SEO is one of those things that seemingly everybody and their grandmother knows a little bit about. The basics will never really change, keywords, links, etc. To put it the most simply, just pick a topic, the more specific the better, and create a simple easy-to-navigate website with good quality content, preferably but not necessarily original, and update it as frequently as you can. In a perfect world, this would be all you need, because at the proverbial end of the day, Google does not really care about your website. Google cares about how many people care about your website. (I read this somewhere. Supposedly from one of the main dudes at Google.)
Consider this also: Look at the big picture. SEO is a means, not an end.