| Overall, a nice idea. I'd have a very close look at what successful wine sites have done in this space. Allow the best of what they've done to influence your initial product. Specifically: 1.
Hire a designer. Based on your design, you're a programmer. You're likely a very good one. Stick to that, there's more money in it :) The words you've used and the general block layout you've created are well done, but you need to have the site styled up. Whiskey is sold based on style and your site will live or die in it. 2.
This is a user generated content site but you're not promoting the ugen aspect of it. For example, check out this listing page: http://www.whiskeynotes.com/releases/Jameson-18-Year-Irish-W... Without registering, it should be blatantly obvious (and attractive) for the user to contribute photos, video, reviews and ratings. It should also be easy for users to provide feedback on other user reviews. 3.
How can I see the highest rated whiskey's? 4.
Is there a way for users to buy the whiskey directly from your website? 5.
Have you called the sales reps at the whiskey companies that are highly rated? You should talk to them about how you can integrate your site in to their marketing. This extends beyond simple advertising. They will likely be happy to provide you with custom, unique photographs, direct people to add honest reviews, etc. 6.
You should sell an regularly delivered document to whiskey industry folks. They'd be interested in a summary of reviews, ratings and trends. I'd do this from the start and charge a healthy monthly fee for it. |
1. Good point. I will start lookign for one. 2. The generated content is really just whiskies and tastings. I don't really want people to contribute videos since I think that'll just add a lot of social-network style cruft. 3. The browse button automatically sorts by rating. I have toyed with the idea of adding a 'leaderboard', but never got around to it since the browse button is the same thing. Perhaps once there are more tasting it'll be more useful. 5. Don't I have to get more tastings first? 6. Yes. This is a great idea that I've seen other sites in the genre do.