It's funny that you say 'the first 500' because there's literally a book for that that I always recommend.
Learning kanji through words and compounds gives context and meaning that you don't get from learning them individually. But if the question is 'how do I make a start on that', I recommend getting the book, since it has a lot of in-context examples as well as writing exercises that are also in-context.
I REALLY like this one. Lots of room to practice, exercises to reinforce memory, stroke order and readings etc. Amaazon.jp has the cheapest price and fast shipping.
basic kanji 500 is it this one?
Looking over those two series online, from what I saw, they're not awful but there are better textbooks out there. In place of either of those, starting with Basic Kanji Book vol. 1 and 短期集中 初級日本語文法総まとめ ポイント20 for vocab, grammar, and kanji; and Shadowing Let's Speak Japanese Beginner to Intermediate Edition for vocab, listening, and speaking practice are a better for main textbooks. More information, more vocab, more practice material, better bang for your buck. And once you're done with those books, you can move onto the next books in those book series and also 聞いて覚える話し方 日本語生中継・初中級編 for listening and speaking.
Like someone else said, you don't want to be just studying from one book series, so also getting Genki or whatever is fine too, but not as your main textbook.