I am about to launch my ecommerce site, but it currently has 390 items and I will be adding more threw out the year, My problem is to optimise for keywords for each item it will take me along time, would I be better concentrating on other marketing methods like link building etc. or is it really that important. I have been thinking that maybe I could take keywords that competitors are using for the same items, though not ideal it might be better than nothing and quicker and give me time to do other things with my site. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Paul
SEO is a long term strategy. I highly recommend that you focus on strong profitable long tail keywords. By doing this, you are building a foundation for your vast ecommerce website. Plus, you'll rank high quicker and prove to yourself that your business idea is viable. Finally, launching an all out attack on highly competitive is fruitless and a complete waste of time especially for a new website.
Keyword research is one of the most important parts of Seo so take your time and use it in links also.
I'd actually do both, but optimize for one or two competitive keywords (your main niche market) and several long-tail keywords (the products you're actually selling, as well as keywords associated with those products) while building those links. And don't forget to make your site and write your content with your users in mind (and write it in such a way that the page titles, meta descriptions and page content make them want to "click that link" in the SERPS and then stay on those pages, buy your products, and see what else is on your site and buy them as well). If you don't know how to do this, I strongly suggest you read "Word of Mouth Marketing" by Andy Sernovitz and "Web Copy That Sells" by Maria Veloso (both should be available at your local public library and/or book store).
thanks guys some great advice there, really answered my question, So i can see now that it is a long term thing that i will just have work on it, however long it takes, I am just starting out with keywords and I am using the free very of WebSEO and goodle adwords for this, any other good tools i could use? I don't want to spend money until i have exhausted everything else and have started making a bit of money first thanks Paul
Heres a tool for you https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal SEO is both a short term and long term strategy. Motivate yourself by choosing a long tail keyphrase and including it a few times throughout one of your webpages. Then Post a few comments on blogs or forums with a link to your site (the link text should be your keyphrase). You will most likely show up on the first page of Google for that phraze within a few days.