Writing a website in a competitive market

Is this even worth it?

[Skinny]

Ok I'm going to lay it all out here.

I'm currently creating an HTML Tutorial site.
Problem:

There are gazillions of HTML tutorial sites.

So

a) is this viable, with a good marketing strategy?
b) is building a website in a competitive segment of the internet a waste of time?

c)do you have any tips to help me?

Thanks

[schwartz]

What are your "skills"?

My suggestion would be to analyze the top 10 sites that show up in google and see if you're in any position to improve upon them... offering something of value to end-users that would draw and keep them to your site.

[Skinny]

Well I have implemented my own help forum and I'm also going to write web articles.

I'm keeping the tutorials up to date. I find that a lot of HTML tutorial sites still teach users deprecated tags.

Also integrating XHTML tutorials.

Should I run on the thread that 'I'm up-to-date'

In terms of skill's. . . Hey I'm a newbie, but my design skills have skyrocketed . . .I'm good at explaining things in an easy manner. . . and I love helping people.

Marketing strategy:

Build Site
Submit to search engines, directories.
Build Content
Get Inbound links
Build Content
Get Inbound links
Build Content
Get Inbound links
etc.

Am I missing something?

[schwartz]

Sounds good, Skinny. Good luck. :o)

Couple thoughts:
-Think outside the box as well in terms of marketing your site... what people/organizations/schools, etc can you work with/assist, etc that can get your site out there and passed around.

-Have a third-party person/group do a usability study on your site and make sure you're not doing anything to "get in the way" of progress and ensure that the site meets the needs of those searching for what you have to offer. At the very least, get three to four people to go thru a list of questions/to-dos for your site and see what obvious changes need to be made.

[robotsdobetter]

I would recommened to analyze the top 30 or so (It can't hurt to look at more, they may be new like your web site and have something the others don't.) web sites and see what they are doing. Also from time to time check them out to see if they are doing or are going to add anything new that is useful to internet surfers and if you can get yours out before they do.

I would also consider writing articles and submiting them to goarticles.com, articlecity.com and others, you can gain large amounts of links from this and show people that you are a expert.

[Skinny]

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing?

But is it really possible to break into that competitive field and start something decent?

I think I'm starting to have doubts. Has anyone done this before (start a site in a competitive market)?

[webpreneur]

Hi Skinny. Actually I've tried that. Write a blog about cellphones and business books. But I realize my site is not good enough to compete with already popular cellphone and business book sites.

Actually, learning from the top 3 or 5 sites are the best way to succeed. They provide quick and convinient search box? So should we. They have very easy navigation links? So should we. They updated articles once every three days, even daily, or hourly? May be we should try to update articles often, too.

Another way is to use RSS. Now I am trying to rebuild my site. Actually I'm still reluctant to invest in hosting and domain names, though I know it's a must. It's about money. I'm not in US and the cost of hosting in $$ is very expensive if converted to my currency.

However, good content and link building, and also RSS, will keep things running, though don't expect big money come right away. Just trickles of cash is good enough, I guess, for the first few months.

[Eltiti]

Has anyone done this before (start a site in a competitive market)?

Sure. I actually have a few sites in competitive markets that are fairly new (< 4 months), yet score well (G page 1 or 2 --and still rising).

I, too, would ask, What are your "skills"? but it would refer to your SEO skills, not your HTML skills! ;-)

[Skinny]

Well this would be my first real (not crappy site)

I'm using Web CEO which checks you pages for keyword density, frequency, prominence in everything from titles, to body, to meta tags.

It's pretty in depth, covering a wide base.

[rocknbil]

OK this is just an opinion, I don't mean it to sound snobbish or bullheaded, but this is just how I think:

But is it really possible to break into that competitive field and start something decent?

Forget about competition, market research, viablilty, forget all those things that most businesses make their startup decisions on. Ask yourself ONE question, and answer it honestly: Will this idea be DIFFERENT than all the others in some way?

Maybe not better, but different. If your content expresses ideas and concepts in a unique and interesting way - I say ignore everything and go for it. Just don't rely on it for bread and water. :-)