Western - 10:18 pm on Mar 5, 2008 (gmt 0)

If the page is well structured so the search engines can clearly discern that its content is about "Aftermarket for Cheap Green Widgets in Texas", then anchor text saying "Cheap Green Widgets" or "Texas Widgets" would support the page just fine.

Agreed.

Maybe I'm missing something but is part of your question Webwork dealing with setting a site up to take advantage of long tail traffic from the start of a site? I ask myself this :

I have a new site and I plan to devote a decent section to cheap green widget and aftermarket accessories. But this isn't going to happen for a year. I know the 5 o'clock news is going to run a story today about the cheap green widget aftermarket in Texas. I'm writing an article now but want it down deeper in my site directory-structure later on. (Most of my long traffic is coming to me from the news...or something similar)

What's the best way for me to build a giant resource an article at a time with a directory-like structure? With a keyword situation (long-tail) that doesn't justify starting the directory now?