While SEO is important it SHOULD NEVER be the penultimate focus of a website. SEO is focusing on the search engines... but search engines don't buy your products, they don't join your memberships, they don't hire your for future work, and they don't interact with your content. I see a growing focus on UEO (User Experience Optimization) that should take a primary seat over top of SEO for many sites. SEO makes money for SEO "experts" but it doesn't really benefit the freelancer as much as UEO.