@rrr
1. Good work. Brilliant idea. I think market is out there.
2. You need to take care of the business end or get someone who will do it better than you.
3. Your site is ok by me. Thats a preference/taste issue and is not a major concern for you. Better yet, why dont you have your designer do 5 different sample home pages and take a poll...
4. Develop synergy. You need symbiotic partnerships. Academic Institutions; Senior Academics / Scholars / Professors; softwares & apps; Facebook; etc. They'll give you relevance and content. Avoid consultants.
5. Go global... again the partnerships should help. Statistics is Statistics; Economics is Economics; Chemistry is Chemistry; Sociology is Sociology. The beauty of the internet is that it has no boundaries. Go global.
6. Don't define your product/market as some people here are asking you to do... let the market define you. Let your product come to you, let your customer ask for a service. If you currently cannot do it, be honest, say so and refer someone credible... If you can, DO IT WELL. You need to understand that customers owe you nothing, they will not buy what you want to sell... DO NOT DEMAND THE DEMAND, SUPPLY THE DEMAND.
7. Think big.
Good luck... have fun...
How much to advertise?
"I'd rather be lucky than clever... every time!" - ME
"The problem is not what we don't know... it's what we know for sure that just ain't!" - MARK TWAIN
"Space we can recover... time never!" - NAPOLEON BONAPARTE