A roaster's site has to sell beans to home brewers, win wholesale accounts and bring people to the counter. Roast dates, origins, grind choices, subscriptions, a wholesale page and clear shipping days do most of that work.

What the site is actually for

A small roaster usually sells coffee three ways: bags online to people who brew at home, wholesale to cafes, restaurants and offices, and over the counter at the roastery or a weekend market.

Each of those buyers arrives with a different question. The home brewer wants to know what was roasted this week and how soon it ships. The cafe owner wants to know whether you supply businesses at all.

The neighbour wants the counter's hours, and the gift buyer wants to know which bag to choose for someone who loves coffee.

The site does its job when each of them finds an answer within a click or two.

The buyers it serves

The third matters most to the business and is usually served worst, often by a single line saying wholesale enquiries welcome. A single cafe can buy more coffee in a month than most home customers buy in a year.

Roast dates, not best-before dates

Coffee is at its best within a few weeks of roasting, and the buyers who care most know it. They look for the roast date first.

A bag stamped only with a best-before date a year away tells them nothing, and makes your coffee look like the supermarket's.

Publish your roast schedule where every buyer sees it: roasted Tuesdays and Fridays, orders ship the next morning. Print the roast date on every bag, and say on the site that you do.

What each coffee page should say

The origin: the country, the region and, where you know it, the farm or co-operative. Then the process, such as washed or natural, explained in a phrase for anyone meeting the terms for the first time.

The roast level and tasting notes in plain words. A buyer who reads chocolate and dried cherry has something to go on; a buyer who reads complex and balanced does not.

Then the bag size, the price, the brewing methods it suits and a photograph of the actual bag. Mention a certification, such as organic, only when the coffee actually carries it.

Grind choices that do not spoil the coffee

Many buyers have no grinder. Offer grinding as a required choice, with whole bean listed first and the common methods named: espresso, drip, pour-over, French press and stovetop.

A required choice prevents the order that arrives as whole beans for someone with no grinder, or ground for espresso when they brew in a French press.

Add one line explaining that ground coffee goes stale faster than whole beans. Buyers who can grind at home will choose to.

A worked example

A two-person roaster in a light industrial unit on the edge of a town sold beans over a small counter at the front and online, through a shop added to an older site.

Its product pages listed six coffees, each with a name, a price and a short paragraph.

There was no roast date, grinding was requested in a comments box, and wholesale got a single sentence at the foot of the About page.

Emails asked when the coffee had been roasted and whether it could be ground for a French press. A cafe owner who phoned about something else mentioned she had assumed they did not supply businesses.

The site answered none of the questions buyers have before paying, and the most valuable buyer had no path at all.

The rebuilt shop opens with the roast and ship days. Each coffee shows origin, process and tasting notes, grinding is a required choice, and a wholesale page with its own short form sits in the main menu.

Subscriptions people can manage themselves

Coffee suits a subscription: the same buyer, a delivery every one, two or four weeks. It only works if it is easy to live with.

Subscribers want to pause for a holiday, skip a delivery, try a different coffee or cancel, all without phoning. State plainly when they are charged, when it ships and how to stop.

Gift subscriptions of three or six months suit the holiday season, and October is the time to set them up.

Brewing guides that answer real questions

Short guides for the common methods, with amounts by weight, grind, water and time, answer questions that would otherwise arrive by email.

Add the troubleshooting buyers actually need: bitter coffee is often ground too fine or brewed too long, and sour coffee too coarse or too short.

These pages also bring visits from people searching for help with their own coffee, and some will buy the beans the guide was written around.

Wholesale enquiries that go somewhere

Give wholesale its own page: what you supply, whether you help with equipment and staff training, your delivery area and schedule, and how a new account usually starts, often with a tasting.

A short form should ask what you need to reply well: the type of business, roughly how much coffee it uses, its equipment and when it wants to start.

Keep wholesale prices off the public page and send a price sheet on request. Name the cafes you supply only with their permission.

Shipping fast enough to stay fresh

Freshness is the reason to buy from a small roaster, so shipping has to protect it. Ship within a day or two of roasting, and say so.

Show the order cut-off for the next roast, the cost of shipping by region and how long delivery usually takes. Offer pickup at the counter for local buyers.

The counter-case

A roaster that sells almost entirely wholesale, with no online shop, needs less: a strong wholesale page, the counter's hours and a short list of current coffees.

A new roaster can launch with three coffees and add subscriptions once the roasting schedule is steady.

Any roaster selling bags online, though, needs roast dates and shipping days on the site from the first day.

What to build first

  1. Publish your roast and ship days.
  2. Add origin and process to every coffee.
  3. Make grind a required choice.
  4. Build a wholesale page with its own form.
  5. Add subscriptions buyers can pause online.
  6. Write brewing guides for the common methods.
  7. Show the counter's hours on every page.

Step four has the most money behind it. One cafe account can outweigh dozens of retail orders, and most cafe owners will not ask if the site does not invite them to.

The same approach applied to another trade is in what a day spa website needs.

Frequently asked questions

Why show roast dates on a coffee website?

Coffee is at its best within a few weeks of roasting, and buyers who know this look for the date. A best-before date a year away tells them nothing.

What should each coffee page include?

Origin, process, roast level, tasting notes in plain words, the brewing methods it suits, bag size and price, with a photograph of the actual bag.

Should a roaster sell pre-ground coffee?

Yes, as a required choice with whole bean listed first and the main brewing methods named. Explain that ground coffee goes stale faster than whole beans.

What makes a coffee subscription work?

Clear terms on billing and shipping, and the ability to pause, skip, change coffee or cancel online without phoning. Gift subscriptions suit the holiday season.

How should wholesale enquiries be handled?

On their own page, saying what you supply and where you deliver, with a short form asking the type of business, volume and equipment. Send prices on request.

What should the site say about shipping?

Your roast and ship days, the order cut-off, shipping costs by region and how long delivery usually takes, so buyers know how fresh the coffee will arrive.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Roasting good coffee behind a weak site?

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