Online Business Journey Blog

Each day, there may be hundred or even thousands of people jumping into the bandwagon of Internet business or Internet marketing with the hope to earn money. But, needless to say that most of them FAIL miserably.

There can be thousands of reasons why people fail online but I won’t discuss them in this article. If you want to know, you can read this article “Why so many people fail in Internet Marketing?”

In this article, I will talk about the importance of market research and market intelligence for your online business. Having this knowledge is very crucial, it can even dictate whether you will be successful or not.

If you’ve been around in the Internet Marketing world for a while now, perhaps you’ve heard of people talk about how important market research is.

But, what exactly is market research and market intelligence? And why do we need them?

Well, in a nutshell, market research and market intelligence mean having the KNOWLEDGE about your market. What is this knowledge?

To know your market means to know the following information:

• What is your target market? What are you selling?
• What is the nature of your market? Is it an “evergreen” market or is it a fad market?
• Who are your target market? Who are buying? What are their needs? What are they looking for? Where do they hang out?
• Who are your competitors? How many competitors you have?

This knowledge is key to building a successful online business. Do not go and spend time designing and building your website before you uncover this information!

But, how do you uncover this information?

There are many places you can uncover this information (both online and offline).

There are many places you can go online to do market research but I won’t discuss all as I only visit two sites to do my research most of the times, my favorite two sites are: eBay Marketplace and SitePoint Marketplace. These two sites are more than enough to uncover what people are selling or buying, what products are selling well, what niches are popular, what is the generic keywords people use to find what they want, etc.

If I have the time, sometimes I also visit Yahoo Shopping and Amazon for more research.

I also do research by going to the local bookstore and browse the magazines to check which markets are written about. Popular subjects will get people talking. In a good market, you will find plenty of magazines covering a wide range of topics. The more the market being written, it also suggests passion. If many people care to write and read a particular subject, then you can be sure that there are needs in the market waiting to be filled.

The AUTOMATED TOOLS I use to CONFIRM that I’m in the RIGHT Market

1. Micro Niche Finder ~ An invaluable software tool that allows you to find micro niches and profitable keywords. You can read the full review at Micro Niche Finder Review.
2. PPC Bully ~ Another invaluable software tool I use to collect competitive information before I create my PPC campaigns. You can read the full review at PPC Bullly Review.

Hope you learn something from this article. Thanks for reading.