Keyword research usually gets described in the abstract. Here it arrives as instructions you can follow while reading: install a particular browser toolbar, search your chosen phrase, then look at the bar sitting under each of the top ten results and read the page rank figure on the left. That is what checking competition actually looks like.
The search optimisation posts push back at the idea that this work belongs only to professionals. Clean code counts, keywords have to be built into a page rather than sprinkled over it, and none of it needs a specialist before you can begin.
There is a post on getting visitors without paying for them, aimed at somebody with a new site and no budget whatsoever.
A review of a dating book for men sits among the marketing material and is an affiliate promotion, so read it on those terms.
Start with the keyword research post and follow it as you read rather than afterwards, because that is the only way any of it stays with you.