What are your recommendations for a new site?

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

• 
  Steve Bonin: Hello All:
  #1 I think this is a great community.
  
  I am considering taking on a project to build a website for the HVAC industry and do some SEO for them.  ;I am very new at off=site SEO.  ;
  The competitor's site is pretty good but does not rank very high in SERPs for any keywords I could think of.  ;My client is in truth a financier who leases-to-own HVAC equipment to end-users.  ;They do not install or service the equipment themselves.
  
  I looked at the link profile for the home page for the main competitor's site and it looks like the developer has various identities and writes articles/blogs in online magazines like:
  www.dmozing-net
  infrared-illuminator-us
  www.folkd-com
  and links back to the site.
  
  The inside scoop is that the site is generating $10,000 - $40,000 in sales each month from leads, that would be 3 to 12 closed deals, though I can hardly see how because there does not seem to be any Social Media presence either.
  
  My question is:
  Is article submission to these types of sites still a valid form of SEO?
  Is a self-hosted blog and better venture? Or a blog on Wordpress.com?
  Is Social Media a better SEO tactic?
  
  Thank you
• 
  Brent Wildman: Article submission is still viable if done correctly. They should be done to provide content and helpful information, not just for an easy backlink. Many people are saying these articles and guest posts should be "nofollow" just in case.
  
  Having a blog on the actual site is best case scenario. You don't want to split your efforts and authority across multiple sites.
  
  Social media is A SEO tactic. It's only a small part of a much bigger picture. ;
• 
  Steve Bonin: thanks +Brent Wildman ;what do you think about onsite blog, and use Google+ to write articles?
• 
  Jim Munro: Hi +Steve Bonin ;:)
  
  Your participation here is both welcomed and appreciated but links are not. Would you mind either removing or disabling the links in your post? Everybody here knows what dmozing (dot) net means.
• 
  Steve Bonin: +Jim Munro ;done
• 
  Jim Munro: Thank you, mate. Your cooperation is appreciated. :)