Can anyone suggest a book or other resource for figuring how to increase one's odds of landing on page 1 of Google?

Good firms out there they really help you?

Thanks in advance,

My best advice is to manage it all yourself. You can actually call and talk to Google to get them to help you through the entire process. Will save you money you will be better than anyone else at it as you will know wHon you want to call you as a lead better than anyone else.

There are two methods.

One is actually paying Google, you have seen these sites, they are the ones in yellow at the top of the page. You pay them so that anytime anybody searches certain keywords you picked, you are the promoted website. If you can find a keyword not commonly used but relevant to your business, it is really not all that expensive.

The other way is website design. Google's algorithm is designed to naturally send websites to the top where people spend the most time on. So this means designing your website accordingly. Having a home page that gives you several options of where to go (about us, products, history, etc) and you keep fleshing out, to where if you connect all the branches on a piece of paper of how you want people to navigate your website, it looks like a pyramid. Another example is to post a lot of videos. Everyone loves videos, so if you can get your company to do a weekly one covering anything, how a product works, introducing your facility, safety tips, that keeps people coming back. Weekly podcasts are good as well.

Those are just a few tips, but they are easy to implement, and should give you better results. There are definitely more in depth ways, but I wouldn't know where to look for them. Might I suggest Google?

Simple step is to register with Google places and Google ads and then READ Champ Bailey's post again.. it is surprisingly easy. I've been able to even go to Googles office in Austin and sit with them.

Google ads is just amazing and please don't pay anyone to do this for you. It's very important and you need to control it.

http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

Thanks to all.

SEOMOZ is a great place to get information. Keep in mind it is not something that is going to happen overnight unless the keywords that you are targeting are very unique. Take time in making sure you are targeting keywords that will not only build you traffic and help in the rankings but that will also target people that will make you money.

If you are just starting out, I would avoid Google Adwords, yes they work, but it they work when you have the budget for it. Most of the time budgets are to low and will not generate enough ROI to make it worth it in the long run.