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I'm not so sure that using word press will get you into the engines any better then a well formed seo'd site would.
I would say that how you do the site is what matters, your content, your keywords etc..
Maybe with people posting on your blog and putting in relevant words for you might be a benefit, but learning how to set up your site the right way with content is what matters, and that it is relevant to the site that you wish to produce.
Hope that I have managed to give you a bit of what you are looking for in an answer!
4css~