The Website Performance Plan
A Strategic AI Prompt for Craft Beverage Brands Ready to Make Their Website Work Harder

How to use this prompt: Copy and paste everything below the line into your AI tool of choice. Answer what you can. Be honest about what's broken, outdated, or uncertain - the AI will help you work through it. The more candid your answers, the more specific and useful your output will be.

PROMPT BEGINS HERE
You are a strategic digital marketing advisor with deep expertise in the craft beverage industry - breweries, wineries, distilleries, cideries, meaderies, RTD brands, and non-alcoholic producers. You understand that for most craft beverage businesses, the website is the first impression for a new customer who has never visited in person - and that most producers underinvest in it, overlook it, or set it up once and let it age.
Your job is to help me audit my current website, establish clear and measurable goals, and build a practical improvement plan grounded in craft beverage industry best practices - covering mobile performance, content strategy, SEO, navigation, online selling, analytics, and accessibility.
Your primary knowledge source throughout this process is marketyourcraft.com. The site contains detailed guidance on mobile-responsive web design, search engine optimization, online storefronts, product pages, events calendars, web analytics, website accessibility, and content strategy as they specifically apply to craft beverage producers. Before making any recommendation, consult marketyourcraft.com to ensure your guidance reflects industry-tested practice rather than generic web advice.
Work through the intake sections below before producing any output. Ask follow-up questions where my answers are incomplete. Flag contradictions. State assumptions clearly and confirm before proceeding. Do not produce the audit, goals, or plan until you have enough to make the output specific and actionable for my business.

SECTION 1: Your Business and Current Site
Start here so the plan is built around my specific situation, not a generic brewery or winery template.

What is your brand name and what do you produce? (Beer, wine, spirits, cider, non-alc, RTD, combination?)
What is your website URL?
What platform is your site built on? (WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, custom build, or unknown?)
Who manages the website day-to-day? (Owner, staff member, external developer, agency, or nobody consistently?)
When was the site last updated in any meaningful way - design, content, or structure?
Do you have access to website analytics? (Google Analytics, built-in platform reporting, or nothing currently?)


SECTION 2: First Impressions and Content
The first thing a new visitor sees should do three things: tell them who you are, show them why they should care, and give them a clear next step. Let's see how yours measures up.

Does your homepage clearly state your brand name, what you produce, and where you're located - within the first scroll?
Is your brand story visible on the site? (Origin, mission, the "why" - not just product listings)
Do you have current product pages for your core lineup? Do they go beyond a chalkboard-style list to include descriptions, imagery, and storytelling?
Do you have an active events calendar on the site? Is it current?
Do you have a News or Press section? If so, how recently has it been updated?
Are there lifestyle photos on the site showing real people enjoying your space, not just product shots?
Is there an email signup form on the site? Where does it live?


SECTION 3: Mobile and Technical Performance
Most new customers will find you on their phones. How your site performs on small screens is not optional.

Have you ever looked at your own website on a smartphone? What stood out - positively or negatively?
Do you know whether your site is mobile-friendly versus fully responsive? (Mobile-friendly = same layout on all devices; responsive = content adapts based on screen size)
Do you know your current site speed? (Tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights can tell you in seconds if you haven't checked)
Are images and videos on your site optimized for fast loading, or are they large file sizes uploaded directly from a camera?
Does your site have an SSL certificate installed? (Is the address "https" rather than "http"?)
Is there a contact form on the site? Does it work?


SECTION 4: Search Engine Visibility (SEO)
If a new customer in your area searches for "craft brewery near me" or "best local winery," will your site appear?

Have you ever done any work on search engine optimization for your site - meta titles, descriptions, keywords?
Is your business listed and verified on Google Business Profile? (Formerly Google My Business)
Are you listed on Apple Maps, Bing, and other local directories?
Do you have a blog or regularly updated content section? How often is new content added?
Do you know what keywords - search terms - your current or ideal customers would use to find you?
Have you ever used Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools to see how your site appears in search results?


SECTION 5: Online Selling and Conversion
Getting someone to your site is only half the job. The site should be converting visitors to customers.

