Advice from one noob to another

Hello, my name is Heath and I am a noob.

I found the warrior forum a few weeks ago and have spent time here each day, reading and learning what I could. One of the reoccurring themes that I see from other noobs, is an unclear direction of how to start. There is a ton of advice on this forum, so much so, that it feels a bit overwhelming.

I am in my mid 40's, I work a full time job and although I make decent money, I live in California and the cost of living is very high. My money does not go as far as I would like. So I started thinking of ways to supplement my current income as well as my retirement in 8 years. So, I turned to the internet.

I had no clue how I wanted to make money, but I knew I wanted to do it on the internet. I believe the internet is akin to the gold rush in the 1800's, there is money to be made if you know how!

I starting researching and reading anything I could on the internet and I stumbled across these very forums and have been hooked ever since. A few weeks ago, I had no clue what IM was, but now I've caught the bug and just like thousands of other noobs, I want to make money doing it!

But how?

On these forums there are coaches, e-books, software programs, free advice, mentors, gurus, ideas, JV's, contests, scammers and anything and everything related to IM.

There are so many paths to success here, it can be confusing which ones to follow. So, I have decided to simplify it for myself. IM is what I want to be involved in, but honestly, it is such a competitive field and there are so many experts, it would be like me never having played football and then suddenly finding myself playing quarterback for an NFL football team. We all know how that would turn out!

My plan is simple and I've actually read this advice on several threads throughout these forums.

Babysteps...

I am going to find a niche that I CAN compete in, something other than IM.

I am going to build a blog/website for that niche, using keywords that have high traffic and low competition. (I recently purchased a keyword research tool)

I am going to build content rich pages based around those keywords.

I am going to work on SEO....writing articles, social media and getting other websites to link to mine.

Once I feel like I have a solid website that is starting to get traffic, then I will monetize it. For now, my plan is to affiliate others products.

As I have money to spend, I will buy tools and other things (whatever they may be) to help promote my website and make it better. Perhaps some type of link building.

The idea is to learn everything that I can about this process, to become an expert at it. I expect to run into hurdles, to have things not work, to be stumped and even to fail. But, I will learn from my mistakes and be that much better for it.

Once I have it down and once I have an example of success that I can share with others, then I will jump into the IM arena AND I believe have a much better chance of success than if I jump into it cold turkey.

Some people can get into IM and be successful from the start, but I believe this is the exception rather than the rule.

Learn the basics, not just by reading, but by actually doing and then grow from there. Babysteps!

Hopefully this was helpful to a noob or two out there.

Heath