* Public Relations: Be research ready. A press release can benefit from market research by ensuring that the appropriate content and language is used, allowing your target market to find it quickly and easily. With 98 percent of journalists performing research online (PR Web, 2005), take advantage of this opportunity, and have an online press release optimized with extensive market research.
* Investor Relations: Strengthen your business. You can build rapport with current and potential investors, and supplement marketing and strategic direction using information identified within Internet marketing research reports.
Applying Internet Market Research
The ultimate goal is to make the research work for you. While Internet market research is an integral step in improving your visibility online, its quality and flexibility of use allow it to be effortlessly applied to all aspects of marketing activities. Consider how doing better internet marketing research could work for you.
This article has been provided by Epiar Inc. Author Ken Jurina (ken@epiar.com)is President of Epiar Inc., Canada's premiere search engine optimization company based in Edmonton, Alberta. For more information, please visit http://www.epiar.com What Does Your Website Say About Your Business?
By Tim Knox
QUESTION:
My business is very small, just me and two employees, and our product really can’t be sold online. Do I really need a website? -- Robin C.
ANSWER:
Congratulations, Robin, you are the one millionth person to ask me that question. Smile for the cameras, brush the streamers and confetti from your hair and listen closely, because I’m about to answer for the millionth time what has become one of the most important and often-asked questions of the digital business age.
Before I answer, however, let’s flash back to the very first time I was asked this question. It was circa 1998, during the toddler years of the Internet, just after Al Gore laid claim to having given birth to the concept a few short years before.
I was giving a speech on the impact of the Internet on small business at an association luncheon in Montgomery, Alabama. My motto then was: Feed me and I will speak. I have the same motto today, but I now expect dessert to be included in exchange for the sharing of my vast wisdom.
In 1998, which was decades ago in Internet years, the future of electronic commerce or “ecommerce” as it’s come to be known, was anybody’s guess, but even the most negative futurists agreed that all the signs indicated that a large portion of future business revenues would be derived from online transactions, or from offline transactions that were the result of online marketing efforts.
So, Robin, should your business have a website, even if your business is small and sells products or services that you don’t think can be sold online? My answer in 1998 is the same as my answer today: Yes, if you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt. Thank you, drive through. Now serving customer number one million and one…
Also, don’t be so quick to dismiss your product as one that can’t be sold online. Nowadays there is very little that cannot be sold over the Internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.
Internet marketing research firms predict that online revenues will range between $180 and $200 billion dollars in 2004. They also predict that the number of online consumers will grow at a rate of 30-50% over the next few years. These numbers alone should be enough to convince you that your business should have a website.
Let me clarify one point: I am not saying that you should put all your efforts into selling your wares over the Internet, though if your product lends itself to easy online sales, you certainly should be considering it.
The point to be made here is that you should at the very least have a presence on the World Wide Web so that customers, potential employees, business partners, and perhaps even investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer.
That said, it’s not enough that you just have a website. You must have a professional looking website if you want to be taken seriously. Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick and mortar store, your website may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your website looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost.