Is there any kind of checklist for promoting a content site?

I'm trying to be 'the' site for my chosen keyword phrase. Is there any kind of checklist or tools I can use to assure me my site will get the #1 spot, assuming it's the most relevant, largest, and helpful site to the user, for the keyword phrase they're searching for.

There is definitely no "hard and fast" rules for optimizing a site nor is there any way someone can guarantee you a number one ranking.

The best things you can do to get a high ranking is:
make sure your site is search engine friendly and doesn't have any road blocks for the spiders; only add things to the site that benefit the user (content) and never add anything for the sole purpose feeding of the search engines; and make sure you get a lot of back links that use keyword rich phrases.

Grip Interactive

Go to Google.com and look up the keyword you want.

Click that link on and go to the site. Check the site's PageRank.
Then copy the URL from the site and search for it with the google search utility. When the search comes back you should get some search options like. Sites that link to http? click the link to. A list of sites will come up Count the links. And note which site you competition advertises on. Try to get keyword specific listings on those sites.


You can get a more specific link popularity report.
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/default.htm


Also the domain you pick should have your main keyword in it.
This helps alot, you can beat out sites with higher PR and link popularity if you have the right domain. Also each file or page should have it's keyword in the file name. Say you nav link says SEO, then your file name should bee something like seo.htm, seo.php.

Interlink as many inner pages as posible without cluttering up your site.

Buy text links.

You can buy links at Linkadage.com

Don't let people tell you that it's imoral to buy sponsored text links. All of the big networks do it. Check out the links to all the top 100 alexa.com sites if you don't believe me.

I hope this helps.

You can also use the tools over at www.digitalpoint.com to track your keyword placement progress in the serps. Nice seo tools, and they are all free.