eCommerce Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

1. Setup a Google Analytics account
2. Determine the keywords you wish to target.  This is critical, you can't measure your sucess or know how to craft your content if you don't know the keywords you are aiming for. 
1. Use SEO Tools (Web CEO is one example) that allow you to enter keywords and it will show the sites that are winning on these.  You should also be able to enter competitors' web sites and see what keywords they are targeting with these tools. 
2. Be realistic about the keywords you target.  In most cases you need to be targeting 2 to 3 keywords.  If this is a brand new site, there is no way in hades you are going to make it into the first few pages for the keyword Automobile.  If you are a regional parts store, shoot for Oklahoma Automobile Parts.  The more popular the individual keywords, the more keywords you will need to target.
3. Verify that you have completed On-Page Optimizations for the keywords you wish to target. 
1. Page Title
2. Meta Keywords - No longer used by Major search engines
3. Meta Description - No longer used by Major search engines
4. Content
1. Have a least 200 words
2. Use Header Tags (H1-H6), Bold, and Italic to highlight important keywords
4. Submit to these Top 10 Directories.  Many of these will have places for descriptions / summaries, so it is important to have your keyword analysis done in order to craft these correctly.
1. Yahoo
2. MSN
3. DMOZ
4. BOTW
5. JoeAnt
6. GoGuides
7. Gimpsy
8. Tygo
9. Jayde
10. Uncoverthenet
5. Go crazy with Pay Per Click using Google Analytics to track results and determine what is working.
6. Get Links. Bunches of links. Setup an Affiliate program. Do whatever it takes to get links.
7. Make sure all links that you control or influence (Email Campaigns, Affiliate sites, Banner Ads, etc) have tracking information on them for Google Analytics.  Use the Google Analytics URL builder to help.
   

On-Page Optimization gets you in the game ... make sure you have the right keywords on your site for every game you want to play in. Links are how you score. Think of every link to your site as 1 point.  The site with the higher score gets listed first. 

When it comes to Links, the rank of the page the link is on is very important.  For example, if two sites have the keyword "Automobile Parts" and only have one site linking to each of them, but one of the linking sites is ranked 0 and the other linking site is ranked 2, the site linked to the site ranked 2 will be higher in the search results.

The content of the linking site is also important. For example, if two sites have the keyword "Automobile Parts" and only have one site linking to each of them and both of the linking sites are ranked 2, but one of the linking sites also has the keyword "Automobile Parts" and the other doesn't, the site linked to the site with the same keywords will be higher in the search results.

Links are critical.  You want lots of links from high rank sites with the keywords you are targeting.