I agree that your product should be your #1 focus. Lots of users landing on a site that offers a poor experience is a waste. However, the problem with that is that investments in SEO compounds over time. Not only are aged links valuable, but as your rankings increase, you tend to build more links.
A good user experience can also offer compounding returns, but it's hard to test and improve user experience without users. SEO can provide a steady, free stream of users that enables you to test changes large and small at a statistically significant level. That's really valuable.
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I agree that your product should be your #1 focus. Lots of users landing on a site that offers a poor experience is a waste. However, the problem with that is that investments in SEO compounds over time. Not only are aged links valuable, but as your rankings increase, you tend to build more links.
Aaron Wall calls it Self Reinforcing Authority: http://www.seobook.com/archives/002033.shtml
A good user experience can also offer compounding returns, but it's hard to test and improve user experience without users. SEO can provide a steady, free stream of users that enables you to test changes large and small at a statistically significant level. That's really valuable.