There is no mystery to having a site that is easy to find. Your site must be considered 'important' and it must contain content that uses the keywords a visitor might type into google or any other search engine.
What makes a website important? Google, MSN Search, Yahoo search, and any search tool catalog all of the websites they can find. They find these sites by starting with sites they already know about, and look at all of the links on those sites. They then look at those sites, and repeat the process. Your site is considered important if lots of other sites link to your site, and if those who link to you are important. If your sell cars, and Ford, GM, Toyota, and other major car makers have links to your site, it is more important than another car selling site that is not linked by those big car companies. If your site is linked to by your cousin's body shop site, that is good, but probably not as good as a link from Toyota. If you get linked to by the Coca Cola, it probably isn't that important. They are big, but they aren't big in the field that you are trying to reach.
So, its important to try to get links to your site. You can do this by asking related sites to link to your site. You can write articles, or post comments on blogs or other sites that let you post your site link. If your local newspaper or trade publication, or civic group writes something about your business, you should try to be sure to have them link to your site. Over time, your links will grow.
While links are important, they aren't totally under your control. Your content is! If you sell turkeys, you need to use the word 'turkey' on your site, and all of the words related to your business -- Thanksgiving, poultry, free range, etc. These words carry more weight if they are the headers and title of your site. They carry more weight if they are woven into the articles, and information you provide. You can't just list a bunch of words somewhere on your site. The search engines are too smart for that!
When google, and the others catalog your site, they only can read the plain text. Many website development will try to wow you with special effects using 'javascript' or 'flash' to sizzle up your content. Don't do it! To the search companies, this stuff is all invisible. These technologies are powerful, and can be used to great effect to make your site more interesting and eye catching, but they are often used to the detriment of your site's visibility. If the company you are working with doesn't understand this, drop them.