I am up to my nipples in work right now – mid-stride in the busiest month I can remember for a long time. It’s very exciting for me – I have lots of really interesting projects, none of them even remotely related to each other. I am working on sites all over the world, with some really fantastic people. Articulayers itself has more writers in-house this month than ever before – we’re in the middle of the most aggressive content strategies I have ever been a part of. And my guys are nailing it – if I don’t say it enough, my hat’s off to you, brothers and sisters.

But this is not a means to trumpet about anything I am doing specifically or what my good friends here at Articulayers are cranking out, as much as reflect on the fact that all of this great work is not coming to me – I am going to it, and engaging. I am pursuing that which I’d like to do – though grateful that I do get many solid requests for projects from intelligent clients. But I am not waiting for them to come to me – I go after what I want to do, and starting consciously working toward it.

Work begets work.

Many of my writers on board now are just starting out. This isn’t their first writing gig, but I am willing to bet that for most of them, it is the first one where they were assigned 100 pages to write. This will keep them all insanely busy – hammering away at the keyboard, turning out the prose like champs. Working on a heavy deadline, answering the client’s needs.

During these 100 page assignments, they are going to come to know things about how they work best. Do they need it quiet to get focused, or is music a good motivator? How many pages can they do in a day? How long does it take to edit and finalize the copy? All this and more will be dealt with – and they will all emerge stronger as a result.

But then, this project will end, they’ll get paid and they’ll need to get more work. Some of it might come from here, certainly, but it might not be enough for them. So they can take the lessons learned from creating 100 pages, and roll it over into a pitch for doing something similar for someone else. They’ll now have samples they can share of what they do and can use the work they completed as the tangible means to establish new working relationships. They can prove they got paid to write in the past and I will be right here to confirm it for them. They are experienced professionals by definition…and this is valuable.

Work begets work.

Not every one of these writers is going to like doing this work – it is inevitable. But this is not a bad thing to realize – this is actually a positive thing, too. Because writing for a living is not glamorous very often. If hammering out 100 pages, or doing a tri-fold, or writing a website is not your cup of tea, then look into other kinds of writing, or other kinds of work – but knowing what you won’t do is just as important as knowing what you will do. It is important to try though, to not make a judgement call from the cheap seats without first getting in there yourself and slugging it out for real.

The one thing (besides awesomeness) all of my writers share right now, is a willingness to jump in. They are all committed, and trying their best and that does matter, it counts. Not just to me as their boss right now, but it matters to them – because they are learning things about themselves, how they work, and getting a taste of what it means to be a writer for a living.

Work begets work.

When my awesome month is done, another will take its place. Followed by another, and even more after that. But I am not going to be standing here, looking at my reflection and murmuring Abba songs, I am going to be using the lessons learned to be creating more great big piles of work to do. I have a roster of clients that is comfortable, yet challenging. There is diversity in what I do, and I seriously love it, every single day. I have had LOTS of jobs, and know really well what I don’t want to do any more…and I am not even close to it.

I won’t have to look for anything that is not writing-marketing-internet focused. I have the benefit now of being able to create projects on my own, or I will gladly do whatever one of my clients wants me to address. I take none of it for granted, and am grateful. I want to give back, because the people who have helped me find success were so good to me, it needs to continue. The best way I know how, is to keep working, to stay plugged in, and to be here – ready and eager for the next project.

My newer writers might wonder about what it is like to write all the time, but when we talk about it next time, we will have a common frame of reference through this project, and be able to take the conversations and understanding further as a result. This is important, and meaningful. And it happens this way, because they are willing to work first, then talk about what it means – they get in there and start typing , and hand in 100 pages before we start talking about forever.

I have a great deal of respect for people willing to work. It is fine to understand that some work is not for you, but typically only when you are pursuing the work you champion, and have some experience or relative logic behind the things you shoot down. I don’t like to say no to work – and normally, only other work stands in the way of working on something.

I know my mantra well.

I gotta be honest – I don’t really suffer from writer’s block. Haven’t for years – though I imagine I could again struggle with it someday.

I used to get it more when I was trying to write some fiction, or create something “out of the blue” in some way. As my own work and demands became more tangible through the years, so too did my output, and my own expectations of such it seems.

I am not sure when things got easier in this regard as I have never really thought about it much – but I did notice recently that I never really have writer’s block any more, so I wondered a bit about why.

My conclusion (for now) was that I know I need to be working on something pretty much all the time to keep moving forward. So if one thing is not feeling right (common), I move away until it clears up. It happens in a pretty fluid way, and has for years – so it is kind of invisible to me unless I stare right at it.

Putting Lots of Stuff Out  There

I literally should NEVER have a time when a number of projects don’t come to mind when I am thinking about what I need to do. Prioritizing them reasonably is another thing completely (yipes!), but I should always have lots of things with potential, and/or specific projects that need more immediate attention.

