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Forums. I'm a bit of a forum junkie. While they can be great things for networking and even marketing, the conversations are just too distracting. Of course, if I do not do my work, my kids do not eat... so that keeps me going. No paid time off for the self-employed... and that includes an hour here and there reading forums.

Overwhelmed is my middle name. Freelance writing is a side-job for me, really. I have 22 websites and blogs which I must maintain and market, and of course, write about. There are so many places to post articles for residual income that it can get overwhelming. Pursuing freelance work is another whole branch as well. It is a lot.

For a freelance writing website, I think I would skip the blog. Being informal and fun could bite you in the butt, so to speak, if you are trying to put out a professional image. If you are just marketing yourself as a freelance writer for hire, just a website is good. If you are also giving tips about freelance writing, or if you specialize in a certain topic or niche, a blog could work.

Wordtracker has a free version. I've used that, the Google Adwords one, and Overture. I did purchase an awesome program called Article Architect which lets you research keywords from either wordtracker or overture, so I use those mostly.

The rule of thumb as to how I pick keywords depends totally on what my plans are with the article.

I do like you say blue. My blogger blogs are 'attached' to my websites. I just think they are easier and they do index well. I was mostly wondering if people fooled with the templates or made their own to include less blogger stuff and more personal SEO-specific stuff. I suppose there is only so much you can do internally.

I use all the meta tags. Description is big - and, like the others, I agree that you should write a real description of your site instead of keywords. The keyword meta tag is for that one.

Interesting about the use of your location in the meta tags. Would that pertain to a business or website that had nothing to do with a location? For example, I have a beading website. It does not matter if you are in Delaware or California or England or Africa, as long as you like beading and can read English.

I do not see how they could enforce this effectively. How can they tell if someone exchanged links with me as part of a reciprocal agreement or a pay situation, or if we just happen to like each other's sites? Would this count for things like blog rolls too?

I admit that I have only written two press releases in my life - for my own websites. I do not think I did it right. From what I understand, a press release is suppose to be an announcement about something new about a business with information about that event. Can someone help me understand how writing a press release and an article differ? Do I have it right?

Perusing business and freelance boards, I am rather shocked at how low writers will go to get keyword article jobs. I've seen people bidding $1.00 per article! Do you guys think the sheer number of people who are willing to write for so little make it impossible for 'real' copywriters to make money with SEO keyword articles?

Has anyone considered selling packages of ten or twenty keyword articles based around one keyword? A niche marketing starter set, so to speak?

When some people talk about copywriting, they include SEO content, keyword articles, press releases... all that stuff. Of course, on the internet especially, all of those things are advertising. Does anyone specialize in writing advertisements? Classified ads or media ads that get results?

I'd love some tips on how to make them pull more customers in.

I hope you didn't click through on this hoping for an explanation of RSS feeds, because I do not have one. I know they are extremely useful on your site and have something to do with people not on the internet being able to read your new content as it updates. Real simple sindication is what it stands for.

Can anyone give any tips on how to create an RSS feed and also how best to use one to increase traffic.

I have several blogs at blogger, the free blog platform. I know I can't do too much about the actual site code to increase its SEO effectiveness. I was wondering if anyone else uses them, and what type of internal SEO they do. Of course, I pay attention to the keywords in the blog posts I write, and always add alt tags to any pictures. Can anyone else give any tips?

Has anyone here ever written an entire ebook? I'm talking more specifically about a short ebook designed to be given away as a freebie to tease the reader into further action. I've got a job writing one of these ebooks - about 15-20 pages only - for a website owner. Any tips on structure or what percentages of information and sales copy to include?

So, where do you do your writing? Also.... has anyone used an Alphasmart Neo or Dana? I'm seriously considering getting one of them so I can write on the fly. I don't really need all the capabilities of a laptop, and am looking to keep my costs down as well.

Where do you write?

I write a lot of keyword articles for marketing purposes - both for clients and my own purposes. One thing that I am very iffy about is the need for unique content. Some say that you should put one SEO article in one place online and that is it. Other's say you can put the same keyword article on ten, twenty, thirty article directories and your blog.

Does anyone have any information about the pros and cons of unique article content? The biggest I can think of is using non-unique content is a lot faster and easier than writing unique all the time.

I have found that, being a freelance copywriter and multiple business owner (and Mom, homeschooler, etc. etc....) that I have to be ultra organized if I want to get anything done on time. I've used a lot of methods and finally bought this piece of organizational and goal setting software that I use.

How do you guys keep everything organized? Do you have a desk calendar or an appointment book? Sticky notes all over the place?

Have you ever had a copywriting client refuse to pay for some reason?

At the beginning of my career, I had a client disappear on me and never got paid, but none that have refused to pay because of a real (or imagined!) problem with my writing.

What would you do if a client refused to pay?

Has anyone ever had to deal with someone stealing your writing and displaying it on their website or blog without your permission? I understand that, after you sell the writing to the client or customer, it would be there problem. However, if the writing is for your own purposes, what steps do you take to fix the situation?

I have only had this happen to me once, as far as I know, and simply emailed the website owner and informed them that they could not copy my whole article. They took it down and apologized.

Has anyone else had this trouble?

The majority of people on this site seem to be freelance copywriters that contract specific writing for clients. I do that, but also do a lot of copywriting for my own businesses.

Has anyone ever considered - or done - PLR bundles? PLR is private label rights. Basically, you are ghostwriting article packs for other people. For example, you would write 25 articles about Investing and sell the packs for a set price to a set number of people.

I definitely work to live. I'm not fond of work in general and would much rather play with my children or go take a hike in the woods. However, I do think it very important to find work that you enjoy. It softens the blow of having to do any at all.

Do other webmasters and bloggers find that they focus much more on internal SEO than external?

If you do not know what I am talking about, internal SEO is the use of keywords, correct code, etc. on the site or blog itself. External SEO mostly deals with link building and marketing methods off site.

As a copywriter, I usually focus on the internal in the beginning but then switch focus to external marketing. Any ideas on which is better to focus on?

I believe there is a big problem with quality copywriters charging the correct rate these days. There are so many beginners who are not knowledgable about what they should charge undercutting the others. I do not mean to imply you are doing this! Gathering the information is most important. Some will accept jobs for incredibly small amounts, and this just makes it more difficult to earn an appropriate wage.

I agree that copy is content and content is copy, like Miguel said. After all, most people on the internet are looking for information, not to buy something. The secret with content, whether on a website or for article distribution, is to give the potential customer what they want... the information they are searching for. Of course, copywriting does deal with making a sale of some sort. That is the point of all of this, isn't it?

Blogs are really the easiest way for non-techies to get started with internet business if you ask me. All of my blogs, except one personal one that is more a journal of a specific activity my family engages in, earn money, although not much at this point.

I am curious about what eshana said about using traffic exchanges to build an Alexa rating. I have heard people that state that Alexa ratings simply aren't good indicators of site popularity or placement (kind of like Google PR is now). How do you think the improved Alexa rating helps you?

My first impression as a web designer was positive. Very neat, well structured copy. One thing that struck me was the minimal use of alternate color text (example - red text instead of simply bolding it). The above the fold copy was not quite as attention grabbing visually as I am used to. However, it is well written and people who are interested in your niche will definitely scroll down, in my opinion.