Com_St_2007_03_19_Web_ENG-1.pdf
The 80,000 visitors who registered in 2006 confirm the appreciation and the importance of this direct means of communication.
40% of the visitors to the website are foreigners.
Marsala, 19th March 2007. The Donnafugata website, created in 1997, is one of the main means of communication of the Sicilian wine producer, which, in the last three years, has invested 3 to 4% yearly of the resources designated for marketing and communications – 10% of the annual turnover – to enhance the graphics, usability, availability and add new contents and sections to the website.
The www.donnafugata.it website is much more than a virtual shop window introducing the company’s products. Indeed, it gives a comprehensive overview of the company itself and its style, and contributes to the creation and dissemination of a wine culture, which includes the development of the territory, culture and music, environmental initiatives and events in Italy and abroad.
Lovers of fine wines, restaurateurs, wine shop owners but also journalists and people keen to learn are making an increasing use of the Donnafugata website to get to know its wines and initiatives: in 2006 the site was visited by 80,000 people, which is more than double the number of visitors of 2005, – 32,000 – and the time they spent browsing it is growing. 43% of the surfers spend 15 to 30 minutes on the website, 19% 30 to 45 minutes, and 14%, the keenest visitors, 45 to 60 minutes, all of which verify quality and a wide range of contents.
The statistics of the visitors also show a growing interest in the company and its wines in foreign countries – the site can be consulted in both English and Italian. As a matter of fact, the number of contacts from abroad has reached the share of 40% compared to 35% in 2005, confirming the importance of this formidable means of communication allowing the company to be present all over the world.
The news takes on a key role on the Donnafugata website. Indeed, it can be consulted on the home page, it is updated monthly and published in the newsletter “Face to face with Donnafugata”, which registered an increased number of members in 2006.
The position of www.donnafugata.it on the main search engines is noteworthy: the page/rank of the Donnafugata site on Google is 6/10, thanks to the increasing number of visitors and the investments of 2006, which have led to the introduction of 50 keywords, 1,750 pages and 1,114 photographs in the search engines.
“Our wines” and “Where to buy” are the most visited sections of the site both in Italy and abroad. One of the most “clicked on” sections is the “Multimedia” section which includes videos, a photo gallery and a Download area for the downloading of the wine labels, specifications of the wines, the folders, all in six versions (Italian, British English, American English, German, French and Japanese), tasting in jazz and much more. The section “Wine Tourism” enables visitors to book a tour around the wine cellars of Marsala, with wine tasting accompanied by some of Sicily’s delicacies, but also tours around the Contessa Entellina’s estate and, during the summer, around the new cellar in Pantelleria.
Lastly, among the red wines there are the “Mille e Una Notte” and the “Angheli”, which are the most appreciated wines by the oenonauts both in Italy and abroad, while the “Vigna di Gabri” is the most “clicked on” white wine, followed by the “Chiarandà”. Also the “Ben Ryè”, Passito from Pantellaria, is the visitors’ champion both in Italy and abroad.
Donnafugata has always believed in the potential of the internet as a direct and global means of communication. The constant increase of visitors and the results of a survey carried out by the wine portal Winenews, which rates the Donnafugata website among the top six Italian wine websites, motivate the company to improve and enrich the site. José Rallo, Donnafugata’s entrepreneur, stated: “We put our internet address on the wine labels and the website is constantly updated. It is a product full of contents, almost a portal, and thanks to the constant monitoring of the visitors we are able to determine the areas of interest and improvement. Furthermore, the growing number of foreign visitors is a sure sign of how fundamental this means is to reach and inform the diverse and distant consumers.”
Baldo M. Palermo [email protected] phone +39 0923 724226
Laura Ellwanger: [email protected] phone. +39 0923 724258
Nando Calaciura [email protected] mob. +39 338 3229837
