I'd like to expand my SEO efforts and am thinking of either purchasing a tool (backlinking etc) or signing up for an SEO service. Which of the two would you suggest as more productive and which tools or services would you recommend. Thanks.
I would go for a good reliable service. I would also give Fiverr a try. Tons of great gigs for SEO up there...
You can do the seo if you are an expert yourself; if budget permits, hire qualified seo professionals...
If you can find a reputable service that you can afford, go with it. Other wise it might be better if you start working on the SEO aspects yourself. As for using tools, they can help get you lower quality links while you focus on the high quality aspects of SEO.
Depending on the tool you can really cause yourself problems if you do not know what you are doing. Likewise, working with a service can be effective if they are reputable and are going to actually do something for you, but in both cases you need to gather some knowledge of the process. There are many facets of getting your site ranked and getting position and it is just as much dependent on how you run your site day to day as it is how its setup.