I am not that good at always remembering things, so I use a little whiteboard that is just beyond my normal vision – it is on a wall back behind my desk, but in front of me , so I can turn slightly to read it. I update it every Sunday night, so I can look at it and see what I thought I was going to be working on all week. This simple thing helps me – so if project one feels like an anchor or a demon right now, maybe I can spend a little time on projects 3-4 and return back to the first one later when I am better prepared for it.

It is kind of like getting away from work, but you don’t – you just move away from things that are stifling you for the moment, and bring your attention to something with less of an ominous leer. You find something lighthearted to do, and let the ugly thing wait its turn.

It is important to note, you must be aware of your deadlines, and don’t sandbag – not to yourself or (god forbid) a client. That is not the point. The point, is to take a feeling of stress and anxiety – one that will often cause endless circles of inactivity – and channel it toward something easy. Toss yourself a bone, give yourself a break. With something you can accomplish rather quickly, doing it well and first can often be enough to restart your motors for the big nasty thing you are mentally (or overtly) dodging. When you see yourself doing well, it will often allow you to attack something more challenging with a better frame of mind: you are on a roll, remember.

A simple shift of the day’s workload, and many times you can get warmed-up before attacking and pounding down the more challenging lumps.

The Old Tricks Still Work

I have used lots of writer’s tricks in the past – like copying something from a book, stream-of-consciousness babbling to loosen the jets a bit, scanning headlines, using search engines, looking at my competitors, and on and on…they all can work to get you moving across the blank page. I particularly like stream-of-consciousness writing because the things I write from there are pretty entertaining. But only a few gigs actually pay me to do that – and generally speaking, the pay is not too bad for it. But most often, free-writing is more of a way to loosen-up before digging in deeper to something, and I find it works very well for me. Like stretching first if you were a runner considering a marathon.

The idea I am trying to get across here, is stress about doing well on a challenging task can create a mental block. It can for me, anyway. This can make it feel like no good ideas are coming in, or you are stuck with nowhere to go. Hopefully, the schedule is not always piled high with ONLY these kind of challenges, and there are a few things in any day’s work that are easier to achieve, but still very positive things to do. If you are struggling with the challenge, focusing on the mechanical, or smaller tasks can get you warmed-up and ready to attack the worst ones.

For me, it was important to realize that a mental block was there because I get too worried about doing well to keep moving forward. Reducing the worry of my success helped me to beat this, routinely: I finally realized I am very rarely going to be called on to measure my own quality anyway, so learned to let it go. My job is normally to create, not measure quality.

I used to start over-analyzing things when I needed instead, to be continually creating things for others to analyze. When I focused on more work, I ALWAYS overcame these hurdles – always. Now, I need to really think about this to come up with something to say. Too busy for writer’s block.

In a nutshell: Question: How do you overcome writer’s block? Answer: Get back to work, silly!

Many webmasters I know might hire out Textbroker, or some form of writing service to bulk-up their site. SEO copywriters often get their starts now in these houses: they are burning and churning it out like never before.

I often get hired to mop-up the text that others keep spilling over the edges. In doing this tonight, I saw a place I might be able to help someone, specifically when you are looking at fixing some text you get from a mid-to-low level copywriter.

Why Lazy Content Is Risky

The issue with lazy content is, in time, oogleGay is going to get increasingly better at slicing-up what they are serving. Text that is creatively, thoughtfully, and intentionally delivered is one way we can stay ahead of them.

When you buy content in bulk from a low-cost/affordable text writing service, the writer you hire does not typically care at all about what they are writing. They are churning. Writers in these organizations get paid by producing legible bulk – so there is little inspiration to write something better when coherent-enough and faster-than earns you more.

It is all OK if the writer and the recipient reach agreeable terms, I am not trying to rock the boat here…but I am saying that most often, the recipient is left with something that is grammatically correct, but offering little more.

And the real point is, as the search engines improve, grammar on its own merit is not going to make the cut for long, if it works much at all for you the way it used to. You need flow. You need ideas. You need to keep those Pandas scrambling.

So when you are hiring-out your writing to get a good jump on something, know that you’ll eventually want to clean it up. Start looking for the telltale signs of lazy writing.

Finding Lazy Writing

This was a sentence in the page I was editing tonight (domain changed, just in case):
“[B]PigOinkyOinky.com has some mighty fine selections, with some very nice ones under $50[/B].” (Swear to Google, I only changed the domain here.)
The fact that they took the time to type out “mighty fine” rather than something else is almost admirable. Almost.

But to me, a sentence like this shows me that this is a typer, not a writer, and it shows they could not fill this idea with a vocabulary that made it seem effortless. Or fake it. They are stream-of-conciousnessing, but have nothing to say. They don’t care, nor did I reading it. They are getting paid by the keystroke, and it shows.

This type of stuff, when left alone, is going to struggle, if you ask me.

