Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Joshua Sweeney, your humble guide to Wine(Accessorized)

The day has actually arrived. I've finally begun work on the company!

A little background info on Wine(Accessorized): we are an online wine accessories company, selling wine racks, stemware, stoppers, pourers, aerators, books, decorations... basically anything and everything you can do with a bottle of wine.  We have a pretty decent selection so far, about 350 items, though I hope to expand to 500+ once we go live.  We are brand, brand new, although we do have a URL reserved.

I'm the Head of Online Retail for the company, basically the only employee of the website, which means I get to handle everything that customers will see.  I'll write every word on the website, take every picture of the products, write every coupon, advertising blurb, blog entry, and Twitter update, and control every bit of online marketing and outreach for the forseeable future.  Few people in business have the freedom and creative control afforded to me, and I count myself infinitely lucky to have earned this position so early in my career.

I hope that, through this blog, I'll be able to seek input from experts in the local marketing and business scene, if they would be so generous as to assist a burgeoning babe in the online world.  I also hope to reap the benefits of discussing, in the public eye, any issues that might occur.  Kind of like talking out a problem in front of (potentially) hundreds or thousands of people.  Once development gets more underway, this will also be an easy way to keep friends and followers of the company updated on progress.  When the site goes live?  This blog will continue as my own company project, though we'll begin another blog on the site for industry-related news, discussions, musings, rants, humor pieces, whatever attracts our whim.

I suppose that's it for now.  Not much company news is in the mix right now.  I've been working on site design and organization, sorting products by category and subcategory.  Hopefully, by my next post, we will have a preliminary design finished, and I'll be able to post a PDF of what we've settled on as our site layout.  I'll look forward to any input those of you in the business world out there will have for our designs.

I do want to take the time to thank Phil Buckley (http://www.1918.com/) for welcoming me into the world of social media, for bits of advice from his blog and through Twitter, and for the meetup on online branding he organized with Morgan Siem this past week.  The input from all the creative minds that attended  has already led me to a wealth of information through social media, a medium I would never have explored without their knowledge and (however indirect it might have been) advice.  I hope I'll be able to interact more with all of you on all such relevant topics in the future, and I hope you will visit my blog when you have the time.

Reminder: you can follow me, and the company, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wineaccguy.

Josh
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Listened during this post: Brick Eyes by Garland of Hours, Mother's Love by Piana, The Light by The Album Leaf, Passenger Side by Wilco, Look into the Air by Explosions in the Sky

3 comments:

  1. Thanks Joshua, I hope you find as much support as I have from the Raleigh social media scene.

    There are so many awesome people in the Triangle that can help you in one way or another, all you have to do is ask.

    Looking forward to 2010 with more wine and wine related stuff floating around :-)

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  2. Joshua - It's been great getting to know you and Wine Accessorized so far. Please continue hanging out with us, your new social media peeps. I hope we'll continue to be helpful to you!

    Happy 2010 to all wine lovers!

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  3. Absolutely! You guys have already been great to me, with your advice and support so far, and by introducing me to the cash and health drain that is The Pit BBQ. I'm looking forward to our next lunch or meetup!

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