I really loved iFaith's comment on my last blog post.  She pointed out that there's been a recurrent theme of defining parameters.  "Passion and Profit, Entertainment and Valuable Offer, Content & Traffic, Left and Right, etc..."  Yeah, you helped me see why this isn't just spinnin' my wheels.  Thanks for that, Faith. 

For anything that 's going to require a big investment of time and energy, it's good to do some defining, some searching, some coming to terms with what the choices and parameters actually ARE.  I'm great at research...often shamefully weak at follow-through.  Not because of a poor work ethic--but because of a curiosity that continually sends me off on new tangents.  I need to get that under control 

Back in college, my advisor (and favorite professor) said to me, "Writing isn't just a way of communicating.  It is how you find out what you really think."  I've never forgotten that, and writing has always been the surest way for me to discover what ideas I believe in strongly enough to commit myself to.

Anyway, I know it is time for me to commit to an action plan.  Commit to a first campaign and work it.  I've decided I'm going to go with something that includes both the dating niche and my history as a writing teacher.  And it's something I have sort of accidentally acquired some experience in.

Years ago, a widowed friend asked me to help him write his dating profile.  He is a sweet person--but pretty reserved.  He's a CPA, and he knew his profile was reading like...well, a CPA resume.  Not that there's anything wrong with accountants, but do you really want to read a bulleted, businesslike list of a potential dating partner's positive features and career highlights?  "Quite reliable and good with money.  Always punctual.  Chosen for several awards by local civic organizations."  

Dude.  You're a sweet guy, but... punctual?  Really.  You've got to do better than that.

So I...did a bit of a "dating makeover" on my friend.  Took a cool picture of him on a local hiking trail near sunset.  (Making quite sure to play up the fact that this 40-something guy had no paunch whatsoever. Lean and fit as a fiddle.)  Crafted it toward "show-don't-tell."  Brainstormed a slightly edgy user name and a read-to-find-out-more headline.

Yeah, well, long story short.  The lovely woman he's now married to responded to that profile.  (Big huge proud grin.)

One thing led to another, and over the past several years, I've had a little word-of-mouth side business going.  I do dating profile makeovers.  I would do it for no money at all, because it's fun.  But I end up getting paid about $75 for each one.

I've written some gems for myself too. :-)  But only once I was single, of course.

So, in my research, I found some nice little promising keyword phrases involving that whole part of dating:  the profile.

Well now, this will be fun--because it ties into both dating site affilate programs of every stripe.  And there is a nice-looking Clickbank book/service I can promote as well. Moreover, the profile thing ties naturally into other dating micro-niches.  And I think I could pull this off in a fairly entertaining, tips-oriented blog format.  

And, as for the passion part...I think we are living in an age in which the dating profile has become as important to the personal life (for singles, that is) as a resume is to the professional life.  This isn't just a silly little exercise.  Empowering people to add compatibility and fun and (maybe) love into their lives is worthwhile.  I know about it.  In fact, I could probably even write my own info product later on if it seemed worth the time investment.

For now, my action plan is coming into sharper focus.  My main goal is to get a bunch of articles written--and I have been taking the WA article marketing accreditation course to help me with structure and process.  The topic is fun and interesting to me, so I will have no trouble following through.

Being the type of person who scans a book before reading intently, I am frustrated by the WA tutorial model.  Having to complete tasks before getting the whole picture is counter-intuitive to me.  I'm going to respect the process and not jump ahead--but while I wait to learn more, I would appreciate feedback on the best use of my time.  Is it better to begin with just getting the articles up on Squidoo and EzineArticles and do a little test-marketig with the affiliate links?

Or should I begin with the whole structure in place?  (No matter what I do, it'll always be my goal to have my own domain/blog as a home base for each campaign.)

Squidoo and EzineArticles first to test?  (Along with all related backlink-building, of course)

Or build the blog first and publish to the article sites as rewrites from initial blog articles?

Hope these aren't really dumb questions.  But I need to understand what the priorities should be.