Search engine optimisation - the price of visibility on the web

We have recently had a few consultations with a number of UK and US search engine optimisation (SEO) experts. For the uninitiated, seo is the art of making your website visible on the internet with a view to acquiring consistent levels of organic traffic

Its a complex area. It is also a "new" industry and as such there are good bad and ugly operators who can work wonders with your site - or likewise shaft you completely getting you banned by the big search engines (well ok I mean Google)

We needed advice on:

Good link resources - oneway links back to our site etc
A tip or two about internal linking (anchor text and navigation)
Ideas for fresh content (news etc)
A few tips on the layout of the pages and template generally

Its tough grasping these issues at times but you must have an understanding of the key elements otherwise you may be inviting trouble. We thought we knew this business fairly well - we were wrong

The SEO world has moved on and become even more complex than it was before and it has also become incredibly expensive. Google is now bigger, cleverer and more sensitive to "cheating" its algorithm.

I was not particularly impressed by the expertise I encountered - most firms did not inspire confidence and yet still demanded huge fees. One firm quoted my £5-7500 per month!

Id appreciate any recommendations in this area

Our search for an expert on search continues!