Starting SEO for an e commerce site

I've just finished my pretty basic site that is reselling a service for which I have a good supplier. I have a fair bit of competition, but I can compete on price. As far as starting SEO, how should I begin? I currently don't have any backlinks or anything. I'm thinking of doing some manual work while at the same time investing a bit on paid services. Could anyone guide me in the right direction for how to best invest my time doing some manual work and where to spend my money for most effect?

As this is my first project, I'm primarily concerned with learning the process of getting my site onto the first or second page.

Use the search button my dear. There is a 4 page thread on SEO for e commerce tips. Read through and you will find more then what you were looking for

I would recommend anyone just starting to buy scrapebox - but don't go crazy autoposting to your money site. use it as a scraper

Read up a bit about web2.0's , create a few and start blasting those.

We can help you on that matter...Try to find out our site....

Well you can use senx and private blog submissions for deeplinking, directory submissions for main page power. SB for tier 2-3 links. Maybe XR for the same purpose as SB.