What are the top 5 things to do on a site for SEO?

I find SEO a little bit like trying to understand a cloud. There is some stuff there but when I try to understand it I try to wrap my hands around it, nothing is there. So I just thought I would ask those with a better understanding then mine, what are the 5 most important SEO things you can do on a site?

its simply:

1. create a topic of site
2. write interst content for site
3. get relevant keywords
4. make title
5. write description for users

hmm interesting.

yep.. that's what we need to focus on a site for SEO. However, we also need to care about proper site navigation, internal linking, W3C validation, etc...

The most important thing in your SEO process should be thinking from the visitor point of view and creating and optimizing your site for visitors and not for search engines.
If you have proper content related to the niche' of your site and the meta tags also have the relevance, then it will have a great effect on your site.
Also, SEO requires you to have a lot of patience, so you should refrain from any short-cuts as you can have your site penalized for that.

For off-page SEO:

-directory submission
-keywords as signatures in forums
-article submission and PR if possible.
-social networking
-blog commenting on other relevant blogs

on page SEO should always be done, and it makes off-page SEO much more effective. make sure your title tags describe what your page or website is about, and make sure those same terms have a definite presence throughout the copy of the webpage.

header tags are also a plus. hope this helps.

Anyone got any advice about adding sound byte files to a website - as to whether it increases the sites search engine ranking?
thanks...

oh yes!! all the mentioned tips are ok,but what is important as well ,,,is the promotion of the site,though I think if the service and product which is offered by the site is good, the site itself will have success

it;s not for sure,,,a know a tour agency which is one of the leader ones in its sphere,,,but its web-site is in a very poor state

Thanks for the feedback, will keep those in mind when writing for my next site.

a good topic which ur interested in.
proper keyword research
proper target of keywords via "On-page seo"
proper target of keywords via "OFF-page seo"
try to get high rankings and good traffic

have a good and catchy title for your site..
good and quality content..
keywords (look at the competitors keyword, but not copy all..just get a idea)..
on page optimization..
and also off page optimization (this will take time and effort, but this is good for your site)..

Website analysis
keyword analysis
meta tag placement
content optimization
link building

hmmmm

5 best things for a seo.

Keyword Research...
Article Marketing...
Social Bookmarking...
Backlinking...
and the forum signatory...

these are 5 simple methods to promote your site.