If Google is going to take the time to tell you what you should be doing with your website, then YOU SHOULD PROBABLY TAKE THE TIME to read what they have to say.

Google's SEO publication is free. You can download it here or at Google SEO TIPs Guide. It is a must read for ANYONE that has a website.

The main points that the short SEO document covers are as follows:

• Create unique, accurate page titles

• Good practices for page title tags

• Make use of the "description" meta tag

• Good practices for description meta tags

• Improve the structure of your URLs

• Good practices for URL structure

• Make your site easier to navigate

• Good practices for site navigation

• Offer quality content and services

• Good practices for content

• Write better anchor text

• Use heading tags appropriately

• Optimize your use of images

• Make effective use of robots.txt

• Be aware of rel="nofollow" for links

• Promote your website in the right ways

• Make use of free webmaster tools

Beyond gaining a good general understanding of ALL of the above points, you should really have a good general understanding of what google considers "good practices" when it comes to promoting your website. The following quote is straight from the horses mouth (google being the horse).

.....

Good practices for promoting your website
• Blog about new content or services - A blog post on your own site letting your visitor base
know that you added something new is a great way to get the word out about new content or
services. Other webmasters who follow your site or RSS feed could pick the story up as well.
• Don't forget about offline promotion - Putting effort into the offline promotion of your
company or site can also be rewarding. For example, if you have a business site, make sure
its URL is listed on your business cards, letterhead, posters, etc. You could also send out
recurring newsletters to clients through the mail letting them know about new content on the
company's website.
• Know about social media sites - Sites built around user interaction and sharing have made
it easier to match interested groups of people up with relevant content.
Avoid:
• attempting to promote each new, small piece of content you create; go for big,
interesting items
• involving your site in schemes where your content is artificially promoted to the
top of these services
• Add your business to Google's Local Business Center - If you run a local business,
adding its information to Google's Local Business Center will help you reach customers on
Google Maps and web search. The Webmaster Help Center has more tips on promoting
your local business.
• Reach out to those in your site's related community - Chances are, there are a number
of sites that cover topic areas similar to yours. Opening up communication with these sites is
usually beneficial. Hot topics in your niche or community could spark additional ideas for
content or building a good community resource.
Avoid:
• spamming link requests out to all sites related to your topic area
• purchasing links from another site with the aim of getting PageRank instead of
traffic

.....

The real bottom line is that everyone must understand is that google does not really want you to promote your site at all (with the possible exception of adsense). The true irony here is that google is supported by the adsense campaigns that pay their bills for staffing and bandwidth. Perhaps it is almost monopolistic, but you can not blame google for wanting to preserve their business model.

If you can afford it, build your website, buy adsense, and sleep soundly at night.

If you are on a budget, or don't want to wait twenty years for your site to turn a profit, then consider doing more. Following the guidelines above will keep you in googles good graces. This is the recommended path to follow.

Despite the best efforts and experience of any internet marketer the internet is a venue in a constant state of flux. Tomorrow all the rules of yesterday have changed. Any promotion that you do outside of google's guidelines is inherently risky. What has not yet been punished could be punished next month or next year.

Only you can weigh the risks of how you decide to promote your website. If you spent seven dollars for a domain name and five dollars per month for hosting, then you have less to lose than the cost of a decent lunch. HOWEVER, if you have a ten million dollar a year income from your website then you may want to take a conservative approach when it comes to promotion. Only you can know what is best for YOU!