Online market research can only tell you what’s been happening in the recent past. There is no guarantee that it will hold true going into the future.
Things change. I’m writing this in the summer of 2009. Last fall we had what amounted to an economic collapse. Some markets that had been doing well tanked without warning and others increased dramatically.
So keep in mind that you are researching past behavior that may or may not hold true in the future.
The data you collect is just a snapshot in time. This is even more
true with the competition numbers which tend to be much more fluid than the number of searches.1. Test.
Once you have a group of keywords, test them. Throw up a no frills website (Wordpress blog recommended) and see if you can generate the kind of traffic you thought you could.
Archive for the ‘Starting an Online Business’ Category
The Limitations of Online Market Research
Saturday, October 17th, 2009I hate e-courses…how about you?
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009I know I’ve offered them, but I just signed up for what I thought was a report with real information in it…and what I got was a welcome and you’ll be hearing from me over the next 3 weeks!
Argh! I signed up on impulse, and I want the information now…right now, and not getting that information immediately left me feeling ripped off.
E-courses have long been recommended and used very effectively as freebie or ‘pink spoon’ offerings (think Baskin Robbins samples) for building a list, but observing my own reaction I’m wondering if their usefulness has passed.
I’ll never buy anything from this person nor will I refer to her. To be honest, I wasn’t going to buy from her anyway, but I might have liked what she had to offer enough to make a referral.
Here’s what I’m thinking…
The internet offers up immediate gratification for whatever information you seek so expecting a subscriber who just heard of you and signed up on impulse, to happily wait around for 3 weeks to get the information seems rather silly. It’s not how the internet works.
Now don’t get me wrong, ‘pink spoons’ are essential. In fact I think ‘pink spoons’ actually need to give more than a taste…more like a free ice cream cone or even a free ice cream cake.
Certainly the trend in internet marketing circles is to offer lots and lots for free…with a huge, expensive launch to follow (more on those some other time - not overly fond of them either).
The point is that offering large amounts of information for free is becoming the norm and, honestly, it’s a great way to let people really get to know you which is exactly what you want. People buy from people they know, like and trust so rather than teasing them with hints about who you are and what you have to offer, give them a substantial experience.
Rather than an e-course, I would suggest offering a substantive report, a video, an audio recording (interviews are awesome) or even an audio or video with a written transcript.
Give your new subscriber something that really shows your stuff that can be quickly and automatically delivered. That person has just cracked the door open to see who you are. Don’t waste the moment by asking them to wait around because they won’t and you won’t get a second chance.
So what do you think? Do you like e-courses? Have they outlived their usefulness? When you sign up for something do you prefer a pdf report, an audio or a video? I’d love to see your comments below.
Talk soon,
Susan
A confession - how I know what I say I know
Monday, September 14th, 2009When I began really learning about online business and internet marketing, I knew a lot about building an offline business and about retailing, but nothing about websites, keywords, SEO and PPC.
I went looking for teachers and found what you’re probably finding…lots of people willing to take your money and teach you nothing useful.
Read more A confession - how I know what I say I know
Talk soon,
Susan
Starting an Online Business - Don’t Squander Your Productive Time
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009Yesterday I talked about planning on 20 productive hours a week.
The way to make the most of those 20 hours is to know when you are at your best. Some of us work best first thing in the morning. Others do best late at night after the kids have gone to bed.
It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you know what part of the day it is and you use it for your money making activities.
Every time you squander those precious hours when you’re at your best, you are losing money.
Sit with that one for a bit and then figure out when is the best time to do your most important work.
When is your most productive time? And what are you doing to make the best use of it?
Talk soon,
Susan
30 Day Challenge - What’s all the hype?
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009A Big Aha Moment…for you too I hope!
Thursday, July 30th, 2009Over my years in internet marketing, I’ve had more than a few big aha moments. It’s always something that is so obvious that it seems impossible I could have missed it…until someone says something the right way, at the right time, and it all clicks into place.
