Has anyone thought much about search engine optimization?

The SEO Industry and practices are fundamentally against the goals of search engines. I wouldn't want to base my business on something that Google's core product aims to destroy.

The SEO industry is broader than that. When I said SEO strategy I was thinking the white hat variety.[0]

[0] http://www.silverdisc.co.uk/articles/seohats/

We're going to be creating tons of fresh local content. From a little test we did by starting a local blog it wasn't hard to get ranked well in google and the searchers are already coming our way.

My partner and I are trying to learn the right strategy for SEO these days. Does anyone here think about it? If so, what have you done or what are you planning to do?

The right strategy for your company depends on many factors including what sort of traffic can your website support and if you plan to roll out your site slowly to work out the kinks (many beta launches are quiet and quite effective). If you don't have the content to support and engage your users, then you are wasting time and money. SEO strategies should be reflective of your overall business strategy.

If you're looking for basic SEO info and how to do it, here is a cool link: http://www.portentinteractive.com/seo_3.htm.