Let's say I want to invest half of my salary every month into dividend paying stocks, so that I can eventually start living off of dividend income. Would it be as simple as to just go out and buy a couple of shares each month as soon as I get my salary?

If I blindly go each month and pick a random share from say the S&P 500, and just start collecting shares, would such a strategy be safe? Would it move me towards the goal of living off of my new dividend income? What could go wrong?

And finally do you have a better suggestion?