SEO isn't dead, but it has changed. But, because of Google's Panda and Penguin updates, old rules of SEO no longer apply. Today, to get ranked (and stay ranked), site owners need to optimize based on the user's intent (and not just the search bots).
Search has changed - it is very language friendly. Please type (or speak!) their search sentence into the browser to come up with results. VERY rarely will the click on an advertisement (unless it is the sponsored site, itself). So really - if your website is in one of the first couple pages of the search results, you can do this!
Use Intent-Based keywords to make your products and services discoverable
Create a sustainable rhythm of updates to your website (think blog) and social media
Make sure you remove crippling search issues (for instance your site must be mobile responsive - meaning that most people view your website from a smart phone and if they cannot click on links or call your "contact us" number, your search engine optimization will be dead).
Keyword research, content and link building are useless until you eliminate website issues
Make sure it is very clear what you do and what problems you solve on every page of your website
Make sure there is a call to action on every page of your website
Republish old blogs by breathing new life into the content you’ve already spent time and energy creating
Create backlinks to your website so you can get your site ranked for the keywords, through social media
Are you ready to do this yourself? Excellent. If you need help, let's talk!