Search engine marketing relies on good links coming in to your site. When you have a site published with original content you can often boost ranking by submitting the site to a directory. Before there were search engines there were directories. Before yahoo had search, it had a directory. A good directory ensures that your site has quality content before listing it, and it's why the link is so valuable. Here is a list of a few top directories:

When designing a site it's important to pay attention to the keywords from start to finish. You can use keywords in your domain name like seo-web-design-costa-rica.com and in your page names such as /SEO-Search-Engine-Optimization.

As much as search engines love finding new content, they hate finding the same content over and over. Using some content repeatedly, like contact information, is perfectly acceptable. The problem begins when search engines find that several of your pages just repeat the same thing again and again.

Search engines are like gardeners. They like to see things grow. Nothing makes them happy like dropping by a web site and finding more content. The more often they find new content when they drop by the more often they check out your site.

Having a sitemap is a very useful thing when it comes to search engines. A sitemap allows a search engine to easily find all of your pages, especially when certain things (like flash based menus) are involved. They also allow you to immediately inform search engines of your updated content. I highly recommend using one if your page gets beyond a few pages.