Here's my SEO tips for Newbie:
Avoid Bad Coding---Make sure that your we pages are W3C Compliant. Most SEs crawl websites by analyzing the sites code. If web pages has an error, the entire site does not get indexed by the bots, and can result to a lower page rank.
Smart Keyword Placement---Keywords should show in the site title and header pages, it should also be in the web pages body, but avoid doing the keyword density.
Get Inbound Links---avoid paid link backs and too many reciprocal links. Stay away from link schemes.