We were contacted last week by past Wine Bloggers Conference keynote speaker (WBC10) & Wall Street Journal contributor, Lettie Teague, to get some statistics and insights into our up coming State of Wine Blogging Report that will be published in the coming weeks.
We shared some of the reports insights with her, which she incorporated into a post titled, Five Wine Blogs I Really Click With.
It’s great to see an influential wine writer spend so much time getting to know the niche of blogs surrounding the topic of wine. The time Lettie spent reading a cross-section of blogs gave her valuable insights into what comprises a good wine blog and what bloggers should be doing, and we thought the advice she shared was worth repeating here:
- Keep your blog updated. This will help you develop a reputation as someone who is dedicated to your blogging and passion of wine. There is no greater turnoff than visiting an out-of-date blog.
- Do not rely too heavily on populating your blog with tasting notes. While tasting notes can be an important aspect of a wine blog, equally or more important is actually writing about the wine (or other wine-related subjects) in an interesting way.
- Develop a focus and have a theme to your blog. There are almost 1,500 wine blogs out there – almost the only way for you to stand out is to have a theme.
We see many wine blogs come and go. Ultimately, while most wine bloggers write about wine because they are passionate about the subject, it is important to feel someone is actually paying attention to keep motivated. Here is a simple representation of a path to a successful wine blog:
Start a Blog ->
Pick a Theme ->
Write Regularly ->
Interest Readers Engaged in That Theme ->
Receive Comments or Social Media Feedback ->
Remain Motivated ->
Continue Writing
In her post, Lettie Teague commented on five blogs she “clicked” with or was otherwise impressed by. She didn’t link to those blogs directly, so we thought we would here so you can check out examples of blogs she thinks are doing something right:
- Brooklynguy’s Wine and Food Blog – an example of a blog with thoughtful and creative content around his focus (food and wine) into a theme (mini vignettes).
- Keith Levenberg’s Cellar-Book – a blog who’s breaks in posting regular content are forgiven because the subject matter of the content is thought-provoking and challenging.
- Odd Bacchus – an example a blog that is regularly updated with a fine-tuned theme and uncompromising focus.
- The Cellar-Fella – a well-written blog that goes deep into its subject uncovering information the reader may not expect to find.
- Benito’s Wine Reviews – a blog that incorporates the use of tasting notes well into posts by adding what Lettie Teague referred to as “pretasting notes”
What do you think? What other key components to having a good wine blog are not mentioned above? Is there something you disagree with in her post or ours?