Startup Online Business: How To Do Market Research

Research plays a major role in every online business and you need to accommodate a habit of doing some research on a regular basis. In this article I'm discussing 3 essential items you must research about your marketplace and the benefits of doing the work.

It's crucial to know your competition, so you must spend some time answering the following questions.

Offerings

- What kind of solutions are there on the market addressing similar problems than yours? How many different variations do you find?
- What are the benefits these programs or products are promising?
- What makes each of them stand out? Can you spot the claims of their uniqueness?
- What are the price ranges of all these different options and how are they constructed to give reasons for the price?

If possible, also try to find data about the conversion of these products. Affiliate marketplaces such as Clickbank provides a lot of insights on that.

Based on what's already on the market and how it sells you can then determine if your product idea is viable and how you should develop it further.

Competitors

- Who are the people offering exactly the same solution to the exact same market you are targeting? Who are their clients?
- How do they differentiate themselves?
- What advertising mediums do they use?

Find out if they use paid advertising, have social media profiles, what is their level of activeness, how big is their following, and so on.

Your competitors tell you a lot about how to communicate in your marketplace and the gaps you can fill with your own solutions.

Allies

When looking for potential allies you could connect with to establish strategic partnerships, the questions are very similar to those you answer while researching your competitors. The angle is just very different. When you take the effort of digging deeper, you may also notice these two groups can overlap.

Once you have the data about competition, you may want to think about the following:

- Instead of targeting the exact same market, can you rework your messages and your angle to match a slightly different niche?

That might offer you a chance to propose collaboration and joint ventures.

- What is missing from their portfolio?

Could you create a product or a program to address to that?

- Study the vendors they already collaborate with: what similarities and differentiators do you find there?

The marketplace and competition is just one of the items you absolutely need to research. My additional articles discuss the other equally significant areas you must study in order to run a successful online business.

By the way, if you liked my article, I'm offering similar, only more in-depth lessons to the students of my Biz Puzzle Bootcamp. Click here for more information: http://evekoivula.com/bootcamp

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Online Startup Business: 3 Step Plan to Learn Prospect Mindreading (Yes, It's Legal!)

In one of my previous articles I explained what kind of things you should find out about your competition and now it's time to dig into the minds of your prospect. Here is my 3 Step Plan to do that the easy way.

Doing research isn't sexy and it definitely isn't always fun, either, but it's absolutely crucial for a small business in order to increase profits while decreasing the work.

Step 1: Determine who your prospect is

Be very precise with details: man or woman (let's pretend you choose to speak to a woman)? How old? Where does she live - small town, big town, countryside, abroad? House or apartment? What size is her family? What is she interested in? What kind of movies does she watch? What's her favourite TV-show? What about her favourite band? What kind of books does she read? Does she have hobbies? Does she vote? What is her income level? What about her education?

The more you know about her, the easier it gets to speak straight to her, using the language she understands and resonates with. By choosing your wording carefully, you can leave her with an impression that you are almost like reading her mind.

Just keep in mind you're looking for a person with a problem she already knows she has, and which you can solve.

Step 2: Find this woman and swipe her words

Maybe you know her from social gatherings; she's a member of the same gym as you and you have talked with her in the locker room. What did she say?

Or she may have a blog, or you find her from forums or elsewhere in social media.

When she is describing this problem, what wording does she use?

Step 3: Reaffirm your findings

Now you go back to what you found while researching your competitors, and pick the ones who seem to be talking to this same woman, and also appear to have made it big. They have very likely invested a lot of money on doing the research for you, to figure out the language that speaks to this particular group of people, so you don't have to.

Subscribe to their list, study their website and jot down what kind of power words are they using and how do they construct their offerings. Do not try to copy them word by word, just pick up the ideas. Remember that you want to incorporate these findings with your own personal story.

Are you just starting out with an online business and could use more practical advise?

I'm offering similar, only more in-depth lessons to the students of my Biz Puzzle Bootcamp. Click here for more information: http://evekoivula.com/bootcamp

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8144267