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I’m going to do a case study series on a new client site, http://www.travelsintaste.com. This is Part 1.

In my career, I have spent countless hours talking with prospective clients about the importance of doing web marketing prior to your website launch (i.e. during design or redesign phase). My client did a very respectacle amount of research, market analysis and planning prior to her website launch and I would like to share some of the ways in which this dedication to planning and strategy has benefited her.

First, in creating a website marketing strategy for TravelsInTaste.com, I performed extensive keyword research. Her website is comprised of numerous related pages (restaurant listings) located in a handful of US cities. Due to the sheer size of the site and number of locations, it became clear early on that avoiding duplicate content and creating an easy-to-manage SEO strategy would be our two primary goals.

To that end, I created a “keyword mapping scheme.” (i.e. rules for assigning keywords to content pages with as little duplication as possible) As you might imagine, coming up with unique keywords for hundreds of web pages is a daunting task. To create uniqueness, I used a series of rules and variations to keywords. For instance, for New York restaurants we used New York City, NYC and Manhattan as alternate ways to describe the location. In addition, we used modifying words like romantic, top rated, exclusive, fine and outdoor to differentiate keywords like “dining” and “restaurant.”

With the keyword mapping scheme clearly stated, it became an easy task to assign keywords to different pages and create optimized content. When new pages are added, optimizing these pages becomes a much simpler task. This became increasingly important as the website when from 300 to 400 and even 500+ pages! And, as the client expands the site to include new restaurants and locations, a clear process has been put in place to make optimization more manageable.

In Part 2, I will discuss link building preparation. Stay tuned…

By now, it may seem obvious that getting people to link to your site is an important part of your web marketing strategy. These links help improve your Internet presence and provide direct traffic from other website to yours. But I’d like to talk a bit about the not-so-obvious reason for getting involved in link generation. That reason: networking.

As business professionals, we often find ourselves at mixers, lectures and other events that are meant to get us together, to broaden our professional networks and get our names out there. After all, for most of us, warm referrals are much less painful than cold calling! But when it comes to the Internet, it is sometimes difficult to see the networking potential - especially when our main focus is often on how to get our information out to the world.

 But the Internet can be an amazing tool for starting dialogues and building relationships. In its most basic application, we can use the Internet to locate businesses like ours (or maybe complimentary to ours). These types of websites provide great link building resources, so it’s important to contact the owner and talk link exchange. In doing so, you’ve reached out, sometimes across town, sometimes around the world. You’ve started a relationship that can lead to business and can be mutually beneficial.

So, what’s the bottom line? If you’re not using the Internet to reach out, to get your names out there and to build relationships, you’re not using it to its fullest potential. I should know, I’ve been asked to speak at events and have gotten jobs from people I met through link generation work.  I’ve also built some of my most important business relationships with people who I may never meet in person, but would never have been able to connect with any other way!

Inbound links, links leading from other websites to your website, are very important in achieving higher search ranking and direct traffic to your site (provided they are high quality links and relevant to your business). The activity of link building allows you to connect with other businesses online, creating a strong online network and opening the door to professional relationships. Here are five easy ways to make link building a natural part of your business process:

1. Ask for links anytime you begin work with a new client or vendor. Whether you’re on the giving or receiving end of a product/service, its important to ask for a link and to be willing to provide one for the client/vendor - its mutually beneficial.
2. Ask colleagues, business partners and mentors to link to you. These are people who know you and can provide not only a link, but some related information to provide context for site visitors.
3. Request a link from any organizations  you belong to. And once the link is live, verify that the information is correct and that the link works.
4. Post press releases on online PR distribution sites like PR Web and PR Newswire. Be sure to include a link to your website in your press release.

Extra tid-bit: Allocate 5 minutes everyday to identify new websites that would make good link partners for you. If you make this task a part of your work schedule everyday, it will soon become second nature.

It’s one thing to think about marketing your website. It’s another thing entirely to actually have a plan and write it down. I cannot stress enough the importance of establishing a plan for marketing your website before you start (or hire someone). 

Now, I’m not saying that you need to be an expert or even know anything at all about Internet marketing to come up with a plan. But the important thing is to really think about what it is you’re trying to accomplish. Are you trying to increase sales? Improve traffic? Create a better message? Whatever your particular goals are, its important to have those goals in mind when you start the the process of marketing your site.

Moreover, it is really critical to have an idea of what you are trying to accomplish before you hire a consultant or SEO firm to work with. The reasons: 1) if you don’t know what you want, it’s going to take extra time to define your goals (a task which, hopefully,  your website marketing consultant will do first thing). 2) if you don’t know what you want, its going to be difficult for you to measure success. This is really important, because, when you invest time and money into your website, you want to feel like you’re seeing a return on that investment. Without knowing what you are trying to accomplish, it is impossible to tell whether you’ve gotten there or not.

 Okay, so enough theory. Here’s how you can put this into practice:

1. Brainstorm: Sit down either by yourself or with members of your staff and think about all the things you’d like the website to do (even if some of these things are “long-term” goals, it”ll help you understand the bigger picture).

2. Write it down! I cannot emphasize this enough. Don’t waste your time trying to remember what you brainstormed about. Write it all down so that you can easily review and prioritize your ideas.

3. Review & prioritize: Read through your list and prioritize based on relative importance to your business and on the resources available to you. If you know you cannot afford to add live video to your site now, this should not be your #1 priority. On the other hand, don’t be afraid of the costs at this point. You may find that there are inexpensive solutions to items on your wishlist.

Whether you’re doing your own website marketing or hiring a firm to help you, coming up with a basic plan - a list of priorities and goals - will put you in control of the situation and allow you to better measure success!