So is it workable?
Sure.
The post it came from had a single idea I could flesh-out – and I could see some lazy patterns in the writing pretty quickly, so just clipped them all out, and the rest wasn’t too bad.

For the sentence up there that made me see what I was dealing with on this page, I ended up with this:
“[B]PigOinkyOinky.com offers an affordable selection, with some very nice options under $50[/B].”
It says EXACTLY the same thing – just less knuckle-dragging. Standing on its own, it actually makes sense. The eyebrows separate. You get into 9th grade English class.

I used “very” as a modifier, because the target audience is a “Target-store” kind of shopper. Normally, I would work this out, for it is what I think of as weak writing…but it works here to flow with the audience expectations, and to keep the vernacular of the targeted group.

How I Identify “Lazy” Writing

As a guy who fixes this kind of stuff, what I look for are words or sentences that don’t make sense, and paragraphs that don’t carry an idea through from A-B logically. I cut out all the filler, and see what is left.

I try not to write more – I try to only cut or work out their mistakes. This is the key – you are typically cutting, not adding stuff during your edits. Many people get confused with that. But just because they gave you a 975-word page does not mean cutting this down to 300 awesomely stated, tight words would not do the same things for you.

Here’s a hint: It will help you more in the long term (and long tail) to edit harshly based on context, rather than trying to reap rewards from the extra padding of misplaced, “added-in” kind of words. The long tail needs an association of context to be effective, so meaning helps as much as the inclusion of keywords in many cases.

But really, to think that this kind of middling, lazy stuff is going to work for you in the search engines for long, when left as-is, seems kind of foolish to me.
I do think using this filler and low-rent forms of writing is a great way to get something moving – getting a site to age. But you have to fix it at some point, or it will likely NEVER go as far as you’d hoped.

I have seen ALL of the engines get increasingly better at identifying synonyms and related words, and trying to decipher meaning that is not tied so directly the empty chatter of repeated consonants and vowels. Use this to your advantage to improve the actual writing and meaning of the content – eliminate the stiff, SEO-keyword driven repetition that seems like it would work, but really doesn’t.

Don’t Stop with Fixing the Spelling Errors

So when you approach, and look to fix some lazy content, make sure you are thinking about it in terms of meaning and flow as well as the obvious sloppiness inherent in the execution. If you clean it up from a conceptual as well as a mechanical perspective, you are going to better position your site’s content to withstand the algorithm changes sure to be coming soon.

Lately, I have had more than one occasion where an aspiring young writer asks me some questions about creating an invoice for their copywriting or SEO work. This page is going to serve as a dump for information about creating an invoice for whatever, and I’ll drop in a link to resource templates too, so you can skip to them if that’s all you need.

Why You Create Invoices

You create an invoice to bill a company for the work you do for them. They receive it, approve it, and put it into their payment cycle. The duration of each one is one of those things that depends on the company you are dealing with, but no matter how they handle it, many companies want an invoice to complete the project. You send this after a project to mutually agree you are finished, and you are now waiting to be paid.

They will use the invoice on their end to complete internal paperwork – assigning the value to a specific department, or sometimes a specific representative.

You will likely use it for record keeping too, but maybe just in an e-format.

Because both parties will use this document for tracking purposes, the information in it must be kept clear, and straight-forward. Offer exactly the information you need – nothing more, nothing less. The following things are going to be pretty standard things in the invoice information:

• Your company name and contact info in the header and footer. The mailing address is important – a lot of people will mail your checks to you. Also, the phone number/email is important, because if there is an error or something they need to be able to reach you quickly to sort it out. Every day the mistake exists is another you are not being paid.
• Their company name and specific contact information e.g., “Attn: Paul Jones.” The specific contact is used to identify your contact in a larger company – it is a good thing to know. They’ll often shuffle it around and get people to sign it – so be on the ball, and know where it needs to go.
• A specific invoice reference number – one that is unique.
• The description of the services/deliverables, potentially itemized. I like to keep this pretty general and simple…so something like “50 pages of original content and research @ $75/page  – $3750 total project fee” or something like that works. Put the itemized things in the left, the right column tabulates all the individual items being invoiced.
• Any additional costs/considerations/notes. If there was scope creep, delivery charges, outsourced talent or something off the grid of what you originally determined to be the project, state it if you want to get recognized and paid for it. All of the phone calls in the world don’t hold the same power as a written, signed invoice. Put it in writing.
• A total now due. Make this a very clear number using a font that is big, red, bold, exciting – make it work like a fork jabbed in their eye. There should be NO DOUBT how much they owe, and when. That is the only purpose of this document, so make it work.
• Payment preferences. You can state how quick you want the turn to be – I state net-10, meaning within 10 days of my final approval, they need to pay me. The common deal with bigger companies is closer to net-30 – this is important to know when you are just starting out. Demand all you want – but it doesn’t mean much to stomp your feet. It is truly better to wait it out, painful as that can be. Way back a long time ago, I actually had a client owe me over $10k for a month’s work because they were pushing hard quickly, and I was simply working hard to meet it – but when I balked to get paid in the middle of the second month (yeah-$10k+ is a LOT of dough, and my bills weren’t waiting), they “paused” with me to work it out and hired someone who was evidently more patient. The terms of our agreement stated I was to be paid every two weeks, yet I was 8 weeks in, and still waiting for an installment. They were never waiting for copy though – I met my deadlines, and their client loved my work. I could have simply shut-up and knew I’d get my money eventually – but I made a stand (sticking purely to the terms of our agreement) and essentially got moved aside. I got paid in a few weeks, but this was the last time I worked for them for a while. It meant more to me then – but in retrospect, the additional $10-20k I could’ve earned for another month would’ve been nice. Not to mention the additional work from this connection I likely flushed away with my indignant (however justified) “demand.” I was right according to our agreement, but who cares – I still got all-but-fired, and they didn’t call me again for almost a year (but they did – they always come back!). We made nice, and I eventually had more work on better terms with them, but it was definitely cooled-off for us both for a while. Learn from my mistake…stay on the job, get paid, and don’t leave your fences in a state needing attention. Act like a grown-up. I was mad, so handled this worse than I think I would’ve if I was not angry. It was years ago, but became a lasting lesson.

