What these two said.
When I was doing satellite installs, I learned a whole lot more about setting strong posts than most (including me) would ever want to know. With the advent of HD programming, a stable and steady dish is very important. The old SD dishes have a little "wiggle 'n wobble" room designed into them, but the new generation must be rock solid to have quality reception. An unstable pole mount equals a free return visit in most cases. DIRTFT is built into the business model on both ends.
Like Steve said, for best results, go at least 30" deep and put some gravel at the bottom, before the post goes in. This will eliminate frost heaving and up to a 6 foot fence. For an 8 foot fence, go at least 36" deep. ALWAYS dig your end and corner posts deeper than your line posts. You can get away with as little as 2" worth of drain bed below the post, but only in dry climate zones. 3 to 6 inches is the norm.
Like Nate said: if you use concrete, apply sealer to the bottom end of the wood post and mix the concrete up before it goes down the hole! Filling with water, then pouring dry concrete mix on top only ensures a shoddy job! Either way (concrete or dirt fill), the stuff still has to be compacted to make the footer rigid. Air or water in the hole is a bad thing. For easy extra strength, taper the holes so they are larger at the bottom than at ground level.
The rest of the job will be dictated by the size and scope of the project. If you have less than 6 or 8 post holes to dig, a common post hole digger will do. Any more than that, go rent an auger or somebody will be sore for the rest of the event, and it will probably not all happen in one day. Measure everything more than twice, then triple check as you lay out the job. Support all posts with temporary legs and buy a couple or more post levels. That way, your helper will have one rather than stealing yours constantly.
There is a new method of installing poles and posts to consider. Instead of using dirt, gravel or concrete to fill the hole, expanding foam is used. At first, it may seem silly, but it works very well. The main advantages to this method are related to reduction of time, material and labor. I have seen contractors finish some pretty behemoth fences in only one day using this method. In the morning, the crew shows up, lays out and drills holes, puts posts in holes with temporary supports, and pours foam. They go to lunch. After lunch, they start removing supports and assembling fence panels. By mid afternoon, trim and finishing touches go on. Customer gets home from work to inspect with foreman after crew has cleaned up and left.
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