I 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!

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I 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.

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Bourn Creative’s network of contacts, partners, affiliates, and clients extends throughout the United States and around the world, and thanks to today’s internet technology we are able to serve clients that we have never actually met in person.

With that said, we still conduct a large portion of our business services with clients that live within 2 hours of our office. Our website also receives the highest volume of traffic from cities within the same radius.

That means local search and search engine optimization for local search results is important to online business success.

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Search engine optimization or SEO is one of the top three most important components of your business website success. You can read about the other two components of successful business websites, good design and quality content, in the blog post Search Engine Optimization: The Two Most Important Things Your Website Needs.

The web design, website content, and SEO make up a trifecta of search engine results page power.

Search engine optimization is a process not a single event. With that fact in mind, your search engine optimization or SEO efforts should begin before the design and content development of your website and continue for the life of your website.

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If you have a link anywhere on your website that says nothing more than “click here,” this post is written especially for you.

This about this, what information of value does the link “click here” provide your visitor?

The answer is ZERO value. The words “click here” mean nothing to the reader and are basically useless. The only thing the “click here” link tells the reader is that they can click the link to go to another web page.

Instead your link should use keywords or key phrases that give the reader a hint of what information they will find or access when they click the link. You can learn more by reading the post Using Links for Search Engine Optimization.

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Guest post by: Brian Bourn

When we build websites and blogsites for our clients, we almost always recommend a custom designed WordPress site with an integrated blog. In fact, part of our intake process with new clients includes explaining the value of blogging for business and how it can help them increase website traffic and attract new clients. You can learn more in the article 6 Reasons Why WordPress is Perfect for Small Business.

Relevant, targeted, and fresh content is what search engines like Google want, and high rankings within the search engine results are what every website owner wants.

So how do you feed the search engines regularly updated, focused content and increase your website rankings?

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We can talk search engine optimization strategies and organic search engine optimization techniques all day, but one thing will always remain the same.

The two most important things to help you get found more often online and stand out from the rest of the sites in your niche are, in this order:

1. Good content
2. Good design

Good content that is user focused, information rich and valuable is the most important part of your website. Good content that is updated regularly is even more important.

The search engines first and foremost want to see that you are providing information of value on a regular basis. Consistently adding new content to your website shows the search engines that your site deserves to show up in the results because people need access to your newly updated content.

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A frequently updated website, blog, or weblog with high-quality, relevant, personal, value-added content is the key to a high search engine page ranking. A website that is updated consistently with fresh content means you’ll be found by your prospects and customers much more often online, both in the search results, and through referral links.

In fact, while search engine optimization efforts do accelerate your results and help drive more traffic to your website, many entrepreneurs and business owners are seeing an increase in website traffic and search engine page rankings as a result of simply adding a blog to their existing website, or upgrading their existing website to include a blog and a complete content management system, such as WordPress (which is what this site is built on).

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Do you have a gorgeous website that has a fantastic and beautiful design? If you hired a talented web designer, I am sure you do. And, I am sure you are really proud of your website. If you didn’t hire a professional, you should check out my post 10 Reasons Your Business Website Stinks and How You Can Fix It.

Here’s the problem. Your website needs to be a whole lot more than just pretty and attractive. It needs to be a 24 hour a day lead generating machine that makes your life easier and helps your increase your profits.

Don’t get me wrong, high quality design is very important to your branding, image, credibility and professionalism, as well as the flow of information in your website. But, you website needs much more than high quality web design.

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As a website designer and online marketer, I have seen quite a few bad domain names come across my desk – and that is putting it nicely. Some domains are down right horrible like the domain for the promotional product company Pen Island (www.penisland.com).

Sometimes my best advice for clients who have a bad domain name is to get a new one. Some of those clients have taken my advice and changed their domain name and some have not. But no matter what, every time the topic comes up I get asked the same two questions…

“Why is my domain name bad?” and
“How do I pick a good domain name?”

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WordPress is one of the most popular blogging tools available online and it can be completely customized for your personal brand. But what most entrepreneurs and business don’t realize is that WordPress is also a very powerful, easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS) that can be used to manage entire dynamic websites as well.

Whether you want a completely custom site designed and coded from scratch, or you want to customize a wordpress theme (template), WordPress, provides all the benefits and flexibility of a standard website combined with the ultimate functionality and benefits of a blog.

Here are some of the reasons WordPress is a great choice for your next website project

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When it comes to SEO, most Entrepreneurs’ eyes glaze over and a fog-like state sets in. The most common things I hear is that it is too complicated, there are too many terms and how it works is confusing. Today I hope to clear some of that up.

Pairing the two, SEO and shopping, at first sounds very strange. But in reality the two are actually very similar and when the beast that is Search Engine Optimization is broken down into shopping terms, it makes much more sense!

Let’s start with shopping. So much fun. Imagine that you’re strolling through the mall, laughing with friends, and deciding which store to go into next. More than likely you are going to base that decision off something that you NEED or WANT.

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