Brad is a good guy,(Coolest Guy on Earth) but I am always suspicious when some one share their
secrets, why Brad will share his secret when he is earning money out of it? If you read the long sales page you will find why. At the end you are paying $$s to get the stuff.
Use of essential softwares are good but SEO is no secret stuff now. The question is if the site really required to use softwares like these? Each site is different and need to adopt different strategies. For some sites sales are more important rather than gaining the first position. People ask for conversions and thats the key!
All one need to follow rules and do some hard work. SEO is a process that need time to be invested. I dont feel for organic SEO one need to buy any software. I have used the softwares in past but now I stopped using them since 2 years when one of my client raised lot of questions about the similar reports on his multiple sites.
This SEO contest
[ seocontest2008 ] is basically for those who's luck favors for short term. We need at least 4, 5 months to get on top positions using organic stuffs.
Winning the contest matters a lot but what matters more if someone carefully analyze the results explore the possibilities in near future. I dont mind loosing if I learn something from this.
Basically an SEO need to do a lot of tests before offering the service to any client. Contests like this helps a lot to understand lot of stuffs. One cannot risk a client site without exploring the possibilities instead one may opt for general stuffs like Directory submissions, Meta Tag analysis and link building work.
When it comes to get real customers, one need to do lot of other stuffs apart from SEO
The real world is different and clients need sales, Ranking is now no more a matter of concerns as every one cant rank well with same Keywords. Also those who dont rank with top 10 results doesnt mean they cant offer better services.
For example, Wirefly (No.1 Cellphone Shop in USA) doesn't rank well with many keywords but they have better services and better sales compare to many cellphone dealers. In fact their dealers rank well but they have more sales.
However these are my personal views based on my experience working with fairly large sites. I may be wrong but a suitable reply helps me learn more about the stuffs and improve my offerings.