Web of Influence
Selling Your Coffee and Tea on the Internet
by Nick Obourn
illustration by Cynthia Kirsch

On May 16, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned state laws that prohibited the purchase of wine across 11 state lines. The decision makes it legal for consumers to purchase wine from vintners on the other side of these borders, making what is known as business-to-consumer, or B2C, commerce possible.
   This change for the wine industry, which is often compared to the coffee and tea industries, means opening more doors for Internet sales. The Internet, in its omnipresence, has been a primary conduit for education about wineries, coffee and tea. And while tea and coffee have for a time lived in the shadow of the wine industry, they are all still part of the united specialty beverage identity, dependent on similar criteria for a good crop, consumer education and strong sales.
   Tea and coffee merchants should consider the recent Supreme Court victory a reminder of how valuable interstate and B2C commerce can be. With loosened restrictions, the next logical step for the wine industry could be a new wave of Internet marketing aimed at states it could not previously target, and the tea and coffee industry should not only follow in those footsteps but stay astride the wine industry in its marketing attempts.
   These marketing efforts naturally should include proper ad placement-success on the Internet is about making sure your company name surfaces in the right places, not just the most places. The tea industry even has an advantage over the wine industry here, with the lack of concern over illegal sales to minors-one of the major reasons for prohibiting interstate wine sales.
   Considering these factors, it is up to coffee and tea sellers around the world to be informed and up to date on the most recent technologies that can ensure theirs is the site that consumers find on the Internet. Even as a local roaster retailer or tea blender, with the right efforts and branding, it's possible to become well-known outside your immediate city or footprint.

Rules of Engagement
The first step to strong Internet exposure, which can lead to getting your product into the hands of consumers, begins with understanding how the Internet works and how you fit into its schematics. It's important to remember that your Web site is your identity, placed amid the throngs of other tea retailers on the Internet. "It's still like the wild, wild West. It's just changing so fast," says Rodrick Markus, president of Chicago-based MITEA Inc. "Every piece of information you can get up there, the more the better."
   Hibiki-an, a Kyoto, Japan-based green tea company that sells farm-direct tea, takes this belief to heart. Atsushi Yasui, president of the company, designed Hibiki-an's Web site, which promotes their tea grown on an estate managed by Atsushi's father. The Internet has been the perfect tool for Hibiki-an to reach its target audiences in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
   Keiko Yasui, Atsushi's husband and partner, thinks the Internet has been important as their main advertising method, but he firmly underlines the company's basic tenets. Because your Web site is your identity on the Internet, it must represent your company's best attributes. You can guide Web surfers to your site, but ensuring they purchase from you is the other piece of the puzzle.
On Hibiki-an's principles: One, Yasui says, "Offer high-quality products at reasonable prices. Take great care to keep the quality and freshness." Second, as Markus states, "Provide useful information for our customers." Because Hibiki-an's business is solely Internet-based, this means that its Web site must be updated regularly and provide useful descriptions. And third, expedite all orders. These ideals have kept Hibiki-an in business on the Internet.
   From a distance, the Internet may seem like a mottled collection of slogans, advertisements and, yes, educational benefits among the madness. And that impression isn't completely wrong. The Internet has come to represent an all-powerful method of communication from business to consumer, business to business, and consumer to consumer. And as the modern, mobile billboard, it is the best opportunity for coffee and tea retailers to be noticed.
   "For the small business owner, the Internet has had a great leveling effect," says Bill Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association, based in Symsbury, Conn. "It used to be that the small providers had only a small geographic area they could cover. Now, with a strong Web site, they can have international reach."
   This leveling effect allows a company with one store to compete with larger chains in a way that would otherwise be impossible. However, the fundamental rules of capitalism still exist on the Web. The Internet is still a gamble. Companies with lots of capital will still attempt to control the market. And innovation is your Web site's best friend. "I think people assume they can put up a Web site and leave, and that's about the worst thing you can do," says Markus. "You really have to keep it like a live animal."

