Need help getting to #1

Have you tried the WSOs here? There are several SEO related offers.

8k articles???
That is a lot!

Something to keep in mind is link diversity and not just using articles but other things too. Whether its wiki links, blog comments, web 2.0 directories or social networks, etc. Why not grab yourself a tool and do it yourself for the long run?

Maybe you should define what 'killing your wallet' means. What's your budget for this?

stop back linking go to on page optimization it will save you plenty of times.. getting to google #1

How old is the blog?
How competitive is the niche?
How old is the domain?
What is not breaking your wallet $100 $300 $1000?
How many back links do you have currently?
How much time are you willing to work on this project?

All these things need to be answered before someone can workout and SEO plan.

Make your content valuable and shareworthy...when you have lots of returned visitors, google will see that your site have valuable content on it. Easier...

My advice if you're looking for high quality backlinks would be to check out Build My Rank. They cost a bit each month, but they are great and really work.

That's a lot of articles. I hope all your links aren't coming from the same place. In terms of a product, you might want to check out SEO Experts Academy by Matt Carter.

Good luck,
Joey

You have enough articles now.Now you should try to analyze the marketing strategy of your competitor and should follow there steps to get top then them.Best of luck.

sounds like you have a great resource available which is your content, if its unique original articles you should be getting plenty of traffic.

now- with that asset there are several things you can do to get that number 1 spot!

(il go into some easy methods which wont break the bank at all - and another option which would cost more but get more solid results)

- if you havnt heard of fiverr.com then you are missing on a great opportunity. there are many seo related gigs on there which (only $5) can really add a lot of value to your site.
- try finding people who will do senuke campaigns for your site, also article submissions (using your articles in spun format) and also social bookmarking, blogroll links, blog posts, forum profiles, blog comments and so on.
- there are many great gigs on fiverr, i just recomend staying away from major spammy ones such as xrumer which is putting your website at risk and potentially giving you some bad-rep links (ie p0rn)
- analyise your competitiors in the top positions and check their backlink profile something such as backlinkwatch.com will help with this - you can see how many backlinks they have (up to 1000) and also which anchor text they use and where the link comes from, potnetially you can go to the same sites and get backlinks your self.
- do some manual link building yourself find blogs, websites, and so on where you can get links back to your site, high PR if possible if not it doesnt really matter.
- find forums in your niche and add your links to signiture profile that way you can take part in the community and this will also add some links for your blog.

- now all that depending on your competition could easily get you that #1 spot, lets say you get 10 gigs on fiverr for a total of $50, thas not breaking the bank and will give you a huge boost if you choose the right servies.

another thing to do is use your articles turn them into PDF's or documents and add them to document sharing sites this is still an untapped place for backlinks and many are high PR directories also.

now you can also take osme of your content and create simple videos using animoto.com add some pictures and submit them to major video sites vimeo, youtube, mxtube etc. to add more backlinks and traffic.

now having said all that -
you could also hire an SEO company to do all this work for you, manually, and with a huge amount of resoruces available to make that process easier for you - of course this could cost you a lot more - some SEO's charge 1000s of $$$ a month for their services you can also find some which will offer a very comprehensive package for around $300 a month.

try doing a mixture of link building and your rank will rise for sure, more differeny places you get them from the better, and if you need any help or more advice please PM me, id be happy to have a look at your blog and competition and advise from there!

Work on daily baisis mainly these activites
Article Submission
Press Release
Social Book Marking
Article Book Marking
Forums Participations
Yahoo Answers
Directory Submission
Blog Submission
Blog Book Marking
Blog comment
Link Building