As consumers have embraced the Internet and incorporated it into their lives a funny thing has happened: shopping at local stores is more likely to start online. Back in 2006 about 16% of in-store retail sales were started online and Forrester Research predicted that by 2012 that number would grow to 38%. Add to that the 11% of all retail sales that are completed online and almost 50% of all retail sales begin online. We now live in that future predicted by Forrester, and the

There have been a few changes since we last presented some options for marketing your websites. Vinquire, the wine directory website has begun offering a Sponsored Results service similar to WineZap's Featured Merchant program. In the past 6 months we have noticed that referral traffic from Vinquire has grown to the point that it is usually greater than Snooth. We have negotiated a trial period rate for our stores of 15 cents/click for the first 3 months. After this the rat

Since last summer Beverage Media website stores have been enjoying traffic from the wine review site Snooth. Starting this January, Snooth has moved to a pay-per-click (PPC) model where stores are now paying 35 cents per referral. We have asked for our store listings to be removed so you don't incur any fees, but it looks like this is taking some time. Meanwhile the referrals keep coming in. If you would like to remain on Snooth and continue to receive these referrals please