Software Options
A well-designed Web site, which is accessible, easy to use and informative, will draw customers. Several software programs on the market can help you create such a site. One of the simplest programs is Microsoft's Front Page. With Front Page, a retailer can use templates to create a Web page. The software is perfect for the beginner-someone who is looking to gain a Web presence but is also a neophyte of Internet design.
   As the Internet becomes more sophisticated and flashy, not surprisingly with the use of a program called Macromedia Flash, Web sites can resemble Las Vegas shows or avant-garde high design. Given this, Front Page may not be the best way to attract attention on the Internet, especially considering the latest trends toward high-speed Internet service.
   Rice states that this trend "allows [consumers] to download files much quicker. That has given site developers the chance to develop sites that are very robust in terms of graphics. It wasn't that long ago that you had to have a front page that was in a graphics version and text version."
   However, the advent of Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, has solved this problem. CSS caters to the browser that a site is accessed through, be it a mobile phone, a state-of-the-art desktop computer or an Apple II.
   Another frequently used program is DreamWeaver from Macromedia, the same company that created Flash and Adobe GoLive. Adobe is perhaps better known for its Photoshop and Illustrator programs, which are favorites for graphic and industrial designers, artists and computer-savvy scrapbookers who want to touch up photographs.
   Macromedia DreamWeaver, with which the Fresh Cup Magazine Web site was built, is intuitive and allows designers more artistic license than Front Page. Adobe GoLive has many of the same options as DreamWeaver, and preference is often dependent on one's level of comfort with certain features. The text on your Web page, the products you list, and their prices and descriptions are usually uploaded in the language of the Web, HTML (hyper text markup language).
   Initially, many Web sites were "written" by hand with this coded language, but Macromedia DreamWeaver, Adobe GoLive and Microsoft Front Page essentially act as translators in this equation. A designer using these programs no longer needs intimate knowledge of the complex HTML language. Instead, the programs offer a "what you see is what you get" method to creating Web site content.    The programs are one thing, but who uses them is another. Rice notes that there are many Web design and marketing firms that can create wonderful Web sites. But they can be very expensive, and most are located in major metropolitan areas, whereas many coffee and tea retailers are not.
   The practicality of small businesses using these large firms is dependent on necessity, frugality and what can be found locally. In almost every town where the Internet exists, there are Web designers who work on a freelance basis. Local colleges with Web design courses are also a good place to find help. Students can always use more portfolio work as they are ushered into the competitive world of Web design, and you, as a small business owner, can benefit from the wages a student might charge in the interest of taking on your project to gain experience.
   But the most important thing to remember is to never sacrifice quality for cost. Your Web site should look the way you want it to. A Web site designer can misinterpret the identity of your company, and the result will be passed over by the masses.
   "We had an outside company working on [our site] for three months, and after looking at it, I said, 'This is not our site,'" says Markus. "I had to hand them a couple thousand dollars and say, 'Thanks, but this is not the way we wanted it to look.'" After the debacle, Markus decided to take the helm and hire independent designers to create MITEA's Web site. "It's a lot deeper than just setting up a Web site. You have to work with the designer and the programmer and then the shopping cart software."
   "It's a massive undertaking," says Markus. "We had the designer that did the logos. We had a designer that did the site, two computer programmers that did everything else. The photos we had shot by a well-known photographer. If you want to give it the professional feel, you have to take it to the next level."

Are We There Yet?
You've designed your Web site, and it hovers in cyberspace. You are confident in the quality of your product. What's next? How do you stand out in the crowd? This is where new technologies can become your best friend because where there are businesses battling for exposure on the Internet, there are companies inventing new ways to help them.
   With any system so vast, there are certain channels that make the most sense. For example, advertising your tea on a Web site dedicated to muscle car fanatics could be a wrong move. Buying ad space on a Web site created for die-hard travelers going to China or Japan would be more pragmatic. There are many ways to vie for polling position on the Internet that can have customers filling their cyberspace shopping carts.
   The Internet is all about new technologies. After the boom of the late 1990s and the relative settling in the early part of the 21st century, the Internet is beginning to strengthen its legs. Techniques are being defined as Web site managers start to more thoroughly understand and appreciate their clientele.
   Search engines such as Google have set a standard, allowing surfers to find almost anything more easily. Two technologies, or strategies, in particular through Google or Yahoo, are changing Internet business.
   "Right now, the most effective way to drive traffic to your site by far is using the search engines," says Rice. Organic search optimization, the first of the strategies, means making sure your business pops up early and often in the listings when someone searches for phrases such as "tea," "coffee" and "coffee retailer." Programmers have the savvy to arrange for this, but like a carpenter, plumber or electrician, some are better than others.
   The second and more innovative strategy is called Pay Per Click, or PPC, advertising. Searchfeed.com is an agency that specializes in PPC, acting as a middleman, helping clients connect with the most relevant search engines and databases. "Many of the main search engines offer a PPC advertising program. For example, Google offers Ad Words. Other PPC provider firms include FindWhat.com and Searchfeed.com," says Tiffany Guarnaccia, public relations coordinator for the Bridgewater, N.J.-based company.
   When one searches on Google, a list of items will appear on the right-hand side of the page. These are the results of PPC advertising. Clients vie for these spots by bidding per click.
   "Bid amounts depend on the keyword and what PPC provider an advertiser is using. Bids on Searchfeed.com start at one cent," says Guarnaccia. Costs of PPC advertising also depend on the industry. "Usually, terms in the pharmaceutical and gambling industries are priced higher than those in more industry-specific areas like specialty coffee and tea retail," says Guarnaccia.
   The winner of the bidding receives the uppermost listing on a site like Google. The advertiser, or retailer, only pays when the link on Google is clicked, hence the name Pay Per Click, but this is where the tricky part of PPC advertising comes in. Your Web site must be in working order and able to convert traffic to sales, otherwise PPC advertising does not pay off.
   "You have to weigh in what you bid versus how much you are selling [your products] for. If your tea is priced right and you bid correctly, you should get a lot of business," says Markus.

Content with Content
A primary rule the Internet can teach is to be firm in our approach to its canopy of interconnectedness. This means creating a Web site that properly projects a business' image while being informative and easy to use.
   As the Internet emerges from what seems to be its first molting stage, shedding its unnecessary layers, it has created new opportunities, providing a more sophisticated forum for retailers to sell their wares.
   Markus of MITEA Inc. sums up his Internet experience well: "Taking chances has really been wonderful. You can put up a product and see how it works. You can play around with it. We try to add as many features as we can to allow customers to experience the world of tea."