Back into Online Marketing, need general guidance for new Authority Domain project! :)

Hello all,

I've been away for a couple of years tending to the '9-5 job' and 'new wife' :p

I wanted to get some general guidance on a project I am starting with a good friend.

First, a sentence to describe my past SEM experience : 2 years ago I started and created a dozen small niche sites that all got to first page Google for mid-competition keywords but lacked follow-through so they were generally unsuccessful.

Now, 2 years later, I am back with an experienced friend who serves as a programmer and web developer. We seek to create an authority site on a certain upper-mid-competition keyword. As far as competition is concerned, it is most likely the equivalent to the keyword "ice chests". With hundreds of different brands, shapes and sizes to optimize for, etc.

Our initial goal with the project is to write quality, unique content ourselves (as we are broke and cannot afford to purchase), and do extensive research on the project, and create about ~30 pages of 400-800 words each. We also plan to find affiliate sales opportunities/advertising opportunities to financially benefit from only AFTER we see steady flow of traffic (no advertising until we get solid traffic!)

Like I said, we hope to be an authority site, learn as much as we can by creating this authority site, and streamline the process in order to create more like it. After 2-3 sites, begin optimizing them for List growth and the like.

So what I want to know from you all is... well, pretty much any experience and advice you have! Please keep it as white hat as possible, as we would love to see this be a long term project; we expect little to no financial benefit during the first few months, but are hoping for a very solid foundation within a year or two.

Thanks so much, and it's glad to be back among the Warriors!