If a site is built right in the first place you shouldn't need to pay for SEO.
The best ways to boost your ranking are a good blog on your website & company facebook page - both completely free.
Nathanael what's seo sorry for been thick..
but surely not everybody can be at the top of the page on local google search, so basically my search optimisation has got to be better than everybody else's in my area...
Search Engine Optimisation - getting your site in Google. 
but surely not everybody can be at the top of the page on local google search, so basically my search optimisation has got to be better than everybody else's in my area...
Depends what you are aiming for, i was late in the game. So for window cleaning in my area i was so low. So i concentrated on all my other areas of my business, now for window cleaning i rank page 1 and page 2.
But i live in an easy area. I would hate to do a site with competition in any big city or really large town
If your having a www done, you need to get on it now. In my area only two or three other firms have decent sites, the rest are garbage. One company has a full flash site and ranks about page 20!
We get between 3 - 6 calls a week from the website, and conversion rate is about 90% If they have contacted you via www odds on you will get the job.
Yesterday my father quoted a roof job, we went in an £80 and its a couple of hours max, we came in more she said and would get back to us, she booked in last night as she said the other two companies didnt even know they had emails when she chased them up So she kinda played us with the other two companies quoting "more"...... And the sneaky little monkey is doing the job himself, so i know its bloody easy as he hates roofs!