How to get my ranking up?

I read somewhere that if i were to move my website to the top of the search results within the major search engines, it will transform it into a powerful source of business development. Wow, sounds great, hoh. With so many visitors coming to my site, i bet if i were to sell something here, i'll make quite a substantial amount of money.

I asked my friend why is this so, and she replied that studies have shown that as little as 30% of all search engine users click on sponsored listings. So, this simply translate to people prefer to click on the “free” listings. So, in other words, all my paid advertisements will go to waste? Gosh, i'd better hire someone that specialises in search engine optimization to come and take a good look at my site and let me know how to improve on it. I'm dying to get my ranking up.