You have to ask yourself a question when it comes to SEO! Can I/we do it in the time frame we need? If not stop fannying around and hire someone who can! You can always learn later and as you go on and evolve. If you expect high ranking SERPS from second rate SEO that doesn't make my and everyones internet search experiences better then please forget it, throw it in the bin and get yourself over to the buy and sell websites forum and don't give up the day job and save yourself and all of us a whole heap of headaches and rubbish. Just my two peneth rant for today
Thing is... sorry to say it (not really) there are people who can't afford professional SEOs and have to do their own. They learn on the job and in the process come to understand that the professional SEOs they couldn't afford - or at least some of them - were just fast typers who were talking rubbish dressed up in jargon...
Tell me about it 1associate I hear all too often about these SEO's who talk fluffy techno babble using stalling tactics and generated monthly reports about superflous search terms that have little to do with what a site and the site owner actually wants and needs. You have to ask yourself though. Is all the time I/we put in that means we don't get the results for some time not better put in to commission someone who does. Any decent SEO will make it all clear as you go along anyway if they have nothing to hide, so you get the education whilst at the same time getting your SERPS quicker to.