Search engine optimization isn't really brain surgery - quite simple in fact. There are two main parts to SEO the on-page elements and the off-site elements.
Off-site elements is where the real power lies. Let's say you want to be #1 on Google for "web hosting". Of course you'd put those words in your page titles and in your body copy. But so will ever other web host wanting to rank for that keyphrase.
So search engines, including Google, place a great deal of weight on the number of inbound links, and the anchor text of those links. This is most often the deciding factor in SE rankings.
In short, just go get a ton of inbound links to your site with your keywords in the anchor text.