MattHamilton

Echo Trail

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First look through on website:
 * Ø Pictures are extremely basic
 * Ø No video on main page. If you include a video users can really get a full feel of your program
 * Ø Reuse of Photos on different pages. Just looks like they don’t have enough and reduces appeal
 * Ø The lack of testimonial. They only have two and they are extremely basic
 * Ø GREAT Logo!
 * Ø The scroll bar on pages isn’t user friendly
 * Ø No Social media linkage on homepage and limited on contact us page Include a small bar with twitter, tumblr, facebook, YouTube etc.

On Page SEO Information:
 * Ø Partner with local hotels to gain potential prospect []
 * Ø There facebook is a account not a fan page
 * Ø Examined Source Code and checked out the keywords. Some of the keywords are a little strange.
 * || <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> ||
 * ||  ||
 * ||  ||
 * ||  ||
 * || <meta name="keywords" content="Lucerne, Luzern, Switzerland, Swiss, Schweiz, outdoors, adventure, hiking, trail, walking, trails, Echo-trails, Swiss Trails, E-bike, bike tours, hiking tours, walking tours, guided tours, guided walking tours, guided bike tours, guided hiking tours, culture, heritage, Pilatus, Rigi, William Tell, Wilhelm Tell, Swiss army knife, Engelberg, Altdorf, english speaking, english, travel, leisure, trek, trekking, mountain, alpine, alps, swiss alps, nature, tourism, view, fun, countryside, panoramic"> ||
 * || :: Welcome to ECHO Trails :: ||
 * ||  ||
 * ||  ||
 * ||  ||
 * ||  ||
 * || Shadowbox.init({ ||
 * || handleOversize: "drag", ||
 * || modal: true ||
 * || }); ||
 * || }); ||


 * o “William Tell” is a Swedish folk lore but I don’t know how it relates
 * § Retract statement. After examining their offers found that one goes to the statue of the folk hero
 * o Why is “swiss army knife” a keyword
 * § Retract statement. Swiss Army Knife Valley is a place so this one makes sense


 * Ø Google France:
 * o Google France : Lack of search results in France. Googled “Biking Tours Switzerland” “Biking Tours Luzern” “English hiking tour in Luzern” not even on the first page
 * o Google Canada: Lack of Search Results on Google Canada as well “english hiking in Lucerne Switzerland”
 * o Google Switzerland: Lack of Search Resuls n Google Canada as well “guided english hiking tour Lucerne” “william tell guided english tour”
 * Ø Competitors seem to be linked higher
 * o [|www.myswitzerland.com/en/lucerne.html]
 * § Comes up on a lot of search results and is usually higher
 * o [|www.luzern.com/en/sport-erholung/.../147122]
 * Ø With googles changing policies to Penguin
 * o Echo should focus on creating regular content. Maybe linking a blog on trip updates, scenery, etc.
 * o Be an expert in swiss hiking, biking, etc
 * Ø Title in Source Code is “ Welcome to ECHO Trails” could be better and more descriptive.
 * Ø Word Density is average. Could increase density for words like hiking, English speaking, Biking, etc
 * Ø Is there an Echotrails.com ?
 * o The Hyphen throws users off and is hard to remember
 * Ø Image Files Labeled Image01 in the sourcing codes. It might be better to rename them and also include tags. I wasn’t able to exactly find if the images have tags already in the code itself but making sure they are include is a good idea to increase your search results

**Off page optimization **
 * Ø Could be a good idea to link with travel or tourism sites. In the US sites like Travelocity, Kayak, etc
 * Ø Link with Hotels in the Lucerne area to promote that as a fun activity to do
 * Ø Partner with International Schools for Orientation Programs
 * o Bénédict Hotel Management Schule
 * o []
 * o []
 * o ** Städt. Kindergarten **
 * o []

International Schools: Social Media: Similar to a nostalgic Starbucks ones : [] Mobile:
 * o ** The International School of Zug and Luzern **
 * o ** Four Forest Bilingual International SchoolCham/Zug GmbH **
 * o ** International School of Central Switzerland **
 * o ** International School of Lucerne **
 * o ** ISBM International School of Business Management **
 * o []
 * o
 * Ø Pay Per Click if cost structure is low enough
 * Ø Also reach out to potential Travel sites like Kayak, Travelocity as people are booking their flights
 * Ø Partnership with the History Channel, National Geographic for linkage
 * Change Facebook page to a fan page
 * o Run contests via facebook to drive user traffic
 * Outreach to other major influencers in outdoors. Like REI, hiking gear etc
 * Develop a twitter handle and become influential in outdoors via klout
 * o They have a tumblr but it is missing tags so it is important to Develop a tumblr with tags so users can search
 * o Posts could be on each trail trip, hiking information, events
 * o Use sites like Bitly to shorten
 * Add four square check ins along the route
 * Develop a picasa account or flicker etc
 * Keep up to date with new social media sites
 * Youtube
 * o Create videos to get people excited about hiking and Switzerland trails
 * o Could do historic videos too!
 * Develop Mobile App
 * o Trail Information
 * o Push Notifications about Weather conditions
 * o Quick facts about sights to pop up using Geo positioning
 * QR Quest
 * o Mobile Scavenger Hunt via smart phones using QR codes
 * SCVNGR
 * o Utilize googles venture company SCVNGR similar to four square.
 * Customize your hiking experience with a partnership with spotify or some player. Users can share photos and playlists to hike too.

Idea to Develop:
 * Ø After developing a better website that is user friend it is extremely important to do off page optimization. Targeting sites like schools, tourism sites, travel agents, hiking sites, and more the linkage can help get more customers interested in Echo – Trails. From there you can develop various social media campaigns mobile apps.