Creating an Invoice for Freelance Copywriting or SEO Work

Now that we have covered the basics in “why” you do this stuff, it’s time to look at the “how.”

Great news – you need to know nothing, and everything is free. Just grab the right template and Go.

Use this link – the big G has provided: https://docs.google.com/templates?q=invoice&sort=hottest&view=public .

When I make invoices, they are done in Word documents or Excel spreadsheets. I create them as a template (much like the Google ones), edit them with the specifics of the project and save them as a document and then create a pdf to send the client. You want to pdf them, so the client can’t change something on-the-sly before a signature or something creepy like that. It happens – sorry. But also keep it in editable format, as there might be something you need to change later and it helps you to not start over from scratch every time.

So that’s it really – use that link, and find a service-oriented invoice template you like. Save it as a template, and create all your invoices from the same one. If that is in any way confusing, email me directly, and I’ll help you sort it out.

Creating an invoice is a necessary skill to know if you are to be working for yourself at any point. But they are so frighteningly easy, it makes no sense to fear them. And needing to create an invoice is a great thing – it means you’re about to get paid!

This is just a head’s-up on a series that started this week on Search Engine Land about linking that is gonna be a good ‘un.

http://searchengineland.com/a-link-building-blueprint-the-foundation-62784

Authored by the zenfully talented Debra Mastaler, this promises to be a great primer for anyone who wants to know something about linking. A Link Building Blueprint is a fine idea…coming from Debra, it becomes a must-see.

I know a little bit about linking, but I always pay close attention to everything Debra shares. (Yeah, she’s one of those.) I have never regretted it. I pretty much always agree with her too, which is a plus, if you’re me. She can always defend herself well if challenged, and is not driving by ego – something that appeals to me every time. Really sharp, very measured, and always as nice as anyone you’ve ever met. But she always tucks little value nuggets in her posts and writings out there – yeah, she’s definitely a nugget-tucker too.

As illustrated: Even with this introductory post, she hipped me to using DMOZ better than I am, and supported my current approach to directories is not too bad.

Debra’s been doing this for a long time, and she tells it like it is – no matter what the platform. She is the resident Link Queen moderator in the SEOBook forums where I hang out. In there, she is more candid than she is in her articles for Search Engine Land – but her articles are always just as honest, just as straightforward and just as warm as her most personal posts.

You’ll like it. And it’s good for you, too.

I’d also use this time to remind you to look at the post I did last July covering Rae Hoffman’s seminal linking post – there are a lot of great things in there to make a companion to Debra’s Blueprint.

I am going to update this post with the updates she offers to this series.

[EDIT]

Here’s the second installment: http://searchengineland.com/a-link-building-blueprint-utility-linking-66202

Here’s the third: http://searchengineland.com/proven-ways-to-use-content-to-attract-links-73610

I was reading some favorite old posts today and came across this one, from all the way back in 2006 by Stuntdubl:  http://www.stuntdubl.com/2006/11/24/stunttrain/.

Mr. Malicoat offers a lot of good things in here, but the one that made me want to scribble was this:

9. Blackhat is lying to clients, customers, partners, or vendors.
Whitehat is proactively discussing risk tolerance, process, expectations, and contribution to a community instead of just bilking people into teaching you to think.

A lot of things have changed in search since he wrote that almost 5 years ago - but I think this point is more salient today than ever. Thankfully people aren’t talking about this as much as they used to…but some still insist on climbing on a soapbox, and pretending that there are altruistic means behind their sweeping statements and judgements.

Defining what you do by some broad-stroke term is limiting at best. But the argument between whitehat and blackhat SEO techniques has always been that – an ultimately limiting and self-defeating approach.

