I have just finished search engine optimizing a website that had not received good search engine placement. You can click our blog post title and visit the site. It is called the Center For Permanent Cosmetics.
Not only did we totally optimize the site, but reworked the content, added images, upgraded services, and in general gave it the polish that it needed. I wish that I could show you the before and after to really illustrate that great focused content can really upgrade a website to a new level.
One thing that all webmasters, newbies, and just educated site owners can take away from this post is that it is very difficult to get search engine placement if your only form of navigation is encapsulated in JavaScript. If you love having a drop down menu, just make sure to include text based navigation that the search engines can read and follow to spider your full website. Search engines will not read the links that you have embedded in JavaScript and so you may end up with just your home page being indexed as this site did. When you have more to offer than one page of content, make sure that you are helping the search engines by using spider friendly code, links, and techniques for improved search placement.