.tv Beer.TV - Beta Site Launched.

[virtuali]

Hi Guys,

I have launched the beta site for Beer.TV today. Keep in mind the site still needs alot of work on the content and some navigation issues etc. It is not close to completed yet. Also, this was all done by a one man show... (me)... from concept, to design, coding, graphics etc.. etc.. so take it easy on me.... I would really appreciate if you guys can thumb through the site and post any errors or suggestions you might have to this URL "http://www.beer.tv/node/17".

Just a quick outline of what the site is meant to be. It is meant to be an online portal for brewers to promote their beers by enticing beer drinkers to upload videos regarding their beers. People then vote on their favorite and the brewer then awards the prize to the winner.

Appreciate your guys thoughts and feedback.

Cheers.

 

[Jason.tv]

good intentions to develop

- Jason

 

[virtuali]

Thanks for the post Jason, though I am not sure where you development skills come in, this is far from a simple wordpress site. As I also stated this site is not finished yet, and is developed by one individual (Me), not with a MASSIVE budget, nor a development team etc.

Do you have some sites that you have created from concept to production? Or Suggestions?

 

[Jason.tv]

you have Beer.tv - amazing name, period.

I gave my thoughts as you asked for them, perhaps this will make it stronger

- Jason

 

[virtuali]

No Worries.. Thanks Jason. Keep in mind the site has just been put up for beta etc... so it obviously is not going to be "massive or really big" until it has some time to get traction in the market. Your feedback is appreciated though.

Cheers.

 

[virtuali]

amenzl, skylar... thanks for the feedback thus far... that is exactly the kind of info I need.. I will respond to your pm's shortly.

Cheers!

 

[SKG]

Virtuali,

I think your off to a good start. Here are a few constructive comments which you may already have intentions to do but if not you may want to consider:

1. The Beer.tv in the logo needs to be more clear, in particular the er
before the dot.

2. I would make the square adsense block on the botton left an image only
adsense ad and place it somewhere on the top right in "eye" view.

3. I like the scrolling "advertise here" at the bottom of the site, but I think
it would be better if you could move it up top right under the category tabs.

4. Somewhere at some time you should incorporate social networking icons linked
to beer.tv twitter, facebook page etc.

5. There are many monthly beer clubs out there, I would try and contact a
few for an affiliate relationship and advertise it in a block, etc

6. I am a big fan of having a large video player on .tv sites to catch attention
but that is me, you might want to consider it.

 

[RLW]

Virtuali,
1. The Beer.tv in the logo needs to be more clear, in particular the er
before the dot.

I personally didn't have any trouble reading the logo.

I think the layout is great and the concept is intriguing. Goodluck!

 

[orcus]

Very nice clean website with an interesting concept. I think many breweries would be interested in advertising this way.

There are tons of funny and interesting beer commercial videos out there that exist for the major brands. Maybe you could add an extra tab that shows those videos (embedded from youtube or something). That is only if your are open to embedding vidoes. I think that would make some intersting content, unless you want to limit your website to purely original videos ( which is a good idea as well ).

Anyway, your website just made me grab a beer for myself from the kitchen GL and cheers!

Rohit

 

[virtuali]

Thanks for the feedback guys... your info is appreciated. Orcus - The brewers are able to upload there own current videos/commercials from their internal profile when they signup. The videos then show on the external profile for that particular brewer. This is the channel setup I have created for each brewer, having videos on there is just one feature of many they have to promote their beer.

I just went a grabbed a brewskie as well..

 

[Jason.tv]

I would love for you to be one of the first network / channel to be featured on tv

all the best!

Jason

 

[PlusNames]

Thats a great domain!

I'd personally do a weekly show reviewing beers, like they do in those wine shows. You could then try to get sponsors and make money from that.

I'd also contact companies like Budweiser and see if they're interested to buy the domain.

 

[richbc]

Jeff the site looks really great. I can see you must have put a TON of hours into it. Hope it takes off as this is a premium .TV domain to work with developed by a solid entrepreneur.

-TLB

 

[snoop]

Where is the business model with a site like this? and why would brewers encourage people to visit your site, won't they promote their own? I wish you the best of luck but I think you will have an uphill battle based on the site so far.

 

[virtuali]

Snoop - Your missing the point of the site. The site is based around giving brewers their own dedicated channel (E.G. - www.beer.tv/whatever_the_name_of_the_brewer) to showcase their beers, awards, recipes, events, news, their own current ads/commercials, and most important run promotions to incentivize users to upload videos re: their favorite beer from that brewer. I have done plenty of research and talking to breweries about what tools they would like to have and I have garnered enough interest to know the venture is well worth while. Beer.TV is a promotional tool, which many brewers, especially small ones do not have the facility or know how to do. I have taken alot of the leg work out for them having to organize very expensive ads/commercials by getting their target audience engaged to do it for them.

I believe I am in essence creating the next generation of interactive online marketing for this niche market.

and ofcourse it is going to be an uphill battle... anything new and innovative always is and will be.

Make sense?

 

[snoop]

Snoop - Your missing the point of the site. The site is based around giving brewers their own dedicated channel (E.G. - www.beer.tv/whatever_the_name_of_the_brewer) to showcase their beers, awards, recipes, events, news, their own current ads/commercials, and most important run promotions to incentivize users to upload videos re: their favorite beer from that brewer. have done plenty of research and talking to breweries about what tools they would like to have and I have garnered enough interest to know the venture is well worth while.