I should know:

Hi, my name is Marty. I am a recovering whitehat.

In my own case, my couple years of chest-thumping whitehattedness were eventually replaced by data, and logic. But while it had me, I really drank that kool-aid, hard.

Here are some of the many misconceptions it created:

• Buying links is bad, and will result in penalties. The truth is, buying links is commonplace and often results in success. Discretion.
• Automating is bad. Impersonal approaches to web development scared me I think, because I was building sites, and didn’t want to see it all go away. It did anyway – open source changed everything. And it only made me run faster to catch-up once I finally decided to get in the game. 
• Google is going to reward the best content.{Bwa-ha-haaaaaa-ha-ha-ha}
• Link spam gets punished. Truth is, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve seen link spam work well, I’ve seen it (apparently) sink sites. Truth is, good sites get punished too.
• Good content is required to top the SERPs. Sigh. As much as I would love for this to be the case, no such luck.   

Now, believing in whitehat came from a good place. I wanted to only do what my clients wanted – things I could be proud of later. But I was not taking Stuntdubl’s approach, and simply understanding risk tolerance better. I couldn’t communicate it to my clients, because I was too busy shunning things, because they seemed “shady.”

Flash forward a few years, and I don’t wear hats anymore – I now prefer scarves. Hardly gets cold enough in Atlanta for me to indulge, but I digress.

It may have taken me close to 5 years since I first read this post from Stuntdubl, but his last point is the one that now makes my bald head shine:

10. It’s all about the results

Yes it is…as long as those results are accompanied by the immaculately clear conscience that you are not screwing people over to get them. It is not by any means necessary – but it is by any reasonable means.

Bottom Line:

If you insist on actively defining yourself as either a blackhat or a whitehat SEO, chances are you are simply an asshat. Just do what is best to get the ranking you are after for you or your clients – and make it less about you. Remember what Stuntdubl said: It’s all about the results.

Late add: found another one, worth adding here. In the historical review of how this separation in the SEO industry devolves, I found another winner here: http://www.paydayloanaffiliate.com/blog/LateralVsTraditionalSEO.aspx and here: http://www.johnon.com/220/white-hat-sissies.html

Ok, I’ll confess: I am writing this, simply so I can put up the fish pictures. Guilty.

But I did come up with a decent enough running metaphor about this fishing trip. Let’s call it an online marketing plan. Just substitute it.

Work with me, here.

Step One: Find a Seasoned Guide

The first thing about catching a fish like this, is to have a seasoned guide know where they are, and how to catch them. There are million fish out there, and lots of ways to catch different types.

This guy is a wonderfully healthy Goliath Grouper or “Jewfish” if you are working blue.  (They are catch and release too, so I let him go soon after this picture, in case you’re worried.)

But I wanted to catch big fish, so I connected with my friend Darin. Darin fishes around Sanibel Island and the waters off Ft. Myers all the time, so he knows where to find fish, and how to catch them. He is an experienced guide, someone I can trust.

We were targeting big grouper – so this picture shows Darin is a good friend to know when seeking this kind of thing.

You can catch plenty of different kinds of fish with or without help, but if you want the really big ones on purpose, you usually need help from someone who does it regularly.

Step Two: Use the Right Bait, Even When It Is Unconventional

I am going to give away a secret bait:  Ballyhoo. These little cigar-like fish are the best bait I have fished with, I think. Everything hits them, in the same way that everything hits a shrimp-however, the types of fish, and potential for big ones is infinitely better with Ballyhoo, in my experience. Could be where we are fishing. But I have caught so many different species using them, I am convinced they are a great hidden secret.

Darin told me, he started using them because he was finding them consistently in the stomachs of big fish he cleaned. Most guides and captains will use baitfish like shiners and pinfish, but Ballyhoo are unique. Why? Because they are not the easiest baits to find and catch.

Darin came up with a unique system, where he stands on the front of the boat with a dip net he made (“All the store-bought ones kept breaking,” he explained). I shine the light on the water’s surface, and he scoops the baits. We do it slowly like this, by hand, and it can take a long time sometimes depending on the conditions.

Sometimes, we chase the bait around trying to find them. Sometimes, they seem to be everywhere. And different fish mean different baits. If we were going after Tarpon (more on this later), we’d have been catching Ladyfish. Ladyfish are munched by really big Tarpons, so it makes sense. Ballyhoo are munched by Grouper – so we went after them with the dip net. It was painstaking – but with purpose.

The key to successful saltwater fishing, is to know what the fish you want to catch will eat. Using that as bait only makes sense, even when you need to figure out a unique way to capture the baits that work.

Step Three: Fish In the Right Place

Not to be coy, but the Gulf of Mexico is a big body of water. Knowing where to fish in it to actually catch something on purpose takes a long time, and lots of effort (see qualified guide, above). However, with the help of a qualified guide, finding fish is not so difficult. And once you know where the bigger ones are, you can become selective in which ones you go after.

