First an excellent article on how people search and where you may be wanting to spend more of your time, money and efforts.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3366951

Now to start dissecting this article a bit.

The first thing concerns promoting country specific site. Make sure -

a) You have a domain with the proper extension (ie .uk).
b) Make sure that your site speaks the language.
c) Host your site in the country / region your promoting - in this case the uk.

On search engine friendly design - the checklist follows -

• Easy to read
• Easy to navigate
• Easy to find
• Consistent in layout and design
• Quick to download

I would also add the following.
- make sure you have a site map with links from each page and to all the pages.
- add new content consistently.

Writing for Search Engines -

Focus on Keyword Phrases.
Limit it to 2 or 3 a page.
250 - 300 words of text.
Target density 1.5-2%

I've said it before one of the "best" ways to find your "target" density is to check the top ten competitors and get an average number. Then work on achieving that number.

More tomorrow.