Possibly this:

Hi,

Bob here from the ** * * and I wanted to drop an email to you and compliment your site. Nice layout, good info, good resources.

I was looking around at a few different sites for product/service information and I thought your's was one of the best.

That being said, I also noticed you guys have some great content related to product/service.  I currently work for a company that maintains a website that offers product/service, www.domainname.com.

We are a nationally recognized, reliable source for product/service on the web and I was wondering if you'd be interested in exchanging/advertising via links between your site and mine?

If not, thanks for the time and keep up the good work!

Thanks,
Bob

Hi,

There was actually a great post on this subject a few days ago, worth taking a look. I think based on this, you could improve the structure of your email. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-write-email-to-get-a-better-response-rate

I think you have a good approach to this, and so, all things being the same, a refresh of the site should not hurt.

You mention that "content, url structure, internal linking structure" will all remain the same - if this is true and you keep everything in this bracket 'as-is' then you should be fine.

The most common reason rankings are lost when implementing a new site is re-directs, or the lack a redirect strategy to be more clear.

As your site structure / url structure is going to remain in-tack, then you wont really need to consider mass redirects.

However, here is what I would do just in case:

Before Launch:

Create a report of top linked to pages using Open Site Explore

Create a report of top content from the last few months from Google Analytics

Map all the URLs from the current site, use screaming from or something

After Launch:

Submit XML sitemap to webmaster tool

Review and improve on-page content

Monitor traffic in Google analytics, view top content for the period after launch and compare to the report you created prior to launch

Monitor and fix crawl errors in webmaster tools if any

Attract new links

Submit new XML sitemap (two weeks post launch)

Keep developing great content

I was thinking more on the lines of improving CTR, as opposed to focusing blindly on a keyword stuffed title purely for the rank, like all the others in the top 5 in this niche.

Now the sites ranking, a more prominent way of attracting / making the listing stand out is required, so looking for valid options.

Yep, this would work within the travel sector - The UKs No1 Destination etc etc.

I think it would only benefit the CTR, if the offering is indeed the best, or the client is happy to claim they are the best at what they do.

Thanks Guys