i'm sorry my english is not so good.
8 weeks ago i knew nothing about how to make a website, and 4 weeks ago SEO was something i've even never heard about.
now i prowdly say that my home-made web site hits the first gooogle search page in many key words combinations, after no more than 2 weeks after it's been launched on the www. and the competition in my main field (promotional and personalised items) is fierce

.
i would gladly give some advices, but the web pages i got my info from are not written in english.
so - SEO is definetely something you can do by yourself.
you need patience, motivation, time (many sleepless night searching the web), and, again, patience.
from what i've read, all seem to my very good advices, but i'm no expert att all.
i just got it working somehow
my site was built using Web Page Maker, it's
extremely easy to use, and it helped a lot i the seo process.
i also used some seo tools, like these ones here:
Website Webmaster Search Engine Tools