A guy like Darin knows where structure is under the waves, and other common water markers both above and below the water’s surface. He also knows how the tides move, how fish behave, and even the general layout of what look to me like repetitive, nondescript clumpings of mangrove trees.

Darin takes us to the right place, quickly, and with purpose. We don’t mess around when we go out – usually on the bait within 30 minutes of hitting the water, and fishing about 30 minutes after collecting them.

But once we have bait, we don’t throw it indiscriminately wherever we end up, and hope a big fish happens by. Sure it could happen, and sometimes does – but there are better ways to target when you allow experience to guide it.

We were after big Grouper here, so we went to a place where they hung out, armed with plenty of delicious Ballyhoo. We increased our odds exponentially – based purely on Darin’s experience in the area, and my willingness to trust it.

Step Four: Be Patient, Persistent and Determined

Landing this guy took a long time. He hit, and then ran and wrapped under a bridge piling (they are smart like that). I fought him for a long time, and then was convinced he was not coming up. I never let go, though – I never let slack get in the line, so he could flip off.

I handed the pole to Darin, to see if he could pull him out from the snag. He did, and we landed him a little while later. The old guy was tired, and reeling him up became pretty easy, once we moved him back into open water.

When we pulled him up, Darin stopped, and got out a pliers. He found a couple leaders and hooks tangled-up in this guy’s mouth – so Darin cut and pulled it all out of his way, to make it easier for him to swim, and to breathe.

We laughed at how many times the old codger had bested attempts to catch him…we saw the proof. He was a grizzled, gilled, salty old pro – but he surely bit, again, for us.

And we didn’t give-up on catching him – we kept on him no matter what, and we got him in the boat.

Step Five: Know There are Always Bigger Fish to Catch, So Learn How

One of the types of fish we go after down there, are Tarpon. Tarpon are really beautiful fish that grow incredibly huge. The first thing a Tarpon does when he is hooked, is jump straight out of the water – so they are very exciting fish to catch for sure.

The night Darin and I were fishing for the big Grouper, there were about five or six big Tarpon rolling under a light. We actually intentionally fished around them – because we were after the Grouper.

At the end of the evening, it became clear the spot we were in was not productive. So Darin asked if I wanted to try one last spot, or catch a big Tarpon. I said, “Big Tarpon, please.”

Darin took one of our Ballyhoo rigs, removed the weights, and pitched it on the other side of the boat, where we could hear Ladyfishsplashing. He quickly landed a Ladyfish – took the hook from its mouth, and put it behind the back fin. He cast it back out, heaving the Ladyfish (about 16 inches long) into the waves.

Literally 3 minutes later, a HUGE Tarpon burst through the top of the water. Darin handed me the pole, and it was on.

He jumped a few more times, and I fought him for about an hour, I think. Strongest fish I have ever had on a pole – a simply awesome feeling for a fisherman. He was about 7-8 feet long (gets longer every time I remember him), and about 200 pounds.

At one point during the fight, I had him on the surface of the water. We pulled up anchor, and this Tarpon pulled the boat around for about 10 minutes. I was standing on the bow, and the pole was doubled over with this massive, beautiful creature just swimming slowly, about 6 inches below the surface, trying to get me off his back.

He surprised us more than once by playing possum and then taking off again, starting the fight all over. I almost knocked Darin into the gulf a couple times, almost crushed him when the fish ran under the boat and he was too close, and got really really sore after a little while fighting this fish.

We finally tired him out, and got him alongside the boat. He was amazingly beautiful. Darin gaffed him in the mouth, and we pulled him halfway out of the water – it was about all that was easy to do. We wanted to get a picture, but he was simply too big to get into the boat safely…so I was holding him by a gaff, over the side.

Darin got the camera off the console, and the fish suddenly wiggled with this full body shimmy - almost pulling me into the drink. His mouth came off the gaff in slow motion, and he slipped back down – vertically, and ever so slowly, fading down into the dark green waters of the gulf. Gone. But oh my – what a ride.

The point is, I could have stopped with the Goliath Grouper that night, and had an amazing story to share. But Darin gave me a fishing memory that trumped it – no less than an hour later. I went from huge, to huger. And huger still is out there – waiting for another day.

Since I didn’t get a picture of this guy, I modified one I swiped from online, so you can see what I mean by big fish…Tarpon are amazing creatures – I highly recommend catching them, at least once. Nothing like it.

So Recapping:

• Find a seasoned guide you can trust – someone who knows the waters
• Choose the right bait, and be willing to take the time to discover what actually works best and how to get it
• Allow your guide to bring you to the right place, and listen as they tell you how to cast and retrieve
• Be persistent and don’t allow a snag to make you stop – there could be a goliath at the other end of that line!
• Know that bigger fish are always there, and you can catch them too, with a slightly different approach and some experience
• Take Marty fishing more often…

I hope I have made it perfectly clear how an online marketing plan is exactly like fishing with my friend Darin for Goliath Grouper off Sanibel Island in Florida. Exactly, in every possible way. 

