The only type of SEO firms that I trust are the ones who specialize in pure CONTENT (ie; their staff doesn't consist of webmasters, it consists of copywriters who write relevant content for your pages). These SEO firms have been successful without the use of domains, doorway pages, or back-links.

When you break it down, there are two kinds of SEO: Making the search engine THINK a page is relevant by using back-links, or actually MAKING the site relevant by writing content. There is only one of these that I would do.

The firms that do it this way typically start at $2k per month and go up from there. That type of money gets you a copywriter within their firm who will create a predefined number of pages per month with content relevant to your site, written in a way that's conducive to good natural results. Not "SEO'd" with a bunch of back-links within paragraphs.

One local firm I'm familiar with has some clients that are spending more than $30k a month, and consistently get it back in online revenue.

This is not a "quick" process by any means, but the pure content route does work. You don't need backlinks to get good positioning.

My thoughts on SEO are at the other end of the spectrum when compared to digitalv.

SEO (search engine optimization) should be a part of the website creation process to ensure a site is put together properly so that you achieve top results for your desired keywords. I personally do not consider ppc campaigns or content writers part of the SEO equation (in part because I write my own articles and know about proper keyword use). PPC campaigns require some SEO of their own, yes, but thats secondary from your website itself. Build the site right and hire a PPC expert instead of an SEO expert.

Proper site structure is extremely important these days, it's right up there with page titles and descriptions, and you can't get full value out of it by making adjustments on the fly. Solid SEO from day one is a must, thus the SEO needs to be on board from day -1 of a sites creation.

Unfortunately a SEO expert asking $500 may be much better than the SEO company asking $30,000. My advice is to find someone your comfortable with, ask for before and after examples of their work, and set realistic expectations. If the SEO consistently outperforms your expectations keep him/her onboard. If your goals aren't met find a new SEO expert. If your goals are consistently not met put the site itself into question, an SEO can only do so much with a broken site.

I guess I missed the part how we're thinking in opposites? It sounds like you're saying the same thing, the difference being that you write your own content vs. hiring someone to do it for you. Content is still king (by content I mean proper URL naming and site structure, Page Titles, etc... it's all part of the content process).

My point was primarily to illustrate the differences between "proper SEO" which is about optimizing your website, and the other method which uses back-links and doorway pages and blog posts and all of that nonsense.

I'm a little confused about one part of your answer though... why, if you have a knowledge of SEO, would you not apply that instead of relying on PPC?