Google Keyword Tool - what should i be looking for?

ive read that i need to search a phrase, and then search the phrase with quotes around it, and if the phrase has a huge search without quotes, and very small with quotes, its gold?

or am i way off?

also, i search a phrase, and sort the results by reverse advertiser competition, and pick one that has a lot of global search volume and a low advertiser competition?

what is a good number for global search volume? 5000 enough to make it worthwhile?

There is an ebook called digging for gold in the download area by jon orana.
Read it.

You had better pick out the keywords that have previous month search volume of at least 1000 and then search that keyword in google.com with quotes to see the competing websites. More over you also need to test the profit potential of that keyword by letting it get through a test that I teach my students to ascertain it has buying potential too.

Remember that there are millions of people on the Internet and you want to get a niche that can appeal to a specific market segment. Right now, if you use beer making, you will attract some attention, but not much. And, worse, the advertising dollars don't appear to be going there as much as with wine making. So, if you choose wine making, again it's a better niche, but is this too broad a niche? Are you going to be able to target just those people who wan tot make wine at home, and not everybody who wants to drink wine on special occasions? So, you look up more keywords and find more targeted phrases like "wine supplies" that have a good CPC and search volume without being overly competitive.