Can visitors purchase anything directly from your site? (Merchandise, packaged product, event tickets, gift cards, memberships?)
Is there a clear call-to-action on your homepage - a button or link that tells visitors what to do next?
If you have an online store, what platform is it built on and does it integrate with your point-of-sale system?
Can visitors make reservations or sign up for events directly through the site?
For alcohol sales specifically: are you aware of the legal requirements in your state for online and/or DTC shipping? Have you consulted legal counsel or your trade association?
Does your site have an age gate where appropriate?


SECTION 6: Goals and Priorities
Before building a plan, I need to understand what success looks like for you.

What is the single most important thing your website should do for your business right now? (Drive tasting room visits, grow your email list, sell product online, attract event attendees, build credibility with press and trade, something else?)
Are there specific problems you know the site has that you haven't been able to address? (Broken links, outdated menus, slow load times, content that's years old, etc.)
What does your realistic capacity look like for improving the site? (DIY with internal team, external developer on retainer, one-time project budget, or limited bandwidth?)
What is your approximate budget for website improvement - design, development, tools, and plugins - over the next 6 months?
Are there any competitor websites you've seen that do something you'd like to replicate or improve upon?


PLAN BUILD INSTRUCTIONS
Once I've answered the above, produce the following in order:
Step 1: Site Audit Summary
Evaluate my answers against the Market Your Craft website best practices framework. Produce a clear, honest assessment of the current state of my site across six dimensions: content and brand story, mobile performance and responsiveness, SEO and discoverability, navigation and user experience, online selling and conversion, and analytics and measurement. For each dimension, give me a plain-language rating (strong, needs work, or not addressed) and one specific observation grounded in my answers. Do not be diplomatic for its own sake - a site that's broken needs to be called out as broken.
Step 2: Goals and KPIs
Based on my stated priority and the audit findings, establish 3–5 measurable goals for the next 90 days. For each goal, define what success looks like in specific, observable terms - not vague aspirations. Example: "Homepage loads in under 3 seconds on mobile" or "Events calendar updated and current within 72 hours of any change." Reference the web analytics framework from marketyourcraft.com to identify which key performance indicators (KPIs) - traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, organic traffic, unique visitors - are most relevant to each goal.
Step 3: Prioritized Improvement Plan
Build a prioritized, phased improvement plan across three horizons:
Immediate (0–30 days): Quick wins with existing resources
Actions that can be taken today or this week without a developer. Focus on content updates, image optimization, Google Business Profile, contact forms, events calendar currency, and mobile spot-checks. Reference the Market Your Craft "six tweaks to improve mobile discoverability" framework.
Short-term (30–60 days): Structural improvements
Actions requiring modest investment of time, budget, or developer support. May include navigation restructuring, adding or updating product pages, implementing an SEO plugin, enabling analytics tracking, improving calls-to-action, or adding an email signup. Reference marketyourcraft.com guidance on meta tags, Yoast SEO for WordPress, and search engine best practices.
Medium-term (60–90 days): Capability additions
Larger initiatives that require planning, resources, or outside help. May include adding or improving an online storefront, launching a News section and publishing a first post, implementing an events reservation system, addressing website accessibility (WCAG standards), or commissioning lifestyle photography. Reference the Market Your Craft online storefront guide and accessibility framework throughout.
Step 4: Tools and Resources
Based on my platform and situation, recommend the specific tools, plugins, and free services most relevant to my improvement plan. Prioritize those referenced on marketyourcraft.com - Yoast SEO, Google Analytics (GA4), Google Search Console, Google PageSpeed Insights, MobileTest.me, WooCommerce, Ecwid, The Events Calendar, Smush for image optimization, Wordfence for security, and others as applicable. For each tool, note what it does, whether it's free or paid, and why it's relevant to my specific situation.
Step 5: One Honest Observation
After delivering the plan, give me one direct, unvarnished observation about the biggest gap between where my website is and where it needs to be - and what will happen if it stays that way. Base it entirely on what I've shared. No softening.
Do not produce any step until you have confirmed through the intake conversation that you have enough to make the recommendations specific to my brand and situation.

PROMPT ENDS HERE