Before You Write Do Your Market Research
Step #9
You are ready to write and you have chosen a subject that interests you. There is no question that writing about something just because you think it will be a big seller can make writing a real chore.
You should hope that you will be writing quite a lot on this subject – several ebooks, articles, blog posts. Having an interest will help you sustain interest in your writing. If you feel confident about your knowledge of a subject, your job will be much easier. Research will still be required but a head start on understanding the subject will put you ahead of the race.
However before you begin writing, you need to determine what people are going to buy. There is no object in writing something just because you have an interest in it. The main purpose is to sell your products. This takes us to the first major research project – Market Research.
Basically, people buy books for one of two major reasons. The first is having a specific need or problem to which they are seeking a solution. The other is having a special interest or hobby on the subject. Both of these instances are reasons for people to spend money.
Over the next few days we will be looking at some of the resources you can use to explore what kind of information people are buying.
25 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me
My friend (or should I say ex-friend after this) tagged me in this challenge and I can never resist a challenge.
Here is his post if you are interested Keith Purkess
The person that started this is Gary
So here goes my 25 things:
1. I was born at home and the doctor almost didn’t make it because the train was switching and blocking the road.
2. My parents were teachers. My father was my role model as far as work ethic and later on teaching ethics.
3. I graduated from University of Central Oklahoma (then just plain Central State College) and got both my bachelor’s and master’s there.
4. I graduated from college in three years so started teaching at age 20.
5. I taught for 30 years in the public school system and retired at age 50. I went on to teach at the University level and at Job Corp for the next 8 years.
6. After retirement from teaching, I opened my own business doing secretarial work, bookkeeping, and income tax preparation. Also did telephone answering service for 3 out of those next 8 years.
7. I was the first single woman in Oklahoma to adopt a child when I adopted my son (now 36) when he was 6 weeks old.
8. I live on 3 acres in the central part of Oklahoma about 8 miles from the nearest small town.
9. I have internet high speed through a satellite company and hate it. Every time it rains it goes out.
10. I started IM about 2 1/2 years ago and have learned more than I could have ever imagined. I’m now addicted.
11. One of my problems in IM is that I am not a good salesperson–good teacher though and I love that.
12. I have always been considered the most patient person around but that patience seems to be getting shorter with every passing year.
13. I mow our entire 3 acres (on a riding mower of course) and the neighbors think I’m crazy. Evidently weeds are ok in the country.
14. I love gardening — especially flowers. Right now my favorites are old timers like zinnas, morning glory, peonias, etc.
15. I basically use my wheelchair more and more each day. I have 4 ruptured disks in my back and standing or walking very long gets me.
16. I can run a weedeater from my wheelchair and hoe weeks.
17. I have been addicted to Diet Pepsi for years and recently gave it up. Drinking only very weak tea is doing ok but it sure isn’t as good as the carbonated beverage.
18. I share a double wide mobile home with 3 other people who are all over 60. Does that make this a senior citizens home?
19. I share my home also with 3 dogs — 2 Schnauzers that belong to one roommate and a Pugadoodle (mixed Pug and Poodle) that is 21 years old. AND I am not crazy about dogs.
20. I don’t like cats.
21. My favorite food is Mexican food.
22. My computer and desk is set up around my recliner — what a life.
23. I play Hearts on the computer when I am brain dead.
24. I have long, very skinny feet. Didn’t get to be twirler in the 7th grade because I couldn’t find boots. When I played competitive basketball (8th, 9th, 10th grades) I wore 15 pairs of socks to fill up the very wide tennis shoes.
25. I never minded that teachers didn’t make any money. It was exactly what I wanted to do from the time I was a little child.
My task now is to tag 5 people to do the same thing. May have to come back here and change if any of these won’t accept my challenge. But here they are:
Judith
Pat
Peg
Lynn
Paula
I will come back here and post their blogs so you can read their entry. It would help a lot of you will bookmark these people’s entry and also mine and the two at top of post.
Any questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a note at carol (at) stepbystepinternethelp.com Please include Step in front of your subject so I won’t miss it among all the spam I get at that address.
Market Research: Know Your Potential Customers
Step #8
Before you go to the trouble of doing keyword research and starting writing, you need to know, “What is the market willing to buy?” There has to be a reason for them to pull out their wallet and go for that credit card. In general it is fairly well accepted around the internet marketing community that subscribers are willing to pay for information for pain or pleasure. Either they have a problem and want a solution (weight loss) or they spend a lot of money for pleasure (golf).
I think it is only fair to assume that your motivation in being involved in internet marketing is the money. It may be a hobby for some but I have not met any of them. Ask any marketer if they would continue to do all of the work if there was no prospect of making money.
Most beginning marketers fail in completing this step adequately. You have to dig really deep into your market with the critical last questions being, “What does your market want bad enough to pay for it?”
Take a quick look at your list created in the last lesson. These are the general topics you are going to be considering as you do this market research.
Since we are looking for problems that people need to solve, it is important to go to places where people are asking questions – How to fix, how to avoid, how to do it better, how to do it cheaper – problems that need a solution. An excellent place to look for questions is a forum on the topic. Search Google for “keyword + forum” or go to Board Tracker (www.boardtracker.com) where you can search for discussion groups in almost every imaginable field.
In the next lessons we will look at some of the other methods and do some experimenting.