I am over the moon with the overwhelming positive response I have received since the launch of my newest theme.

To “celebrate,” I’m giving away a copy of Genesis + plus a copy of my new Genesis child theme, Celebrate (that’s an $85 value, folks)!

To enter, visit the post announcing the giveaway on my Facebook page and click the “share” button – you may share on either your personal Facebook profile or a Facebook page, and the post must be public (meaning the post is viewable to everyone, regardless of your privacy settings). Be sure you share the original post (not a share of a share) so I can count it as an entry!

all the details

Your copy of the Genesis Theme Framework (a $59.95 value!) will be registered in your name under your own account, and you’ll have full access to the Genesis Support Forum. If you already own the Genesis Theme Framework, you will receive a copy of Celebrate only.

If you do not currently have a functioning self-hosted WordPress blog (which requires a domain name and a hosting account at your own expense), I will send you detailed directions on how to acquire one!

share this giveaway with your friends!

Tweet

the fine print

Giveaway ends on Sunday, May 6th at 11:59pm Pacific. Entries will be added to a numerical list in chronological order, and a winner will be selected via Randomizer.org. The winner will be notified via email, and will have 48 hours to claim his or her prize!

Prizes are non-transferable. No prize substitution or cash redemption is permitted. Prizes do not include installation, assembly, technical support or customization.

Any entries that do not meet the criteria specified in this post will be automatically disqualified. Facebook “shares” must remain on entrants’ profiles/pages for the duration of the contest and may not be hidden from view.

celebrate comes in the following 4 color styles:

While there are several things you can do to optimize your website for search engines, I have discovered two main factors in my experiences with my own website that got my rankings where I want them to be. Surprise, surprise, they are no “secret” at all!

The goal behind the Google search engine has always been to provide users with useful, relevant, and up-to-date content. That’s exactly what it’s looking for when scouring the web. While spammers are occasionally able to exploit Google’s algorithms to boost their rankings, Google always catches them eventually, and they are subsequently blacklisted.

That being said, here is the big “secret” to ranking high in Google and staying there: update your website regularly, over an extended period time, with quality content that people WANT to read (paraphrased from Google’s Webmaster Guidelines).

I know, I know… That’s like hearing only consistent diet & exercise can make you drop 20 lbs, not that fad grapefruit diet.

The bottom line is that snake oil salesmen will always try to sell you on the newest ways to cheat the system, but the only tried & true method is to do it the old-fashioned way: put in some effort!

If you’re already writing quality content, the most important thing you can do for your search engine ranking is to make your content REALLY easy for Google to index.

I’m a very visual person, so I like to think of websites in terms of the following analogy:

If you know much about websites, you know that web files are stored on servers that are all inter-connected by cable wires. Server rooms with the exact same equipment can vary DRASTICALLY in organization: some are a totally chaotic tangle of cables, and some are neatly organized. Which do you think an IT person would prefer to deal with?

Websites are much the same: if Google can’t make heads or tails of your content and another website has streamlined, organized content, which one do you think will get preferential treatment from the search engine?

So how can you make sure your website is easy for search engines to navigate and index? That question has a very complicated answer with a lot of factors (if you want to scratch the surface, start here).

I started my web design business on Blogger, and for two years I tried to get on the map for the keywords “custom blog design” to no avail (the closest I ever got was being ranked on page 30 – NOT the best way to drum up business!).

Finally, I found a “secret” for spoon-feeding my content to Google: I switched to WordPress and started using Genesis. Genesis is built by experts in search engine optimization that are much smarter than I am, so I don’t have to worry about it doing it myself anymore.

Within 8 months of switching to WordPress and Genesis, I started ranking on the first page for the keywords “custom blog design” without doing anything special. My content was already pretty solid, it just became easier for Google to index.

So there you have it! If you’re putting out quality content, and you make it easy for search engines to index that content, eventually your rankings will get where you want them to be. Just be patient – all things worth having require time and effort!

I am pretty disorganized when it comes to shopping! I have been known to run to the grocery store multiple times a day because I’ve ran out of shampoo, and then I don’t have the eggs I need for a recipe, etc. The clincher is I usually know ahead of time that I’ll need to pick something up, and I just forget.

With gas prices creeping back up, I’m trying out a new system: I print out a list once a week and stick it on my fridge, and jot items down whenever I need to stock up. That way my list is all ready to grab whenever I find myself running to the store.

I’ve also sorted the list by category, because I’m notorious for running back and forth across the store 10 times instead of picking up all the items I need from one area of the store before moving on (hey, at least it’s good cardio, right?).

I worked with Jessie of MomVantage on a blog design last year, and as her blog has grown and become more content-heavy, Jessie wanted to change her design to include more open space, while still maintaining her established brand identity.

A few weeks ago, my friend and design colleague Lindsey of Pretty Darn Cute Design gave me sneak peek of her new theme Adorable. When I got Jessie’s email, I knew Lindsey’s new theme would be perfect for this project. I shot Lindsey a quick email, and she was kind enough to let me beta test it (I’ll be sure to let you guys know when Adorable hits the market!).

Even though I loved Jessie’s design before, I couldn’t be more pleased with the way her new look came together!

Before

After