Before you invest the resources in creating a product, you should be certain there is a market interested in your offering.
Please use the following tools to help you conduct your market research.
Common markets, problems and ailments:
National Center for Infectious Diseases for people looking for a cure.
CureZone for more health related information.
Big Boards lists all the big online forums, showing both the number of posts and members.
Trend Tools
Google Trends (www.google.com/trends) presents the latest searches happening now and allows you to analyze market stability and saturation.
Lycos 50 (www.lycos.com/) offers a weekly list of the top pop culture searches on the web.
Yahoo Buzz (www.buzz.yahoo.com) provides information on the top searches, commentary and context.
Nielsen NetRatings (www.nielsen-online.com) delivers comprehensive, independent measurement and analysis of online audiences.
TrendWatching (http://trendwatching.com) is an independent and opinionated trend firm, scanning the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights and related hands-on business ideas.
Keyword Research Tools
How To Conduct Keyword Research Using Wordtracker
Word Tracker (www.WordTracker.com) helps you find what key words and terms your market is searching for. This will help you with Pay-Per-Click advertising and is ESSENTIAL for Search Engine Optimization.
Trellian (www.Trellian.com) another tool similar to WordTracker, helps you view filtered or non-filtered searches to see what other people are looking for.
Competition Research Tools
How To Analyze Competition
Google Search Engine (www.google.com) Google is the number one search engine out there, accounting for nearly 60% of all online searches. One of the best ways to analyze competition is to see what your niche market is searching for and who the key players are.
Google AdWords Preview Tool (https://AdWords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool) With this tool you can search by country, domain, even a specific location for advertisements on Google without skewing the search results; you don’t want 500 of the 550 daily searches for your phrase to be yours, right?
Quantcast (www.quantcast.com) This website allows you place code on your website to gather demographic data about your market. To save time, enter your competition’s URL into Quantcast and see who they’re marketing to. Sometimes they won’t cater to a demographic at all, giving you a strong advantage. Let’s say you are selling ski equipment, and notice there is a market of older folks interested in snowboarding. You look at your competitor’s sites and realize they are all aiming towards the teeny-boppers. You can differentiate yourself from the competition by marketing towards this underserved niche. Check out our video on how to use Quantcast:
SurveyMonkey (www.surverymonkey.com) allows you to create your own customized online survey, and pick your prospects brains.
ClickZ (www.clickz.com) provides columns with commentary and analysis on a wide variety of internet marketing subjects ranging from business to business (B2B) marketing to search engine marketing.
FastCompany (www.fastcompany.com) provides information on the economy and workplace for people who believe in performance with human values.
Pew Internet & American Life Project (www.pewinternet.org) a nonprofit “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.
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