The question remains: Where is the business model with a site like this?

Beer.TV is a promotional tool, which many brewers, especially small ones do not have the facility or know how to do. I have taken alot of the leg work out for them having to organize very expensive ads/commercials by getting their target audience engaged to do it for them.

I believe I am in essence creating the next generation of interactive online marketing for this niche market.

and ofcourse it is going to be an uphill battle... anything new and innovative always is and will be.

Make sense?

How is a site which allows people to upload video the "next generation of interactive online marketing"? Why wouldn't a beer brewer use their own site or youtube/facebook?

 

[DU]

I believe I am in essence creating the next generation of interactive online marketing for this niche market.

and ofcourse it is going to be an uphill battle... anything new and innovative always is and will be.

Make sense?

For a single person it's like climbing Everest without a Sherpa and blindfolded with your hands tied behind your back.

Oh. And it's bad weather.

You're obviously very capable of putting up a nice slick looking site.. however, the only brewers interested in this are going to be hobbyists but that's not who you are targeting.

To produce what you want to produce will take a team and EXTENSIVE marketing and MUCHO dollars. At minimum you need a VC or up front partner stake imho. You need to make sure you incorporate, have legal advice on everything, contract support, a billing, invoicing solution etc.

My suggestion is your retarget your audience. Focus on the homebrew market if you want to continue - talk to people that sell homebew kits, homebrew storage... these people WILL advertise on such a site. This is something much smaller in scope. IF you can get that up and running and popular.... THEN the advertising and growth will happen... but you may be satisfied with that. You may even be able form an affiliate partnership with some other sites such as BeerAdvocate, Ratebeer...

I say use a PREMIUM name for SMALLER ambition. It will be no less rewarding. It will be MORE rewarding.

Talking to people in sales... the BIG CUSTOMERS suck... it's the SMALL customers that you profit the most from.

---------- Post added at 10:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 AM ----------

It's all my opinion - but I just described the site I'd be more likely to visit

I just read again:

breweries about what tools they would like to have and I have garnered enough interest to know the venture is well worth while.

With THAT being the case. Create a proper business plan, proper metrics on audience, sponsorship, advertising and get the opinion of groups with capital to help you out because no one at NP really matters if this is the case

This could easily cost $100k's.

 

[virtuali]

Snoop - Thanks for the reply. Again, your missing the point of the site. The business model from my end is to give the brewers a solid tool to use for promotion. I collect monthly fees to allow them to use the tool, and also advertising on the site (as a featured brewer etc) and front page placement. Obviously, other avenues of income will also arise with traffic generation.

Just to be clear I am not seeking anybodies "approval" on my business model of the site, but I appreciate the feedback. I have spent more than enough time researching it, and the market base around it to know what will work. As with all things, time will tell.

Facebook/youtube are great tools as well and should be incorporated with any viable marketing strategy (yes, I have facebook.com/beertv and twitter.com/beertv..not setup yet though). My site is developed around the niche of Beer and gives the brewers tools they dont have with FB and YT etc. What you are not understanding is most small time brewers are not savvy with this kind of thing. This is my target market.

Defaultuser - Thanks for the post mate. You have made all very valid points, and believe me, I am more than aware of what needs to be done on the site in regards to legalities, invoicing etc.. I have spent a number of "years"... yes.. years... researching, organizing, developing, contacting etc.. to get something that I felt was a feasible solution for the site and that makes sense. Again, I am not looking for some of the cynics approval from NP to justify my site or business plan around it, from my outlook I have done enough research on it to know better than anybody what it takes for the site to be a success, and as I stated above... Time will Tell. I will keep you guys all informed on how I go with things as I believe my experience could be a great guide for some of the NP members that are trying to develope.. but are having some of the same difficulties I have had, and still do.

Tks again guys for the feedback.

Cheers.

 

[snoop]

Snoop - Thanks for the reply. Again, your missing the point of the site. The business model from my end is to give the brewers a solid tool to use for promotion. I collect monthly fees to allow them to use the tool, and also advertising on the site (as a featured brewer etc) and front page placement. Obviously, other avenues of income will also arise with traffic generation.

I still don't see the model, they can get much the same thing with facebook and youtube for free, the main difference being those sites are well known and all their customers will already be on it. Why would they pay you? What are they paying for? The ability to upload video and place news information on a site that isn't well known?

The ultimate answer will come in the following months, personally I don't think this site will go anywhere as it.

 

[DnEbook]

first off you had a go and that can't be a bad thing !

To me it had a bit of a mini site feel to it , but as you stated early days

when i hovered over the photos 'breweruser2' came up , i was expecting something else like a brewery's name ? do you have control over that ?

I think there must be so many home brewery kits and systemsoiut there you may do well to get their support and have them advertise on your site

maybe ask a few more questions in your forum

best pub in each state , lager thread , bitters thread etc , try and put some volume on that page

I wonder if there are any good october fest videos out there , or expanation videos of what different beers are, lagers, bitters etc

Plus i do think you need to be selling t-shirts with your logo on them

Just a few quick thoughts , i wish you well with your efforts and the promoting of the .tv extension !