Discover.

To Tuscany came to us asking us to grow the number of converting visitors to their site. Extensive keyword research and customer insight helped us identify that the search term 'villas in Tuscany' represented the best opportunity to attract more customers. After establishing the target market through in-depth Persona Insight research, and the different groups within this, we looked at what motivates these people to search and book.

Conceive.

We then mapped out the media channels the Personas used, the specific sites they interact with, and the lifestyle touch-points that are part of their everyday lives. This insight could then be used to focus on the onsite and link development activities.

After conducting a thorough SEO audit, we identified that we could improve the website's visibility for long-tail terms such as, '2 bedroom villas in Chianti', as well as improve the user's experience by changing the search functionality. This refinement option essentially meant the website grew from 500 pages to 6,000 which we ensured was strategically with Google.

We also provided comprehensive recommendations that saw the booking process completely revamped. Carefully positioned customer testimonials and TripAdvisor reviews were also integrated across the site to demonstrate advocacy and improve experience.

Deliver.

After creating the Persona Insight, we reviewed all of To Tuscany's Paid Search creatives and landing pages to maximise conversion rates and ensure we targeted the right groups of people.

We created editorial features targeted at different personas, such as 'Truffle hunting in Italy for the 'Foodies' and 'Chianti Wine Trail' for the 'Wine lovers'. For the 'Active and Sporty' Persona we organised for a caddy master to review five golf courses in Tuscany, the guide was then published on two authoritative golfing websites, Golfmagic.com and Golf365.com.

Another tactic we deployed was sharing the link love, where supplier details were also added to sections of the To Tuscany travel guide, this not only improved visitor experience but also resulted in reciprocal links.

Prove.

And the strategy was a success! Here are just a few of the killer stats that the link building work drove:

When comparing January - May 2009, with January - May 2010, results show that:

• Visits from search terms including 'Tuscany villas' increased by 154%, bookings increased by 109% and revenue increased by 208%
• Brochure requests and enquiries from 'Tuscany villa' search terms increased by 217%
• 'Villas in Tuscany' increased from position 19 in Google, in January 2009 to position 1 in January 2010
• As a result of link building for 'Villas in Tuscany' we also saw 'Tuscany villas' increase from 24 to position 5