Just wait until I get all amped up talking about sharks…

How To SEO Blogposts

 Got a great question in an email from a guy named John, asking:

Do you have a resource that can actually spell out (or at least provide guidelines) for how often to use a keyword in an article, and a little bit about placement for someone who is really green, but keen to get started?

SoapBox Answer: The problem with looking for a reliable keyword-to-content ratio or set of guidelines, is there is none. Different niches and scenarios will bring similarly different results. One size cannot possibly fit all.

Keyphrase strength becomes an individually evaluated thing that flexes wildly. More importantly, this is only one thing (among so many) used to evaluate a site or page’s value. Concentrating on keywords and keyphrases alone is more likely to hurt you in other aspects, most commonly in general usability and coherence.

You also run a very real risk of a search engine filtering for over-optimizing, should you get too happy with repeating a keyword in a page or a link campaign.  

When the keywords are the most important things, you lose track of why you are creating the web page to begin with, which is to engage readers. Step back a bit: it’s time to see the forest, too.

It’s true, the right keywords will work wonders, but it is infinitely easier for most people to figure out something that makes them special. Subject matter expertise is going to trump most keyword-driven shenanigans. Certainly, if you are in it for the long haul, this is going to prove true…give it time. 

The Sad Truth: The Right Keyphrases Are Not Magic Pills

Ultimately for most people, keyphrases themselves just won’t help you like you think they will. You can’t plug them into your idea later on – normally, they should’ve been a part of your idea from the start. Pasting them on later is very difficult, and rarely effective  – unless you are paying for it to happen, or guided by professionals. Better to chuck the idea of keywords at that point, and simply create better and deeper content for your readers, based on subject matter.

And don’t think there is a magic ratio, or keyword density or anything like that that matters. I promise you, there isn’t and it doesn’t. Anyone selling you a recipe including keyword density optimizing, is full of shit. There is no blanket approach that will work for you in every situation, there is no formula to attach to it.

Keywords are nuanced by niche activity.

No Ancient Chinese Secrets Here

You must only write things that connect to your audience for it to be effective. The emphasis on keywords is really displaced, because you need to focus a lot more on each page having a specific meaning to your visitors. But meaning is an esoteric thing, and hard to evaluate, or measure, or pay for. Yet it works – quite often, better than many keyword-originated strategies will.

Google is drastically changing what it is doing and how it is ranking things – so creating the assumed value around a keyword or keyphrase is as important as the words themselves, if that makes sense. Build meaning.

OK. But How Do I Optimize a Webpage for Simple Keyphrases?

That babbling disclaimery stuff all said, making sure you are amply covered for a specific keyphrase/keyword is easy.

1. Include your keyword in your page title {This tells the search engines what the page is about}. Titles have been important for years. They continue to be…though, I personally have reason to believe a focus on page content over titles is a smarter move for staying power. I completely optimize every page title of important sites with a ton of care and time. Even on lesser sites, I make sure each one is unique at a minimum to make them work effectively. Aim for titles of about 70 characters, but don’t worry about counting your characters. Just write a decent title, and use your keywords in a realistically strategic way – nothing earth shattering needs to happen. The placement of keywords might be important, so value the left side as strongest, and create your titles with your main keywords coming up more immediately in the flow. There doesn’t seem to be one separator preferred over another (dashes, commas, colons etc.). Using less or more characters in a title does not seem to tip it either way on its own merit, though I admit never isolating it to fully verify this. Just a good hunch, here.
2. Include your keyword thru your body copy{Use it both verbatim, and in various forms for greatest effect}. There is no set rule on where, and how much to use keyphrases – I veryloosely aim for the opening sentence, the middle of the page, and the conclusion if possible, at a minimum. Why? Because then the keyphrase occurs naturally thru the entire page. Emphasis here on “natural” appearance.
3. Add a meta description that is meant for enticing readers, that is about two sentences, and includes the keyword again, naturally in the flow of describing the page contents. No big whoop. 30 seconds per page.
4. Use various forms of the keyword to build a link campaign {Using the keyword and variations, create internal and external links to build power to the page you wrote-variations will help you deflect or minimize over-optimizing filters}. In your own site’s content, blog comments, article sites, or wherever you are building links, try to use the keyword and its various forms as anchor text. Mixing it up but staying on topic is a great strategy.

That’s it – rinse and repeat, ad infinitum. Never ends, but what a ride.

Final Ideas:                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Don’t feel the need to buy anything. Products and memberships might come later, when you understand more. There is plenty to learn for free, on your own, before you start paying for a boost or joining a club. Test more, on the cheap – join less. Read tons.

Read – learn, and start websites. See if it -this work- really makes a good fit for you. Take in everything, but let experience guide you. Not every message is true or honest out there – and if you are trying to learn, getting swept-up believing in “easy” can cost you a fortune. Build sites, and test things. Be skeptical. Empirical data rules.

