Bought a website on Fishing, now what??

Change all the affiliate links to your links and then start generating traffic to it.

I'd also suggest you check to make sure that the content is unique. if not then consider spinning the articles on the site and again get traffic

Do some keyword research and select those keywords which you wish to promote to gain traffic.

Don't just pull keywords out of the air. Check whether a keyword (phrase) draws enough traffic and whether the competition (backlinks of those listed on the first page of Google) is low enough for you to be able to push your web page onto the first page of the search engine.

Look for some material on how to build backlinks to those pages which support your selected keywords. This draws free traffic.

Also get a good book on how to use PPC advertising so that you can start learning about how to use paid advertising. The Definitive Guide To Adwords by Perry Marshall is a good place to start.

Also look for some material on email marketing so you can decide how you want to structure your marketing strategy. Just having a website doesn't mean that its overall design is effective. You need to learn how you want the visitors to flow so that you not only get traffic but are able to convert them to (current and future) sales.

Getting visitors onto a mailing list builds a business.

Ivan

Unless you're aiming for the complete newbie, this is a tough market to fake it in. I can scan down the fishing articles at a site like EZA and tell you which ones are written by people who know what they are writing about, which are writing from research without experience and which are the link whores using some lame PLR rewrite.

The other John makes a good point - provide value in the form of good tips and real product reviews. If you can provide up-to-date fishing reports for a popular destination, you have a traffic magnet.

If you think you can make it with some generic fishing site, you'll have a long way to go. You'll be competing with the likes of fishing.com, In-fisherman, the classic hook-and-bullet magazines, even the big retailers like Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops.

I wish you luck...you'll need it.

What should you do?

Do you like fishing? If not, then go and list the site on Ebay and Flippa. You'll soon get bored of it and there's no point in entering this space without any experience, plan or passion.

<insert pun about small fish, big ponds and being eaten by sharks>

If fishing is your thing, then make a list of all the suggestions on this page (these are all tactics that might be useful later).

Then write a business plan.

Think about revenue streams, exits and the effort that it will require.

Then do some due diligence and decide if it's worth running with.

If it is, then plan your strategy (this is where the tactics come in).

Then work your hole off.

Find partners, build a list, set up ad swaps and integration marketing. Outsource content creation and build backlinks like a madman.

Good Luck.

PS. Don't forget that killing the site right now might very well be the best option. Don't just stick with it because you're committed to a bad decision you made.