What Chance Does The Small Guy Have?

I've been doing this blog for a few months now, and have been learning more everyday about search engine tactics and good keywords in your content to try and get some traffic. But unless the webmaster is willing to pay search engines money for hits or keywords, it is very tough to get a site off the ground. I have spent many hours tooling around the internet trying to find the best way to build up a reader base ... link trading, directory submits ... you name it. Personally, I very much enjoy posting everyday and will continue to do so. To all those who pop in from time to time, and those who stop by daily ... I thank you for your interest, and welcome any comments on posts. (I only delete those that are profane, or an attempt to be blatantly belligerent.) Thanks for reading.