I’ve never paid for adverstising, direct mail, pay per click, reviews or anything like that. To me that is just as much of a long shot as SEO.
I’m going by my experience since 2001. Relying on SEO IMO does not mean you don’t consider the player or that you have a flawed plan. I see it as utilizing the best tool available to get the results you want.
There is no way anyone can convince me that SEO is not a reliable way to build a steady income because I’ve done it totally with SEO and my income has climbed each and every year and June 2008 was one of my record months.
I’m encouraged by this only because my site is not SEO’d the way I know it should and could be, but once I get it there then I’d like to do a comparasion next year to see who is right. 