I would start by reading all of the threads in this forum, I am sure every method has been covered!! Other than that build lots of good back links and have good content on your site.
Try to search in Google for search engine optimization. You will find out that its a world by itself. Its like you ask: Whats life? (If you would have asked, whats life, Id probably answered: Getting high rankings! Its not a checklist (although some people who work in the business for years have made one) and its not just a guideline. Google has a zillion things they check for. So your question is a little bit too much to answer. If you learn more, you get to know more specific subjects (SE and frames / flash / link popularity, pagerank, etc etc.) and be able to ask more specific questions that we can answer. After that, you can learn more each day. Still of course some topics and websites are more important than others, and that you found this forums is a start. Start reading everything you find here. Then also go to: www.seochat.com www.webmasterworld.com www.searchenginewatch.com These are the first 3 that pop in my head. In a while, you probably make your own bookmark list.
Here are your choices.... 1 - Read the entire forum and implement everything you learn. 2 - Find a professional seo, and get set to fork over a decent amount of cash. Either one of those should work....
Thats a big understatement. For some categories, listed in the DMOZ is the toughest part of the package (its human edited. For some categories with fast editors and a good submission, a placement may be possible within 24 hours!). Yeah its hard sometimes. Thats why everybody advices you to have patience, read their guidelines and rules very well, and make sure that the DMOZ is not the only thing you aim for, as plenty of websites have superb SERPS without being in the DMOZ.