Wine is a social drink, one that is based around experience. Unfortunately, the internet is very impersonal, creating a gapping void between winery and consumer. However, new technology is closing the gap, allowing for more personalized interaction.

The development of “Web 2.0″ technology has enabled an increase in personal interaction all over the internet. Social websites like MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Del.icio.us, and Netscape are based solely around people interacting with each other.

With almost half of the U.S. population using some form of Social Media, it is safe to say that allowing for personal interaction is the next step in the Internet’s evolution. But how does this relate to the wine industry?

Since personal interaction is one of the key components to the wine experience, this new technology can be used to create a scalable wine experience online. Wine websites that allow for social interaction are perfect places for wineries to interact with their customer base online.

One website that allows for this is Calwineries. The discussion section on their winery and wine pages enable wineries to interact with customers, creating the personal interacting that leads to a better online wine experience.

There are several strategies that can be implemented which facilitate a better online wine experience. Logistics and examples of these will be coming in future posts.

For anyone who wants to increase online wine sales, one question that you have to ask is: How can we bring the wine experience online? Because if you answer that question, it will lay the foundation for increased wine sales and the development of life long customers.

— Ryan Fujiu, Calwineries.com

Simply Anchor Text

No matter how often the Google algorithm has appeared to change over the last few progressive years, there is always one thing we can rely on as a ranking booster - incoming links.

And whenever their is a known SEO factor out in the community, someone will charge to capitalize on it. In 1999, with Inktomi technologies dependence on link popularity, many early model search engines were able to be deceived by link farms, notably HotBot.

Ever heard the phrase “SEO is a constant game?“

Google quickly stepped up to the plate and introduced PageRank to displace the ability of link farms to compromise their results. Rather than trying to explain the mathematical computations involved, PageRank simply uses hyperlinks between sites as votes for eachother. Their algorithm also takes into account the hyperlinked text or anchor text value along with the content of the site providing the link.

So, to fully utilize all of your incoming links, make sure sites post anchor text that match the keywords you are seeking to gain results for in search engines.

For example:

For those inclined to math and looking for a brain twister, IPR Computing provides a more detailed look on the PageRank Algorithm. <-- Notice the friendly anchor text.

— Mark P. Spangler, WineMarketer.com