SEO Follow Up

Follow up. Two words that can mean so much. When it comes to online marketing follow up is not only a must, but a fine tuned tool in your arsenal of tactics. Following up can mean the difference between landing a client, or landing a guest blogging opportunity. That said, how can you do it effectively?

Don’t do it too early.

You don’t want to follow up one day after you send a pitch. The person may have not had time to read your email, or it isn’t on their top list of priorities. You’re a busy person, you know how hectic things can get. Remember this when reaching out to someone–they’ll appreciate it.

Keep it short, sweet and to the point.

When following up, make sure you don’t write the next great American novel. Just send a quick note checking in on the status of your request. If you are looking for a guest post opportunity, send a few links of your articles to showcase your work. This frees up the editors time searching for articles by you, and it also allows you to funnel them to great articles you’ve written.

It’s ok to check in twice.

After your initial pitch, wait around a week before checking in. Others say 3-4 days, but a week is more than long enough. If they still don’t reply, give them one more try. Sometimes they are just busy. By your third email and/or phone call if you haven’t heard back I wouldn’t reach out again. They clearly aren’t interested and you don’t want to keep wasting the energy.

Following up is an art. You have to fine-tune it as you develop your skills. Once you figure out how to, you usually can get great results from it. Don’t forget that if someone doesn’t respond right away doesn’t mean they’re not interested. They may just be having a busy week.

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Don’t Underestimate The Power of 404 — Minneapolis, MN

When someone visits your site and takes a wrong turn, where do they end up? — On a page with indecipherable HTML mumbo jumbo? Instead of frustrating visitors with an Error 404 Page that makes them feel lost within your site, give them a clear path to get back to where the action is.

By designing your own 404 page, you can include the essential links to get visitors redirected to where you intended them to go. You can also avoid the inconsistent design that you would get without a custom page, making the user feel as though they are still within your site, even though they have wandered off the beaten path.

The same goes for search engines. If a person can get lost within your site, so can the search engine bots that scour your site for keywords to improve site visibility. Listing key navigation links on this page will help the user and/or bot get out of nowhere land and back to the pages that count.

Although it is a seemingly simple thing, a custom 404 Error Page has a big impact. It is often overlooked, because in essence its purpose is not to be viewed, but it can help you in more ways than one. It eliminates confusion, helps to maintain brand standards, and is a good SEO practice. Graybow.Olson’s new site implements a great example of an effective and creative 404 page — click here to take a look.

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