Keep Posts Flowing With A Wine Blogging Calendar

Did you know that blogging is a top way to boost your website’s ranking and drive sales with both current and potential customers?

Search engines love fresh content and will reward updated sites with a higher ranking and increased visibility. According to Hubspot, a major inbound marketing platform, companies that blog have 55% more visitors and generate 88% more leads per month.

Once a potential customer finds your site on a search engine results page and reads your keyword-targeted post, there is a greater chance they will opt-in or purchase than if your winery did not blog. Ultimately, the more targeted visitors your site attracts, the more chance it has of making sales.

Essentially, wine blogging is storytelling. A good blog post has a beginning for introductions, a middle for stating and supporting facts, and an ending to tie up the story and bring it back to the beginning. The more personal the blog’s tone, the more readers identify with the story and thus be open to following and purchasing.

Blog posts don’t need to be long – 300 - 500 words is optimum – yet they do need to launch consistently.  I suggest posting once a week to keep your customers intrigued without inundation.

But what will you blog about? It can’t be the same post every week. Wineries need to spread out their topics to make their content more of a buffet than a cafeteria.

What every winery blogger needs is an editorial calendar.

Wine Blogging Calendar

Here are eight topic areas to write about almost any week of the month.

1. News - new wine releases, upcoming events, past events, label changes, fresh hires, community efforts, special offers
2. Food - wine and food pairing, original recipes, dining ideas
3. History - wine history of your region, little known facts about your winery, background on obscure varietals, meaning behind your name, logo, or label
4. Seasonal - wine drinking ideas for Christmas and Valentines Day, as well as minor holidays like secretaries day or even Superbowl Sunday
5. Cellar and Vineyard - what’s happening with veraison, crush, blending, why you use screwcaps, how to grow organically
6. People - highlights of employees in tasting room, wine club, cellar, vineyard, kitchen as well as principals and emphasizing their values and philosophies
7. How To - buy wine, store bottles, open bottles, taste wine, preserve leftovers, detect flaws, pair with food
8. You Asked - answers to questions raised by customers in the tasting room, on the phone and via email

Let it Roll

Practice breeds proficiency, so after a few dozen posts you won’t need this calendar. You’ll begin to see blog ideas everywhere. When incorporated with social media, the effort you put into wine blogging will be rewarded with stronger sales.

Because behind every bottle there is a great story to tell.

About the Author:

Mari Kane is a writer, blogger and WordPress consultant living in Vancouver, BC. She blogs about wine at Tasting Room Confidential.com and about blogging at Blogsite studio.com. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus.