It happened again during SES San Jose 2008. In fact, the situation happens so often )actually, every conference for the last 10 years( that I call it "The question." "What kind of keyphrase density should I shoot for in my copy?" I don't blame the person who asked the question. Heck, I'm not surprised they're confused. Ever since the dawn of SEO copywriting time, SEO'ers have been trying to game the content part of the algorithm.

How exciting! SEO Copywriting has been recognized as #37 on Junta42's Top Content Marketing Blog list. According to the Junta42 site: "The Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs list was designed to organize and feature the best blogs on the internet that discuss some aspect of content marketing." Well, we're blushing. Thanks to Joe Pulizzi and the rest of the team at Junta42. We appreciate the honor!

It's hard to believe that it's SES San Jose conference time already. It seems like just yesterday I was hanging with Kevin Ryan and the gang at SES NYC'how quickly five months can pass. I'm speaking on a rocking session this year with Anna Stickney from Forbes.com . Called " The Business Case for SEO Content Development: Turn Words Into Action ," we'll be discussing how SEO content can actually make companies money â€" pretty cool, eh?

So, what new articles are you adding to your site this month? I know, I know. Content development and adding additional Website content seems like "too much work" when time is already short and your nerves are feeling frazzled. You can't ask your marketing department to do it â€" they're already maxed out. Fighting for freelance budget seems too overwhelming. And heaven forbid that you add something new to your plate' 'sound familiar?

My goodness. It's hard to believe that SuccessWorks )my SEO copywriting firm( has been in business for over 10 years now. Where DID the time go? Yesterday, I had the weird, odd out-of-body experience one feels while looking at decade-old marketing materials )it's like looking at old high school yearbooks â€"what was I thinking with that hairstyle?( Back in 1998, SEO copywriting was not the SEO uber-thang that it is today.

Sure, blogs seems like old news. "Everyone is blogging," you say. "How can my catalog company see search engine benefit by creating random bits of blogging fodder." Good question. The answer is this: Blogs can help overcome some common catalog marketer challenges without having to change your site . And that's a good thing. The challenge with online catalogs is the templates are typically text unfriendly.

Dear catalog marketers, It's August 1st. Have you finalized your holiday SEO copywriting strategy? Right now, while we're enjoying vacation time and lazy summer days, the words "holiday season" sound far in the future. Guess what - it's not. Already, you're seeing "Back-to-school" newspaper inserts'and soon, Halloween goblins will be gracing the shelves'after that, holiday music will bombard your ears with cheer and joy.

Where has SEO copywriting gone wrong? I had an interesting moment yesterday. I was chatting with a prospect and discussing how SuccessWorks )my firm( employs experienced writers with highly-honed skills in SEO copywriting and direct response writing. His reply? "What's direct response writing? Ouch. Good reality check. I've drank my own Kool-Aid long enough that I assume that everyone else understands the benefits that really tight writing brings to the table.

Yesterday, I received a voice mail that disturbed me. The caller represented an SEO outsourcing service based in India. He wanted to know if I wanted to save money on writing costs and outsource my SEO copywriting projects to his firm. He then named three high-profile SEO firms that had )supposedly( done just that, indicating that I would not be alone in this outsourced copywriting world.

I admit it. I'm a SEO writing slacker. It's been two weeks since my last blog post - and I don't have a reasonable excuse. I can't play the "too busy" card )although it's true; my life has been unusually full lately.( Nor can I lament how the Muse has left me â€" she's right here, guiding how I craft my emails and pen my copy. It's merely a minor case of "blogger's block." That is, I could write if I had to â€" I just didn't have anything to say.

Oh. My. Goodness. The writing was horrible. The Web page copy was a sight for sore eyes â€" literally. The run-on sentences made my eyes cross. Rampant comma use forced my eyes to eyes pause after ever third word. And please, please tell me â€" what does this paragraph even mean ? In short, this was not conversion-based SEO writing. This was a mess. The person in charge of the horribly-written page was the new marketing director â€" and she had just inherited the Website.

"Each time you write content about your key topics, you are seeding the Internet with keywords. Like bread crumbs that lead back to the gingerbread cottage, those keywords will help readers find you" says Patsi Krakoff from The Blog Squad. Although she jokes about "offending SEO experts" most of her SEO content comments are right on the money. Enjoy!

I found hidden links within 60 seconds. Discovering the duplicate pages took another minute. And â€" lookie here â€" the code is really, really bad. No, this isn't a scammy corporation trying to spam their way to the top. This is a Mom and Pop business where the owners are honestly trying to do everything right. Yes, they educated themselves by reading books and visiting forums. Yes, they can speak SEO'to a point. But they knew they couldn't do it all themselves.

Faced with a SEO-clueless client and need to educate them on the basics? Ramon Eijkemans at Searchwritten discusses how to talk about Titles in his post Title-tags for dummies . Enjoy!

Direct response headline writing is tricky. You know that you have to "grab the reader's attention," but that doesn't help much when you're facing headline-writing writer's block and nothing is flowing. How can you work your SEO copywriting magic when you don't even know how to begin? We've all been there â€" you just need a little jump start. If you're feeling stuck, here are some tried-and-true headline archetypes,

Wow, people still talk about doorway pages ? Turns out, that answer is "yes," and Google has changed how they define them )which doesn't make sense to me - I always thought of doorway pages as copy that's been optimized for one keyterm for the sole purpose of driving traffic.( I suppose, like leg warmers, neon and parachute pants, doorway pages have to come back in vogue. People discuss them in forums as a new, easy way to generate content. Sure,

The economy has shifted. Has your marketing message? In today's learned helplessness, recession-mindset economy, some business owners are moaning, "People just aren't buying. There's nothing we can do." The reality is that companies )and individuals( are buying products and services every second of every day. However, the marketing message that worked a year ago may not be applicable now. When money is tight,

The email from a SEO copywriter read, "My colleague's SEO company is insisting that I write at least 500 words per page. But you said that the best word count is 250 words. What should I do?" Stuff like this drives me nuts. I call it the Easy Bake Oven approach to SEO copywriting. That is, write 250 words, focus on your keyphrases X times each and pop it into HTML. Voila! You'll have a top-positioning document. It's just not that simple.

When faced with an offer, an action step or a request, we all want to know one simple thing: What's in it for me? For instance, how many times have you received an email like this one: "Thank you for )staying at our hotel, talking to our customer service rep, buying something from us.( We'd like to invite you to fill out a form so we can improve our customer service'." And how many times have you junked that email as soon as it hit your in-box? Chances are,

Imagine this: You've been hinting around to that hot guy )or gal( in the office that you really, really want to go out. You're friendly and scintillating within a 1 mile radius of his voice. You've highlighted your hair within an inch of its life. You're putting out some major vibes' 'But why won't he pick up what you're putting down and ask you out, already?