Less talk, more action!

Hey blackhatters,

Over the next 3 months I am building an authority site for a highly targeted niche.

The site has 3 goals:
1. Establish me as an authority on the topic.
2. To generate income through product sales.
3. To provide a base for my future efforts.

I don't pertain to be an expert in internet marketing, but i have the time and more then enough motivation. I'm tired of lurking/reading but never putting things into action so I'm going to put everything i have into this, and would love your input at every step of the way.

I will do this through a variety of methods learned from this forum, marketing products I've purchased and I will post summaries of any methods/knowledge i'm 'actioning' in the hope that this thread will become a great resource for anyone who wants to achieve a similar goal.

My plan for success?So here it goes!



N.B I have no plans to market the information that this thread generates, so it'll all truly be 'open source', free to all for the benefit of all.

First up i'm going to do market research. It appears that this is the number one failing of many online business: incorrect research leading to bad keyword choices/ incorrect optimization/ effort spent in dead markets

STEP 1: FIND A NICHE
To do keyword research you first must find a niche filled with buyers. In some circles this is called a ?hot market? . caveat, if you are looking to build an authority site, it?s best to stick to a niche that you are interested in/involved in. Building an authority site may take time, better to start off with something you are interested in. I know a lot about my niche, the problems i face every day in my career are shared with millions of others. but i want to dig a little deeper and find specific 'hot markets' within my niche

Finding a hot market is a little bit like being a detective. The characteristics of a hot market are as follows:
? It contains a large number of people
? These people are irrationally passionate
? They have disposable income
? They have there own jargon
? They have their own magazines
? They may hold their own conferences and events
They have their own celebrities

In other words, you are looking for a group of people who have their own subculture

Once you have picked a wide niche, you can begin to discover specifics about that niche by doing the following:

(1) Checking Out Magazine Racks
(2) Visiting Bookstores
(4) Going to amazon: check out the names of categories that relate to your niche, top 20 selling products in your niche, inc rising stars.
(5) research online learning courses: universities, online courses, colleges. find any courses relevant to your niche. go one step further by calling the teachers in your specific niche ad finding out the most common issues their students face/ what topics are difficult to teach.
(6) Talking to Passionate People: Do a lot of other people share your passion? Are there magazines relating to the subject? Do they attend conferences or events relating to the subject?
(7) Listening to People?s Problems (found the magic number to be ?23? people, after that amount, all the ideas appear to become the same.)

I ask each person i speak to variants of the following questions:
a. With relation to <your niche> top 3 things would help you
b. What are the top 3 issues facing people in your profession/niche
c. If you could possess any skill related to your niche, what would it be.
d. if you could change one thing about your niche what would it be?

(8) Watching TV - type of shows in your niche. any instructional shows / dedicated instructional
(9) gurus/ other individuals who market towards your niche, what are their products?
(10) google search you niche. sites that show up will often highlight shared problems amidst your chosen niche

Although you claim to not be an expert, I can see you've got a better grasp on the subject at hand than many others!

Of course, the best piece of advice is in the title itself: Less talk, more action! A lot of people will just continually accumulate information and never do anything with it, and yet they wonder why they fail when they've never started.