I WANT TO EMPHASIZE". Prioritize where you want people to go. And then use that to make your sidebar. For example, I`d never put external links above your own archives if you want people to stay on your site.

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Jeremy Cote
Owner
Covered Bridge Cellars, LLC

blog.coveredbridgecellars.com

Hi Jeremy,

Just looked over your blog and I agree that the image of the bridge needs to be refined....(I like the painterly image but not the blurry appearance)

Content is pertinent to your business which is fine, but the left bar has too many things to look through - maybe you can just pick a few links that are most important and bring the other links in on another page.....

I would put the Subscribe at the top left corner - it can be found easily..... sometimes people that are looking fast don`t get to the bottom of the page (until later when there is time to read).  The Rss feed icon doesn`t bother me either....maybe just the location... Success to you!

PS

The Format of the blog is great! is this blogger?