I’ll repeat: there is no easy. There are smart, hard workers that certainly succeed and emerge every day – but none of it comes easy. It is hard work, and smart moves. Pony-up, and roll up those sleeves. Unless of course, following those 4 steps above comes very easy for you – in which case, you should be both pleased, and insanely busy. More power to you. Milk it hombre, and you’re buying next time we meet.

There is never going to be a single product that makes web marketing easy.  I think I gave you here, all you need to know to get started, provided you have something worth starting. The latter is the key point to chomp here: have something worth saying before you decide to start talking. {NOTE: talking to a friend, he said he disagrees here. He believes more in the get started, and let experience provide you something to say – which I thought was a good point. My own point, is geared more toward the folks I am seeing learning techniques in search engine loop-holes without having a deeper foundation in a business direction first. I am old, though, and cantankerous.} 

I think you should have an airtight business plan before you plan on spending profits, or outsourcing anything. Start with a product to promote, not the process to promote.

No one cares about another Internet Marketer one way or another. Make them care about something you believe in personally, and you are on your way. No reason to shill: find a calling that suits you, and work into it slowly. Plenty for everybody out there, and you don’t have to scam to succeed.

Good luck – and I hope you forever avoid squishing into the unicorn poop of Internet Marketing.

The Merriam site offers this , regarding seminal (bold, mine): Function: adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin seminalis, from semin-, semen seed

This is a post where I just want to hype something wonderful I read recently. A seed.

Rae Hoffman, an outspoken SEO/Affiliate/Marketing expert has once again released what will be considered one of the more pertinent documents on current linking strategies. Her company sites are found at http://www.sugarrae.com/ and http://outspokenmedia.com/. If you have never read Rae’s work, start with the Sugarrae site – it is inspiring, funny, helpful, and establishes clearly why this is a professional you should listen to.

Here is the post on link building techniques in 2010.  You might want to bring a snack – it’s a truly meaty post, and reading it will take a while for sure.

This is the third post of this type that Rae has put together, and each of them are pretty fabulous. Here’s a link to her post on linking strategies from 2007, and here’s a link to 2008′s feature on linking. I am always a fan of Rae’s “bare knuckle” style, but her writing takes a back seat in these efforts, as she allows a diverse set of ideas to do all the talking.

How does she do it? By connecting some of the best minds on the subject, having everyone answer the same questions without seeing others’ responses, and compiling the answers for comparison. The result is a collection of original and thought-provoking observations from some of the brightest minds in this industry: a must read.

This year’s cast of characters includes some of the best-known, trustworthy names on the web, if you are into marketing and SEO:

I have already read this twice, and bookmarked it for more detailed repeat viewings as I need them. But I wanted to share this with anyone who hasn’t yet seen it, as it is a seminal post, and a fine example of creating value and meaning in web content.

Three cheers, Rae – I feel I owe you a beer, should our paths ever cross.

And thanks to all these folks for again sharing their knowledge and experience, helping us all do a little better online.

Here again, is a link to the post on link building techniques in 2010. Pay attention – you’ll learn something!

Late Addition-added in November, 2010: A guy I like reading a lot posted a great little checklist on what to consider in linkbuilding. I think John Andrews’ post on SEO linkbuilding makes an excellent companion piece to the tips shared by Rae, et al. http://www.johnon.com/751/seo-linkbuilding-2.html

Shhhhh.

I am going to tell you the secret. This is the secret successful copywriters don’t want you to know.

But first, let me tell you a little about my story.

I used to be just like you – struggling to find the answers that would unlock SEO goodness. I wanted the best search engine rankings, and I was ready to spend all afternoon to get there.

I saw other people in the search positions I wanted, so I knew that since I too, had a website, I could be up there, too – if I only knew their secret.

I bought a big calculator to figure out what Google was doing, and was discouraged to learn that it was really hard. I just knew, if I had the secret that I could stop trying and start earning.

And I WAS RIGHT!!!

Once I learned the secret, I started to gain all those positions in the search engine that I had only dreamed about. My traffic shot through the roof, and more money came in than ever before.

Better still, I threw away the calculator, and knew that I would never have to worry about it again – Google would love me most of all.

So what’s the secret?

Write something good.

Quit recycling pap and chasing links. Quit trying to unroll the magic formula. Quit taking shortcuts.

Write something good.

Answer to your users’ needs. Answer to your higher power. Choose a path. Choose to make a difference.

Write something good.

Stand-out. Stick-up. Push-out. Flare-up. Break stuff.

Write something good.

The best possible SEO copywriting tip I can offer you, is to write like no other. It works, every time…so don’t tell. Luckily, most people will never learn our little secret. They are too busy believing that search results are delivered by leprechauns riding on unicorns.

Shhhhh. Don’t wake them.