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Hi Sida,
Without knowing the exact search terms you are targeting, I would advise that you just monitor the serps closely to see which news results slowly slip. A lot of times these type of news outlets gets a temporary huge boost that slowly fades. Depending on the format and content of your site, I would suggest seeing if there is a way to capitalize on the recent news and tie Simon's divorce into a well written blog post or piece of content on your site. If you can't beat them, join them!
Wildfire is outrageously expensive..
That aside, the best 2 directories for the money are the good oldies: the yahoo directory (dir.yahoo.com) and botw.org. These are a great way to start as you ramp up other link building/content creation strategies. This is strictly from experience, as I know that many would disagree regarding the value of the yahoo directory.
I agree with Bradley. Offering more than just SEO makes selling services much easier. The way SEO is going anyhow, you truly need to be multi-disciplined anyhow. There will always be a plethora of scammy seo companies because the average business owner doesn't know anything about SEO and it's too easy for them to make money.
Rahul,
I've found that using too many keywords in the title tag will dilute the main keyword, but the jury is out on that one whether it's 100% true.
Are you running a ppc campaign? PPC campaigns will often reveal the magic keyword that converts the best. Once you have this data, you can experiment with variations of the term to form the best possible title tag that revolves around conversions rather than traffic.
Jerry also has a good point about looking to see what competitors are targeting. They wouldn't be targeting those keywords if they weren't profitable 
Mike,
In my experience, low DA links often come from automated websites that are created solely for the purpose of ranking for longtail keyword traffic. Most of these types of sites often times don't have proper contact information so that you can get the links removed. I'm of of the opinion that you are better of investing your time in acquiring high quality (High DA) links from other credible sources. Enough of these links will offset these low DA links that you are concerned about.
Scott,
You are right - the majority of directories don't really seem to provide much real value to actual users. I would suggest being extremely critical and conservative if you do decide to pursue 'general' web directory links.
There are niche directories out there such as directories that feature businesses that are green, and electrical contractor directories. These types of hyper relevant directories both add value and Google responds well to them. The more general type of directories are the ones that tend to attract the penguin's wrath. Hope that helps!
Alex,
I am definitely not a fan of charging by the hour and instead outline from the beginning what a person will get for a set price. Since SEO is an ongoing effort, the cost is recurring on a monthly basis with tasks broken down into the appropriate phases as you have described. The challenge is pricing this recurring cost and managing the expectations of the client upfront. I've never had a problem with clients who understand the value of my services at the start and also had the proper expectations. As for organizing yourself with the phases, I would highly suggest writing down everything you could possibly do for a client from A-Z, and really taking the time to examine the tasks and break them up into phases accordingly. Hope this helps!
There is only one benefit that I can think of and that's catching a competitor that thinks the tag still has value. You can often openly see the keywords they are targeting within the tag, but aside from this I cannot see any other value from it.
I forgot to mention, that you'll need to click on goal set afterwards to see what words are triggering goals.
Hi,
You may also want to try clicking on Traffic sources on the left instead.
Traffic Sources > Sources > All Traffic > google/organic
Then you'll see an option for a secondary dimension where you can enable by 'keyword'. Hope this helps!
Ah, I did miss that minor detail! Hope you can still gleam some insight from my answer.
Larry,
In theory I'm in agreement that extending domain registration for multiple years should send a positive signal to Google that you are here to stay. In my experience I've not seen massive boosts from this, but it is something I would definitely recommend you do. It also helps avoid the embarrassing situation of having your domain dropped 1-2 years in as you are busy dealing with other internet marketing details
I think Google will give a slight edge to big brands, as Eric Schmidt of Google famously stated that the internet was a cesspool and needed brands.
That being said, I think there is room to disrupt the market with a lot of hard work. If you look at the third result, Tejani, they have less than 200 root domains propelling them to that position. A closer look at their link profile shows a link from glamour.com referencing the bride's earrings.
Dillards and Nordstrom have thousands, and thousands of links, but with less than 200 root domain links, they got up there. It can be done, just won't be easy
Also, just my PPC OCD but I would run a PPC campaign for that keyword first to determine how profitable it is first before undertaking any SEO. How that helps!
I would have to agree with Rand about the negation of value of the links vs the penalty. I just had a client we picked up who had a very polluted backlink profile and dropped off the face of the earth after Penguin. When we launched his newly designed site, we gave it a fresh domain name that retained his branding and 301'd his old site. So far it has worked beautifully and given us a fresh start.
I'm also in agreement that penalties passing through 301's is a can of worms for Google.....
