Recently I had the pleasure of chatting with Karon Thackston, a copywriting and SEO (search engine optimization) expert. After attending her presentations on keyword research at a Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop (NAMS), I wanted to get share some of her expertise with my community. Karon is straight-forward, down to earth and has very deep knowledge about how to write for the web – and that includes blog posts. You can listen to the 23 minute audio interview and read the complete transcript below. Please post your questions for Karon in the comments and I'll invite her to swing by and respond.
Writing Blog Posts That Captivate – Interview with Karon Thackston


Karon Thackston has published a short, thorough guide for bloggers called "Writing Blog Posts that Captivate and Convert." This info-packed ebook takes you through all the steps and offers terrific tips on writing a blog post that engages your visitors and converts them into customers… and ranks high with the search engines. And you can't beat the price — only $9! Click here to get it now.
If you haven’t picked up a copy of @KaronThackson:twitter ‘s ebook on writing blog posts that captivate and convert, I recommend doing so soon. The price doubles form $9 to $19 on September 1. http://www.buildabetterblog.com/2011/08/writing-blog-posts-that-captivate-and-convert.html
Great insights — thank you, ladies!
Love the specific ideas. Also love the audio and transcript format.
Question: Can you put too many tags on a post and get penalized by SEO?
The reason I ask is I am still trying to find the right keywords for my blog. I have a small, tiny, almost invisible niche and typical keyword research shows zip.
My strategy is to watch my blog’s Google Analytics to see what people are searching and how they find my blog, but it all seems pretty hopeless.
I’m sure I overload the “tags,” hoping to get lucky and find matches. Just wonder if I am sabotaging my efforts.
Thanks Mary. No, I’ve never heard of any page being penalized for too many keywords in tags. Just make sure they are relevant.
Wonderful interview. Lots of great ideas. Thank you.
Quick question, Denise…
How did you go about transcribing the interview? I’m debating on how to go about preparing ours.
Thanks for your help.
Chase, I pay a someone to transcribe my audio files, then I edit a bit for clarity. Here are a couple of resources for you:
www.verbalink.com More expensive but it’s a big company so if you’re pressed for time or your usual person isn’t available, this is a good backup. Their transcripts are very clean.You’re the third person in a week to ask about transcription. I put it out on my G+ network and got a couple other recommendations:http://thesmallbusinesstranscriptionist.com/http://elegalservices.com
Not sure why my comment got cut off. Here’s another resource: http://elegalservices.com
Hi Denise
I just found your site through Social Media..you have some great content here.
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
Thanks for stopping by…blog on!
Excellent… Thank you for the help!
Many thanks to @KaronThackston:twitter for sharing her expertise on SEO and writing great blog posts. There’s so much more than we could cover in 20 minutes so grab a copy of her manual – heck it’s only $9 and it is jam-packed with great information you can apply immediately to your blog posts. http://goo.gl/laZsZ
Thanks Denise. Was great fun!