Articles on Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You’ve written your content, you’ve got a website, and you’ve got services, products, or programs to sell … but you’ve got a problem. No one knows you exist  or at least not very many people do. And people can’t hire you, buy from you, or learn from you if they don’t know you and can’t find you.

You need to get people to your website  A LOT of people  and the first step is optimizing your website so you get found online by the people who are not only searching for and desperately in need what you offer, but are ready to buy.

Below you’ll find a collection of articles on organic search engine optimization (SEO) and the information you need to get found more often online and increase your search engine page rank

Genesis SEO Settings Guide

March 13, 2013 | By | 27 Comments
WordPress Genesis SEO GuideAt Bourn Creative, we build our custom designed WordPress websites exclusively on the Genesis Framework by StudioPress.

The reasons behind our choice to develop our custom themes on the Genesis Framework are numerous, but a few we often highlight are that the Genesis Framework is very flexible/customizable, coded extremely well, and has been built with SEO as a priority (SEO — the art and science of being found online through organic search).

After all, a beautifully designed website means nothing if consumers and search engines can’t find you.

Genesis already has most SEO requirements built into the framework. As a result, a separate WordPress SEO plugin isn’t necessary, which means one less plugin to manage, and keep updated.

Get Our Genesis SEO Settings Guide & Instructions

Filed Under: Blogging & Blog Strategy, Search Engine Optimization, Website Design Tips & Strategy, WordPress Tips & Resources | Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Adding Google Authorship To Your WordPress Site

March 1, 2013 | By | 29 Comments

(AKA: Getting Your Photo To Show Up In The Google Search Results)

Google Search Results Page Showing Author Photo

Facial recognition is a powerful marketing tool and authors, business owners, and bloggers alike are taking advantage of it.

When searching Google, you have more than likely noticed that photos are now appearing next to some of the listed search results on the search engine results pages — and you may have even been influenced by those photos when deciding which link to click.

Getting YOUR Photo to Show Up

Adding your photo to Google’s search results can easily be accomplished in a few different ways with a WordPress site. In fact, the process is nearly identical using three of our favorite WordPress tools:

Learn How to get your photo to show up next to your pages and posts in the Google search results

Filed Under: Blogging & Blog Strategy, Client Attraction, Marketing Tips & Marketing Strategy, Search Engine Optimization, Website Design Tips & Strategy, WordPress Tips & Resources | Tagged With: , , , , , ,

11 Ways to Optimize Blog Posts And Get More Website Traffic

September 26, 2011 | By | 10 Comments

Blog Post Optimization Checklist

Even the most seasoned bloggers can forget an important step when publishing a new blog post.

And forgetting a step usually means a lost opportunity to optimize your post for the search engines, to get found by your ideal clients online, and to attract new readers to your website.

Use this blog post optimization checklist each time you publish a new post to ensure that it is ready to attract visitors, and optimized to improve your search engine rankings.

Learn the 11 Ways to Optimize a Blog Post

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization | Tagged With: , , , ,

Using Internal Links for Search Engine Optimization

April 28, 2011 | By | 4 Comments

Internal Links Are Part of the SEO PuzzleLinks on your website to other pages on your website are known as internal links, meaning all traffic stays on your website.

The internal links on your website, and more important, the words used in the internal links are a very important part of your organic search engine optimization efforts and can make a big difference!

Here is a quick guide to maximizing the click-throughs and effectiveness of your internal website links:

Learn How to Optimize Your Internal Website Links

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization | Tagged With: , , , ,

Dangle a Carrot for Search Engine Results Page Clicks

December 7, 2010 | By | 6 Comments

Dangle a Carrot for more page clicksDo you want to increase your search engine results page clicks? If you do, and well, who wouldn’t? You’ve got to have a killer description of your page listed in the search engine page results.

Do me a favor please. Open up your internet browser and do a Google Search for your own website.

Do you see results like the one below? The two lines of black text that appear below the link? That text is known as your “meta description” and it can make a big difference in your website traffic from organic search.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization, Website Design Tips & Strategy | Tagged With: , , , ,

Using WordPress For Search Engine Page Rank

November 30, 2010 | By | 2 Comments

WordPress MagicI attend a lot of networking events and conferences and it is inevitable that at some point the conversation turns to WordPress and search engine rankings. Everyone always asks the same question: “I have a WordPress Website. I was told that Google loves blogs. Why don’t I have high search engine rankings?”

This is usually the point where I crush the fantasies of those I am chatting with and explain to them that while WordPress is the best platform for small business websites, it isn’t magical. You can’t do nothing and expect to receive results just because you use WordPress.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization, WordPress Tips & Resources | Tagged With: , , , , ,

5 Ways Search Engine Optimization Can Help Your Small Business

November 18, 2010 | By | 2 Comments

Search Engine Optimization HelpIf you have a website, then you’ve heard about search engine optimization (SEO). But you may also be wondering how it can help your business.

Search engine optimization is important to your online business success, and when done right, SEO can have a big impact on your website traffic and sales conversions.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization, Website Design Tips & Strategy | Tagged With: , , ,

Google Success? Maybe Not! Be Careful When You Brag…

August 16, 2010 | By | 27 Comments

Reach the Number One Ranking on GoogleI have a pet peeve. Okay, maybe I have several pet peeves. But this one I see all the time, and repeatedly from some and it drives me nuts!

You know the people, the ones that never miss an opportunity to tell you that they rank number one on Google for all of the keywords relating to their business.

Yeah. Right. Sure You Do.

I know for a fact one of these so-called Google Braggers uses this line to woo new clients who don’t know any better… Ah the illustrious promise of the Google Promise Land.

Here’s my problem with that. Those statements 99.9% of the time are FALSE!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization, Website Design Tips & Strategy | Tagged With: , , , ,

Poop and Google’s Illusive Number One Ranking

June 1, 2010 | By | 5 Comments

Google Number One RankingI hear it all the time when I am speaking with new prospects – “They guaranteed they could get me to the number one spot on Google for only $500.”

Or another favorite of mine is, “The SEO Company I spoke with told me they would optimize my site, make me number one on Google, and keep me there. They told me it would get me so many new leads that it more than pays for their fee of $3,000.”

Well guess what? I can get you to the first page of Google.

Yep. I said it. I can get you to the first page of Google and I can do it FAST.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization, Website Design Tips & Strategy | Tagged With: , , , , ,

Sacramento Web Design Firm Chosen as IAWBO Teleclass Guest Speaker

February 26, 2010 | By | Leave a Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2010 | CONTACT: Jennifer Bourn, Bourn Creative
916-788-1740 | jennifer(at)bourncreative.com

Jennifer Bourn of Bourn Creative One of Only 12
Women Experts for List Attraction Week, March 8-12, 2010

Sacramento, CA – 2010 is shaping up to be the year for building business, thus increasing the need for low-cost, high-return marketing tactics by entrepreneurs. With the exponential growth of social networking for businesses in 2009, online marketing is one of the fastest growing marketing trends. However, most entrepreneurs don’t know how to get started with the most basic element, their “marketing list”.

Jennifer Bourn of Bourn Creative, a Sacramento web design firm, is a web designer and web strategist who helps her clients transform their existing business into an extraordinary brand with websites that work when you’re not working. Bourn was recently selected by the International Association of Women in Business Online (IAWBO) to sit on a panel of 12 experts who will host a teleclass series during “List Attraction Week”, March 8-12, 2010.

[Read more...]

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