For something that is more do-it-yourself I would recommend reading a few popular blogs to get started:

http://www.searchengineland.com
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
http://www.thegoldenhat.com
http://www.copyblogger.com

Check those out and read up on their content as well as the content on other bloggers that they link to.

But don’t be fooled. SEO isn’t as simple as just optimizing your meta tags. It’s far from that. Back in 1996 and 1997 that applied but the algorithms are much more complicated than that.

Do some research and you’ll piece it together. You don’t need to be a technical genius. Apply a lot of common sense to SEO principles and you’ll be good!

The most effective way to advertise on the Internet is
to first set up a website and publish its domain name
on major search directories such as Google.com,
Yahoo.com [at http://www.google.com/addurl/?...... and
MSN.com since 85% of Internet shoppers rely on these
search directories to provide them with goods and
services. In a sense, these search directories are a
very large Internet Yellow Pages.

Nevertheless, should your website or opening webpage
fail to contain "generic" keywords, then anyone using
such "generic" queries will not be able to discover
your website. Your domain name [URL] of your website,
in a sense, will be invisible, undiscoverable.

You may want to consider some simple algorithms which,
when observed and committed in designing of a website
with placement of various critical metatags that can
surely achieve a high search engine presence and
increase Internet traffic to your website. These
metatag strategies work well with published webpages
at Google and Yahoo.

Placement of Metatags:

A ranking or search order does take place with Google
and Yahoo and it begins with the “Title” metag which
should consist of no more than 65 characters separated
by commas. The “Title” should describe in generic
terms, the goods and services, followed by a location
from which the resource is located, i.e., city, state.
The placement of a domain name which is not generic
within the “Title” is not appropriate, unless your
domain name is a major recognizable brand name.

The second metatag is the “Description” which is
usually 25-30 words to form a complete sentence which
best describes one’s goods and services.

And the very last category - “Keywords” are also
somewhat limited to 15-16 words which can be plural
and compound in nature. Again, avoid multiple entries
which could be mistaken as “spamdexed entries” which
is defined as the loading, and submission of
repetitive words into a particular metatag category.
“Spamdexing” when discovered on a webpage and reported
to Google’s spamreport.com can result in the
elimination of your website from their search
directory.

Here’s an example of a very highly-placed website on
Google.com: Begin with the very “generic” search query
“sandwiches downtown los angeles,” taking note to not
abbreviate Los Angeles to “LA” and of course, leave
out the parentheses (”). It will bring up some 427,000+ search results. Check out where “Nazos.net”
is ranked. It’s ranked no. 1!
Again, Nazos.net’s high web presence was achieved by
proper web design and placement of relevant metatags
according to Google’s publication guidelines.

Good luck!

Here is a good reference site that ranks all sites on the web by traffic volume:
http://www.alexa.com

http://www.cybernetvision.com/search-engine-optimization/

It will definitely guide you in right way.