Justin: I have read a little about this but it is my opinion that we as web authors, we should do our best to be unique and concentrate on the user experience.  I myself have had pages dropped from the Google index, because one of my staff copied some content from Wikipedia.  Remember too, that much of our audience are relatively new to SEO (target of my post), so it is good to start them off with good habbits.

 Here is the link to Google's Webmaster Guidelines: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

Thanks for the kudos Carolyn.  The duplicate content issue is a tricky one.  There are some items that should be duplicated without penalty and Google understand this and is working towards a smarter way of dealing with it (as pointed out by Justin in this post).  Things like real estate listing information and agent profiles are bound to be duplicated as it is distributed throughout the internet.  To avoid having it be an issue at all, do your best to create unique, compelling and useful content and you will never have to worry.

Konnie and Krista:  When I talk about duplicate content, I am primarily speaking about chunks of duplicate text found on multiple websites.  For example, say I had a successful website that ranked well due to the great content I had on it.  If I were to build another website using the exact same content, Google would frown on that.

 In regards to repeated word on a single page; You have to be real careful with this.  Repeating a keyword in effort to get ranked for it is considered keyword spamming and is not good.  If you are writing in natural flow and just so happen to repeat the keyword (naturally) then that is less likely to get flagged.

Check out the other blog I wrote on effective writing http://activerain.com/blogsview/406582/1-Basic-SEO-tips

@Carol - It never ends.  The best we can do is make a good effort to keep up.  The fact that you are here and investing time and energy puts you above most agents in your market.  Keep up the good work.

 @John - It is hard to keep all these things in mind.  The more you do it, the more it will become second nature.

Gareth, thanks for the additions, I will post it at the top of the thread.

 Richard keep coming back.

Yeah, there is some content that is allowed to be duplicated and some that it is not.  I just try not to duplicate anything and play it safe.

 Thanks for the comment.

Susan, keyword stuffing has never been good and has always been considered a "black-hat" SEO practice.  If you are getting advice, from a source that recommends this tactic, it is time to look for another source.

I have been getting a lot of response to Keyword Stuffing, so I wrote a blog on it, hope it helps.

 http://activerain.com/blogsview/431535/Keyword-Stuffing-Bad-Bad

It comes from watching your position on almost a daily (with me its an obsession so I watch my position more frequently).  When you see your position drop, a penaly has been assessed.  If you can't find your page at all in google, try googling the full URL.  If it doesn't appear, you have been banned.

 Here is more:

http://gpsgfaq.googlepages.com/banned.html

I doubt it.  Blogs are widely syndicated and reproduced frequently.  With that being said, I would try to stay as unique as I could regardless.  The message I am trying to get across is to really think about who is reading it and try communicate with the humans (not the spiders).  Keep these few things in mind and you should be fine.

Thanks for the comment.

I think a lot of you are getting the wrong idea about the duplication issue.  To delve in it to the extent required would take another blog.  There are some situations where duplication is unavoidable.  I am not saying don't do it ever, I am merely suggesting to do your best not to.

Here is a blog on the google webmaster blog that may help:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2006/12/deftly-dealing-with-duplicate-content.html

You're welcome Freddy.  I think I am going to take these posts and break them down by writing a seperate blog on each of the points.