First site buildout...

First off, this site is great! The people who are willing to help each other is a tremendous breath of fresh air and the fact that I haven't seen anyone flaming another person for asking a newb question really seems to make this site welcoming.

So, I'm completely green when it comes to IM. Right now I've turned my eye towards creating more of a passive income. I've done a load of reading on some models that appear to be capable of making a profit and am ready to jump in. I'm not expecting to make $10,000 tomorrow, but am willing to put the work in and try and learn the process as best as possible. Of course, I have questions and am hoping for some kind soul to take pity on me and help me out.

My attempt is to tackle a niche website with a blog type atmosphere and monetize from there. From research it seems that keyword selection towards a niche website is 90% of success rate. I've been looking around for a phrase that I'm somewhat interested in so article writing will not be like high school English homework and will also lend itself towards some self made products down the road.
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Tony/Desktop/John/Market%20Samurai/Keyword%20Info%201.gif[/IMG]
I think I found a niche, but not sure how to paste a pic, so here are the stats for the top pages in Google through Market Samurai...

1 - Targeted Website ; PR 0 ; Backlinks 189
2 - Article in Magazine ; PR 4 ; Backlinks 289
3 - Targeted Website ; PR 0 ; Backlinks 12
4 - WikiHow Article ; PR 3 ; Backlinks 153
5 - Targeted Website ; PR 0 ; Backlinks 162
6 - Targeted Website ; PR 1 ; Backlinks 598
7 - YouTube Video
8 - Targeted Website ; PR 3 ; Backlinks 166 ; Selling a targeted product
9 - Targeted Website ; PR 2 ; Backlinks 2887 ; 1 page blog

Google analytics puts searches at about 60,000 with a couple million competitors, but from what I'm seeing it looks as though the top sites are pretty weak, or am I missing something? I think there are plenty of longer tailed keywords to branch off of within the site to expand income but what is anyone's opinion on what I'm looking at for the main keyword?

Any help is GREATLY appreciated and I'm hoping that as I go through the process I can make notes on things I stumble across or as I hit a wall and ask a question it will help others along the way.