Ernest Hemingway rewrote last paragraph of THE SUN ALSO RISES 28 times before he got it right. David Ogilvy confessed that he'd done as many as 19 drafts on a single piece of copy before presenting it to anyone.

What we're talking about here is good writing for easy reading. Writing that doesn't puzzle stranger, but clearly conveys meaning writer intends.

It's a sweaty proposition, this rewriting, because it demands that we serve as our own critic, editor and teacher. And that means being able to spot problem areas before we can even begin revising, polishing and cutting.

Here are seven questions you must ask about your copy before you begin another round.

1. Are your sentences short enough?

Experts say that a "short" sentence is anything under 17 words. That doesn't mean you can't write longer sentences, just don't fill up pages with them. Too many long sentences slow reader down; a good mixture of sentence lengths acutally heightens interest.

2. Is your sentence structure varied?

Starting every sentence with "a" or "the" makes your writing read like "duh." Varying beginning of your sentences with nouns, adverbs and -- even an occasional conjunction -- keeps your reader from getting bored.

3. Have you been too passive?

Use active voice, instead of passive. Make it a habit. It makes your writing more direct, more energetic. And, usually, your sentences shorter.

4. Are your verbs active?

Have you ever been to one of those sites that has obviously been written to get high search engine rankings? You know ones… they have copy that sounds like this:

“When you buy quality silver jewelry from us, you know your quality silver jewelry is of highest quality because we only sell quality silver jewelry that is top-notch. No other quality silver jewelry site on Web offers selection of quality silver jewelry that we do!”

Want to take a wild guess at what keyphrase they’re targeting?

Copy like this simply doesn’t sound “real.” It’s very forced. Yes, it may very well get ranked high in search engines, but what then? When visitors click to your site they’ll be faced with stiff copy that sounds like a robot. It doesn’t flow… and it doesn’t sell, either! With a little nip and tuck, you can create copy that appeals to your target audience AND ranks high with engines.

So just how do you get your keywords and phrases into your copy and still have a nice, flowing sales message? It’s really easier than you might think.

Here are a couple of strategies I use when writing SEO copy.

Headlines and Subheadlines

These make ideal place for keywords. Why? Because keywords are normally descriptive by nature. Since headlines describe what site visitor is about to read, it makes perfect sense to include keywords within them.

Titles

Create a chart, or a list, and give it a keyword-rich title. Just as with headlines, titles should be descriptive… another perfect keyword/copy match.

Lists

In your chart or list, include keywords in headers and within list descriptions. For example, if your keywords include softball trading pins, employee recognition awards, lapel pins, and lapel pin you could create a list that reads like this: