i was wondering if there was any way to make your website more accessable to people using search engines?

in my control panel for my website, there is a whole section dedicated to inputting keywords and phrases that should make your website come up in search engines. i use 1and1.com by the way. what can i type in there to make my website findable? does this even work?

besides doing that what else can be done and what type of online advertising can be done? and what have you done that works?

thanks guys!