$1k isnt too bad for learning solid Yahoo SEO and getting the (productive) traffic slowly rolling.
Remember though that whitehat SEO can be a lot of very tedious and repetitive work. However unlike TGPs & galleries, you simply build and forget, traffic rolls in often for years without you lifting a finger.
Btw regarding the yahoo/google traffic, on my (12 months+ old) domains I get about 1/3 the referals from yahoo compared to google. Its all on different terms though.