The answer to this questions lies in
Marketing 101 textbooks...... You must first do your market research before you spend your first penny on advertising or you will lose your shirt.Step one in any business plan must include market research, for without it, your business will fail. Too many start up Internet businesses have jumped online without benefit of advantages they would gain as a result of doing market research.
2 Essential Elements of Your Market Research Must Include:
*Knowing who your customer is...this will help you to target your advertising message.
*Knowing who your competitors are....this will help you to obtain a larger market share.
Internet Marketers have a great advantage over brick & mortar businesses, in that they can easily access information they need for market research through search engines.
Keywords and keyword phrases entered into your Internet browser will bring onto your desktop every piece of information you will need to market your product and service effectively on Internet and gain a larger market share.
Here's steps to "market researching" your customers and competitors:
Step 1.... Define Your Customer's Profile
Do not make assumption that your target audience is larger than it really is, this will cost you sales... because you will attract visitors who are not buyers.
Tailor your customers profile to fit your ideal buyers, not "tire kickers" and "freebie addicts"(if freebies are geared towards your product, that's okay).
Create a thumbnail sketch for each segment of your target audience. There is probably more than one type of customer for your product or service, don't leave any one out.
Make a list of what your customers want, what they need, what they can afford to buy, what their sense of urgency is, and what their concerns are.
Write a benefit that your product or service offers for each item on this list.
Now you have ammunition you need for next step.
Step 2.... Choose Keywords and Keyword phrases
Make a list of all keyword and keyword phrases that your customers would use if they wanted to find your product or service on Internet.
With help of Goto.com keyword suggestion list and JimTools' Keyword Research Tool, you can come up with 100's of keywords you may not have thought of otherwise. http://inventory.go2.com/inventory/Search_Suggestion.jhtml http://www.jimtools.com/keywords/index.html
Take your time with this. Put yourself in shoes of your customer... longer your list of keywords, and keyword phrases, greater your chances of gaining a larger market share.
Enter your keywords and keyword phrases into major search engines, and bookmark all web sites that turn up as a result of your searches. Now you know who all your competitors are, and where your customers are hanging out.
Step 3... Analyse your Competition
Naturally it makes sense to take a closer look at web sites you bookmarked that have ranked highest in search engines, as they will be your biggest competitors. For example, web sites ranked in top 10-30 in any of search engines are more than likely drawing larger market shares.
