Hunting and gathering content.

April 25th, 2011 |  Karen Laukkonen

I am about to launch a nearly 100-page web site for an Italian property rental company. The biggest site I've ever done, but luckily the team has Happy Dog for web development and Susan Bonne for writing/editing, so I am not swinging alone in this wilderness. That said, my job for the last 5 days has been populating (gathering, adding and formatting copy/photos/info) for 90 Italian villas while also directing the design.

Here's the lesson I've learned: the planning of a site this size requires a full time person for content gathering. Preferably, one that starts three months before the rest of us. Luckily, I'm a resourceful and quick-minded gal who can instantly find/download/edit photos of Italian villas, and Google search to find Italian zip codes so the Google maps feature will work. But next time - pre-production organizing comes first, with everything in one place.

But it sure is fun to take a confusing, you'll-never-find-that-property-again web site and turn it into a searchable, smart and easy-to-navigate site to grow a business. Hoping the Italian fringe benefits make it all worth the effort.

Look for the re-launch of this amazing site soon — Much adieu, K.