First step, forget about your 'idea' for the moment. Ideas are cheap, people have them all the time, it's not that important (sorry).
It's the market that matters.
If you are going to sustain an online business you need to build a relationship with a group of people so you can sell them a few things over time and they will say good things about you to their friends.
So your task for today is to work out Who you are selling to (it's part of the 5Ws and an H thing .. who what where why when & how (much)). More formally, this is about working out your market and product segmentation, which is to say that if you're a surf shop, maybe you sell one range to professionals and another to hobbyists. Maybe bodyboarders need something different to surfers to kite surfers. Maybe while the surfer is in your shop, you can sell something to their partner who might be sat on the beach making the welcome-back barbeque.
We all think that people are like us. When I design websites for people, almost everyone wants a website they like, almost no-one wants a website for their customers to like. The assumption is .. "if I like it, my customers will like it". Try one of my favourite exercises right now ...
Consider the people who are physically near to you right now, maybe just the closest five or six people. Imagine you can see through the walls and floors.
Just how 'like' you are they? Are they the same sex (& orientation)? Same age? What do you think they are interested in? What are they good at? Is their education like yours (subjects/level)? What entertainment do they like? What food do they eat? What ailments are they prone to or suffering? What's their family life like now, and how was it when they grew up? What's their personality like? What are their physical features and how might that affect their lives? What job do they do? What are they worried about? Are they religious? What's their political orientation? Where do they go, what do they do online? Where do they live and what is their house like? Where do they shop for clothes? What car do they drive? What music/arts do they like? What's their favourite type of TV programme? Are they responsible for anyone (kids, infirm parents, disabled person, pet)? How much money have they got (them now, confidence / potential, their family)?
Hopefully what this exercise will help you realise is that the five people who are physically close to you .. living in the same area, travelling on the same train at the same time as you, in the same dentists' waiting area as you .. are actually incredibly different to you and see the world very differently. That's just those people physically close. Now pick a country at random (if you search for random country there are sites to help you :-) ). What about people there? What about people doing what you're doing at different times? Or the people not doing what you're doing?
Another great way to appreciate how different we all are is to go camping for a week or so. I'm recently back from such a trip. We had the group of women in a teepee, the young and fit German couple cycle-camping, the Volvo safety family where the kid wore cycling gloves (just in case), the hippy family strumming and singing tunes, the hardcore festival goer with the flags and the V W Camper van, the two women who's tinkling laughter lifted every evening, the single mum with the pickup truck and the well behaved kids, the maths professor into geocaching, the Newcastle family who ruled by force of will, the 2.4 kids family where the parents simply argued all the time, and the modern parents who would "prefer" if their kids "Clement and Jonty" didn't do *that* ("I have asked you nicely") and who gathered their friends together to roast a leg of lamb on an open fire (leaving a big patch of scorched earth for whoever followed next). A truly amazing kaleidoscope of different 'markets', not one the same.
Alright, I know that what this means is that everyone in your market is different, too. So we could handle that by saying our market is "people buying gifts for their kids" which is OK but rather dismisses this opportunity.
When you write (you will write .. blogs, articles, tweets, website content), the best copy comes when you are writing to someone. Someone clear in your mind. Then, when that person comes to your website or sees your video or your tweets, they feel that you're talking to them. They feel like they've come home. You have an immediate rapport.
So your next task is to define one or two people who are your ideal customer. Use as many of the elements I listed above (religion, income, car) as you can and be specific: "they have coco-pops for breakfast", don't say "they work in admin", say "they handle the customer files and interactions in a local insurance broker". Make it up, but base it on your best guess. Make sure you include where they live, because geography is part of your market definition (are you a local deli, a nationwide service or an International brand?) Give them a name. Then sleep on that and come back and work out what their values are. What drives them? Achievement? Excitement? Having a laugh? Caring? Health? Safety and security? Getting it right? Being seen to be cool/beautiful? Travel and experience? Friendship? Add their values to their definition.
Finally, work out some context or event that would trigger your potential customer to want what you would like to provide. Check out Neil Rackham on the major sales process for detail, but for instance when buying a car there's a trigger point, a breakdown, an accident, a costly repair, a new job that requires a more upmarket motor .. something triggers the search for a solution. Identify those triggers for your person. (Consider the possibilities of defining your market not by demographics (18 year olds with good grades) but by event (people going to university)).
When you've got all that sorted out, come back to think through what your target person wants from you.
If you've reached here and you're not sure what to do next, you need something I haven't provided, you feel I haven't addressed your problem, or you just want to say hi, ask a question, or ask where to send your thank-you cheque, let me know your situation and I'll try to help. I like hearing from you, it helps me improve these pages. Make sure your email address is correct or I won't be able to contact you.