People with a new businesses starting out online often search for a quick and easy solution that will put them at the top of the results instantly. Unfortunately it isn't that easier. There are many rules that will work for one keyword or site but not for another. There are however some technique that generally apply to all sites. Things that you should ALWAYS do and some things your should NEVER. Remember: If it was as easy as  1, 2, 3 then everybody would be doing them.

Below are some Do's and Don't that will certainly help improve your site's ranking but they won't get you to the top instantly.

SEO Dos:

• Customize your title tags. Each page should have a unique title tag.
  
• Research your keywords thoroughly. Check out how many results appear in Google, MSN etc for the keyword YOU want to rank well for. Look at who you're up against.
  
• Plan out your internal links. Don't give inneccesary weight to unimportant pages, such as company history etc. You want the search engine to view your most important contect as being the most important thing to rank for.
  
• Use keyword relevant filenames for each web page. If the page is about white hats then your file name should be white_hats.html or white-hats.html etc. Such as: yourdomain.com/white_hats.html.
  
• Keep your content fresh and relevant. Adding a new article once a week relevant to your keyword is great for improving ranking. 

SEO Don'ts:

• Keep your code clean and validate if at all possible. Try and avoid nested tables and inline styles.
  
• Never use template website and website generators - these tend to make horrible code and unprofessional looking site
  
• Don't add a useless links to the bottom of your pages. People will request link exchanging with your all the time. Consider if their site is relevant and you will actually gain anything by linking to them as a resource.
  
• Try and avoid using urls like www.yoursite.com/product?p1=1 where possible. Use url rewriting (see glossary) to turn that into www.yoursite.com/shiny_product.html