Okay, here's the thing. Google has an army of programmers and some of the brightest eggheads in the world working round the clock to make sure their system does not get manipulated. So does SEO really work anymore? Does it matter? Or do the SEO fads of the day become obsolete within months as Google's army updates their algorithms.
You are asking a question I've asked myself a lot this last year. What I've decided is to bypass the games and simply build a site that will get lots of search engine attention. My game in 2007 - own a niche! How do I plan to do that? Here are a couple links that explain the whole process. Take a look if you're interested in a better approach.
A page describing the whole thing; suggest you skip right to the "Already have a site?" link near the bottom: http://sitesell.com/junckster.html A video that will explain the whole thing to you: http://videotour.sitesell.com/junckster.html. The 'proof' page is quite nice: http://proof.sitesell.com/junckster.html
Leave me voice mail if you'd like some help evaluating this approach.