NetBusinessBlog

Robots Don’t Spend Money Online, People Do

Posted on 16. Aug, 2007 by Dave in Business

In my opinion, thorough market research is neglected by many online business people. This is probably due to the impersonal nature of the internet. In an offline business, you feel the need to do market research because you’re interacting with customers face-to-face. In an online business, you often don’t interact with customers on a personal level. For many of us, we write for our sites and then see money in our Paypal account. However, don’t forget about the personal level. Robots don’t spend money online, people do.

For example, let’s say you want to start a weight loss site. You could plan to write weight-loss articles and then put up Google AdSense and affiliate links. Or you could take it a step further and research your target audience before creating your site.

Do keyword research. As you do keyword research, you might find out many people are searching for a new diet pill. So, you learn more about the pill and do a review on it.

Hang out at weight loss forums. As you read forum posts, you find out specific reasons why people want to lose weight. You might learn there are many people who want to lose weight because they want to fit into a smaller swimsuit. So, you write an article entitled “Fit Into Your Dream Swimsuit With These 7 Methods”. Also, you might find out many people want to lose weight to increase their energy. So, you create a list of low-calorie foods that increase energy.

Visit high traffic blogs. Find out which blog posts get a lot comments. I like using this criteria, because a well-commented post touched an strong need. You might see a well-commented post about the struggle to follow a diet while eating out. So, you write an article on weight loss tips when eating out.

Conclusion

Learn so much about your target audience that you know their needs. Then, create content and recommend products that meet those needs. That’s good business in a nutshell.