Our Blog: where do you stand?

Apples to Apples: A Study of Two Orchards Online

By: Marijean Jaggers | 09/22/2007

Last weekend, I went with my family to Carter Mountain Orchard, not far from our home in Charlottesville, Va. Before our visit, I checked out the orchard's Web site, to get the hours and find out what apples were in season. The online orchard visit impressed me enough that I wondered about the well-known St. Louis orchard, Eckert's online presence.

When I landed on Eckert's site, the first thing I noticed is the link to their blog. "Oh!" I said out loud, "They have a blog." Since blogging for business is a particular focus of mine professionally, I was pretty excited. And then I clicked through.

While I applaud Eckert's having taken the step to set up a blog and enter a few posts, announcing events at the orchard, the blog could be used for so much more. Some ideas:

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  Post more often. Currently the site has only about two posts a month. It's peak apple season and the St. Louis-area audience is ripe for more information from you.

  
  


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  Share your real voice. The blog poster is anonymous; a faceless, voiceless entity entering dull announcements of what's happening at the orchard. A real person sharing what the blog's header promotes, "A behind the scenes look at Eckert's Country Store and Farms" would be vastly more interesting and attract a much larger audience.

  
  


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  Allow comments! Invite the audience to share feedback about their experiences at the orchard. Do not fear negative comments -- use them as an opportunity to improve your customer service and build your already excellent reputation.

  
  


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  Engage the audience. There are so many fantastic opportunities for the blog. At Carter Mountain, the Web site announces a photo contest. Eckert's could use the blog to host a photo contest, recipe competition and more -- using the blog to share the real-life experiences of visitors to the country store and farms.

  
  

I'd love to see Eckert's take their blog to the next level. I'd also like to see Carter Mountain get blogging to support their business. These two orchards can turn their cider into some serious Google juice with an investment in blog strategy and time spent sharing the passion about their products with their audiences.

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