WII’ve Changed A Bit

We’ve been coding and working behind the scenes to improve Wine Industry Insight based on your suggestions, our growth and as a response to market conditions.

ADVERTISING MIX

One of the most visible changes lately is a shift in the types of companies advertising.  Visitors to wineindustryinsight.com are seeing a lot more business- and executive-oriented advertisers. This has happened for three reasons:

1. Demand from mainstream advertisers as they look for effective niche markets to target. The new advertisers are here because of WII’s base of upper-management decision makers: CEOs, vineyard and winery owners as well as finance, accounting, legal and regulatory professionals.
2. Everyone in the wine industry including suppliers, has been impacted by the recession and that affects advertising decisions.
3. Some large companies do not appreciate the scrutiny they have received in Wine Industry Insight’s editorial coverage. A small number of those companies have strong-armed a few advertisers and potential advertisers and threatened to withdraw their business if their ads continue to appear here.
   

   Fortunately, that has not affected us. Our  paid VIP subscribers have always been the financial foundation of our efforts and continue to support WII’s particular brand of journalism.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM TO MONETIZE BLOGS AND WEB SITES

Wine Industry Insight recently hit several significant benchmarks:

• Subscribership to WII’s VIP Premium Content recently topped 700 paying members since we began charging for some content in March.
• Opt-in subscribers to the free email edition which is transmitted once or twice a week, topped 11,000.
• Wineindustryinsight.com topped 25,000 unique visitors (meaning that the same person is not counted twice.)

Because of this — and especially the steady increases in paying VIP subscribers — WII has started an affiliate program to help blogs and other web sites monetize their efforts. The affiliate program involves the placement of an advertisement on the affiliate blog or website. If someone clicks on the ad and subscribes, the affiliate will make 18% — $19.82 on every Annual Subscription and the same percentage for month-to-month subscribers. Affiliates earn the same amount for renewals for the lifetime of every subscription.

WIDER VARIETY OF ARTICLES AND SOURCES

In the coming issues, you’ll begin to see a wider variety of articles and sources. These are in response to your suggestions, tips and needs. Please keep telling us what you like … and don’t. You can always contact me by replying to an email edition or writing: lewis.perdue[at]wineindustryinsight.com.