Far be it from me to consider myself any kind of expert but I read a lot and listen to a lot of "home recorded" stuff and I can tell you what most people will do to make vocals "pro" sounding.
1-Double track and pan with slight delay on one side to make them seem "Fatter".
2-Pay careful attention to the frequency in the center of the mix and make sure the vocal is not fighting anything else and sits on top of the instruments nicely.( I like to put nothing dead center in the mix except the vocal and bass drum)
3-Record the track as clean and tight as you can, use a pop filter and try and avoid moving in and out into the mic. Hard to do but you cant fix over saturation with software.
4- Get out on the web and read,read read. Opinions are like you know what....everybody's got one. With trial and error you will get your sound.
Making your vocals sit in front of the mix with a little sparkle is the holy grail of recording, I've heard some amazing stuff come out of people's basement's so it can be done.
Here is a good place to start:
http://audio.tutsplus.com/
good for anyone who's looking for some secrets.
Rick
http://www.soundclick.com/mothersbadson