I'm probably not a good one to give advise as I tend to be a bit of a rouge contrarian investor....but for what it's worth.....I tend to use the “Dogs of the Dow”
http://www.dogsofthedow.com/doggish.htm as a guide for building a longer term portfolio...I buy one stock at a time and average in....
Oh!..and BTW...don't forget to get some physical insurance...i.e gold and silver...Don't look at it as an investment..look at it as insurance....
having said that....over many years...my insurance has out performed my portfolio, percentage and value wise