[andygrif]

I'm no expert on this subject...but there's a few things you can do that definitely improve where you appear:

1. Keywords. Not too many, just enough to describe what your site's about.
2. Site description. Keep it short and simple, sum it up in a couple of sentances max.
3. Site content. The site's actual visible content needs to reflect the description and keywords you've put on it.
4. Updates. People think that Google favours sites whose content changes regularly.
5. Links. Find sites that will exchange links with your site. Google likes full circles when it comes to link, so reciprocally add their sites to your links page and complete the cirlce.
6. Open a Google account. There's a section in there of Webmaster Tools, it allows you to upload a site map, schedule bot crawls and generally see how your site is performing, Google-wise.
7. Use Google Analatics, this allows you to see how many visitors you're getting, and how they got there - which can help you tweak your keywords and improve your rankings more.
8. Be patient. Google doesn't work overnight - it takes months to get the results you want, and even then you might not reach the top slot or even first page. But keep at it!

HTH