Yep, I do it myself.  I have found that to pay for SEO you are going to pay big bucks.  I can't afford it.  Plus, they might do some shady SEO techniques to get you quick results only to find yourself being banned for those shady techniques later on.  I play it safe and have had good results.

If you're unsure about how to go about doing proper Search Engine Optimization, I highly suggest outsourcing this to someone who knows what they're doing. Too many times you see newbies try their hardest, only to do it all wrong and get penalized due to trying the 'newest tricks' in SEO. I suggest getting proper SEO Training before getting too far ahead of yourself. Message Edited by NicoleD on 11-23-2009 03:59 PM

I would try and do it yourself at first. There are brilliant guides on seo that will help you. Good luck.

Paying for SEO is crazy. Most SEO companies give you decent service but limited to within a week or so of the initial investment. Proper SEO requires constant attention and constant, slight modifications and most SEO providers will not offer the followup unless they keep adding on charges and that can get very expensive, very fast. Here is some good SEO and Traffic Tactic information that I use. Message Edited by NicoleD on 11-12-2009 09:23 AM

Agreed, SEO take time over many months/years.  If you have someone else do it then they need to be with you for the long haul, which as mentioned could get expensive. 

I would say outsource! Most business owners wear to many hats as it is. That being said, I do most of my own SEO why? Well that's what I do for a living. I am a small business marketing consultant and part of what I do is SEO. Your time as a business owner is valuable. Don't waste it trying to learn something as complicated, and time consuming as SEO. Even I outsource the day to day SEO stuff. I set up a system and then outsource the implementation of that system. Learn to delegate. Bill Message Edited by ChristineL on 12-02-2009 11:40 AM

There are simple things that you can do yourself like: 1. Creating great content (people forget how important this is) 2. Title tags of your pages. With a little research and training this is not hard. 3. Get a free quote from someone and then follow their advise if you can't afford their price. They will probably get it going faster but if you have the time DIY. 4. Join forums and blogs and make comments with a link back to your site. You must have links!   Robert G All-Tex Exteriors

There is lot to learn about SEO for the beginers but not that much to that for the experts. Matt Cutt's blog may be very much effective to understand the search techniques and features so that it may bring help in SEO.  

Good question - SEO isn't hard to those who specialize in it. If your familiar with Web Design - SEO should be pretty easy. There are a lot of great SEO Bloggers out there - I also reccomend checking out Matt Cutts a Google Webmasters Celeb. Message Edited by NicoleD on 12-01-2009 10:23 AM

Finding a good SEO outsourcer can be tough, at some point they do start to wonder, why am I working for $2 an hour or so(standard quotes from ODesk) and not doing something similar myself. I handle most of my SEO work in house, but as a real brick/mortar business we take a longer term outlook on our business strategy. I'd suggest doing some really, really good keyword research to start, to assertain how competitive your niche is, before starting any SEO efforts.