Here’s one of the biggest…
Part of your business building efforts need to be blog posting and email followup (as in list building), but if you’re not doing this one piece it maybe for naught.
I’ve written more than a few calls to action in my day…in emails and blog posts (and you should be too), but it took until yesterday to get how very subtle this can be.
I’d just been listening to Lynn Terry talking about having a call to action in every post…and then went on to Glenn Livingston’s latest post.
See there at the very end…
DONE FOR YOU: www.RocketClicks.com
DO IT YOURSELF: www.HyperResponsiveMarketingSecrets.com
Pretty simple huh?
His thing is pay-per-click advertising and using surveys for online market research…and he’s very good at it BTW.
My thing is online market research using keyword and competition research for SEO…
So here’s my call to action…
DONE FOR YOU New Niche Finder
DO IT YOURSELF Market Samurai
Niche Finder Tip - Beware of Getting too Attached
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009From New Niche Finder
You are a multidimensional human being with a whole array of talents and skills. You are not just one product or service.
If you get too attached to your idea, you will easily miss lots of other ideas and opportunities that will still make a difference in people’s lives, be just as much fun to create, and make you a good living without the struggle.
Stay open to all the possibilities until you have a winner.
What is a Niche?
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009Thought you might be interested in a series I just wrote on finding a niche over at New Niche Finder.
When finding your niche, you want…
1. A group of people who share a common interest or problem. Niche Finder - What is a Niche?
2. You can find those people through the organizations where they come together and/or through the keywords and keyword phrases they use. What is a Niche? - Part 2
3. There are clues in keyword research tools that can tell you
whether the people in your niche have money to spend but you can’t really know for sure until you test the market.
What is a Niche? - Do they have money to spend?
4. Even in a niche with lots of people, if there is a large amount of competition it will be hard to compete…at least at first. What is a Niche? - Why competition matters
Are Websites the New Business Card?
Thursday, June 25th, 2009This is really embarrassing, but I’m going to share it because I think a lot of you are doing the same thing with your websites. You never have to share your embarrassment with anyone else, but you do need to do something about it…pronto.
When I first started my psychotherapy practice, I obsessed about my business cards. I don’t mean I gave it some thought and ordered them from Vista print. I mean obsessed for weeks and months about those darn business cards. It felt like my whole business depended on those cards.
The result…the business card became a huge hurdle to getting my practice up and running. While I could have been spending time serving clients or networking with referral sources, I was obsessing about the cards (and the stationary and the brochure).
Then when I got them designed to my satisfaction…and of course I was doing this all myself (yes I was very dumb back then)…I would get them printed. Then I would have boxes of business cards sitting on a shelf. I never used more than a small portion of them and ended up throwing them all out the last time I moved.
Funny now because I don’t keep any business cards on hand since I took my business online.
Yes, business cards are useful and when I’m spending time doing offline networking, I do print some up, but for the most part I don’t need them.
What I obviously didn’t know way back then was that the basic business card is merely a means to convey contact information to people you meet. Yes, it can be more than that. Yes it is a first impression, but let me ask you…what do you do with business cards you collect?…how many of them do you remember?…how often does the business card make a difference in whether you buy?…how often do you even follow up with the people you meet?
That’s my point exactly. They sit in a pile or thrown in a drawer where they rarely see the light of day.
Today, what I’m seeing is many fledgling businesses getting equally hung up on their websites. Prospective customers and clients are passing you by because you can’t decide on a domain name or the blogging software or the header or the logo…
The truth of the matter is many imperfect and downright ugly sites do just fine in the marketplace. Furthermore they don’t have to be ugly anymore. Just go out and pick a Wordpress (or Typepad) template and you can have your website up in a day.
So stop with the obsessing and get it up. The beauty of blog websites is you can change them quickly and easily as needed. Just because you start with one design doesn’t mean you have to stay with it.
