Up Against the Wall

Hello community. I've spent the past few weeks assimilating as much SEO/SEM information as possible. The goal is to generate new leads for my local insurance agency by adding value to the online insurance community. We've been in business since 1983, but have never leveraged the power of the internets. The amount of information is overwhelming, yet I continue to read every resource I can.

I understand the importance of keyword research; targeting a niche; and developing good, unique content. The biggest challenge I am facing is committing to one particular direction. I believe that I should begin by selecting a few keywords, but from where? Each keyword tool looks nice and has its share of positive and negative reviews. If I enter a local insurance related keyword, I receive different results from each tool. Wordtracker may direct me towards a keyword that the Google tool or Market Samurai does not suggest; and vice versa. Furthermore, local search times often return very little data. I don't know what to believe.

So here I stand at the wall and I'm not sure how to get over it. Do I subscribe to one keyword tool and commit to mastering it? Should I buy one of the 92,065,365.266 "only SEO guide you will ever need!" books? Pick some generic keywords and dive in?

Thank you in advance for your input. Out of the hundreds of forums and sites that I have scoured in the past few weeks, this is the only one where I feel comfortable articulating my frustrations. I appreciate you all!

Mike