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One of the hardest things to do in Internet Marketing is collecting and storing data.

Keyword research, site architecture, content ideas, link partners, and analytics analysis all need to be kept somewhere. Not having a system set up can lead to client or employer issues that could have otherwise been sidestepped.

My organizational method of choice is the wiki. This format allows you to save all of your work on a backed-up server, and also allows for multiple editors and remote use.

Your approach to setting up your wiki will differ depending on the structure of your organization. For our purposes, we will utilize the concept that we are part of a large search consulting and strategy firm. This will allow you to scale the process down to meet your organization’s needs.

For our purposes we will be using the MediaWiki software, although there are several different wiki formats available for use.

The first step is obviously installation of the software to your server. Dependent on your organizational structure you may may want to put this in the hands of your IT department. However, if you do need to install the software MediaWiki is about as easy to setup as a Wordpress blog, so it shouldn’t cause to much stress. (The MediaWiki installation instructions can be found here.)

After we have completed installation of our software, we will want to make the home page of our wiki a navigation hub for the rest of our site. Here we will want to build links to pages that:

- Show our companies best practices

- Any strategies we have built in-house

- And individual links to pages that represent client projects

I would also add links to the projects in the wiki sidebar. This will allow you to easily navigate form project to project. (Instructions on adding navigation elements to the sidebar can be found here.)

The main page for client projects should serve as your second navigation hub, allowing for access to all information pertaining to projects:

- Client Communicaiton

- Link Partner information

- Link Audits

- Keyword to Page Assignments

- Keyword Research

- Competitive Analysis

- Site Architecture

- Analytics and Reporting

- And any other information that needs to be stored

The reason I feel a wiki is the perfect project management tool is:

- Scalability

- Monitors user edits for accountability

- Secure storage of information

- Centralized Location

- Remote Accesability

Anyone that has worked with clients knows the stress of having to answer client questions when you are away from your data. With a wiki, your data is always with you.

Obvious words to the wise with wiki use are:

- Make sure to password protect the site

- Make sure your server is backed up on a regular basis

If you follow these basic rules I think you will find that project management and administration can become far less taxing.