I think I see my hands…

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

When you sell a product or service, you want everyone to buy and frankly, you think everyone should.  Unfortunately, not everyone will be interested in your product or what you can do for them.  All you have to do to find exactly who IS interested and if the market you are exploring is viable, is a little market research.

Let me share a secret with you. Market research is pretty simple. All it involves is studying the market and your website traffic to determine who your customers are.  You can either spend money to market to everyone and find maybe twenty percent of your customer base, or you can do a little market research and concentrate your advertising efforts.  The latter option is considerably less costly.

So, how important is market research?

1.  You can learn who is interested in your products or services. It is nice to think that everyone will be jumping at the chance to buy your wares, but the reality is that not everyone will be your customer.  What you want to determine is what type of person needs or wants your products.  Are they housewives, working professionals, or techno junkies?  Knowing the type will help you find the people.

2.  You can learn where the people are who would be interested in your product or services. Your primary market might be teenagers or young adults.  In that case, you’ll find them on the Internet.  They are more computer savvy and use it for gaming, dating, chatting with friends, and shopping.  That opens up a variety of places to advertise your business.

3.  You can learn about the competition. You might not be the only game in town.  What are your competitors selling?  How are they doing?  You won’t know unless you do some research.  Find out about their marketing strategies, advertising campaigns, past and recent sales, and customers.

4.  You can learn what price or rates you should charge. That is another bit of information you can glean from market research.  Whatever the going rate of a product like yours, you can offer a competitive rate, cost-cutting promotional and other incentives to buy your product.

5.  You can improve existing products and services. Poll your customers and other visitors to the site.  What do they think of your products or service provided? While they may like you and your products, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for improvement.  Work on building a better mouse trap and gain some more customers.

6.  You can improve your marketing strategy. How do your customers respond to offers?  Some people like virtual coupons to shop online.  Others like to receive referral bonuses because they know a lot of people.  Some are into free giveaways and contests.  Know what interests your customers and improve those services.

Market research doesn’t have to be difficult or tiresome. You can conduct the research yourself, hire a firm, or pay for someone else’s research.  The bottom line is this: market research holds valuable information that can make or break your business.  Without customers you have no business.  Research tools allow you to gain access to information and build a broader customer base.

Photo by cvander

I admitted in my last post (my first since November ‘08) that I suck at blogging. So, like anyone who admits defeat, that realization made me want to learn how to NOT suck at blogging. In my quest for more knowledge, I’ve been reading a few blogging books, my Inbox is full of successful blogging newsletters and I’m following several of the most popular bloggers on Twitter. I’ve also done some random research at Google and I try to keep up with every RSS subscription that I can’t seem to delete from my reader. It’s a lot of information overload, let me tell you that. However…

In a nutshell, this is what I’ve learned and I’d like to share with you.

Top 9 Ways To NOT Suck At Blogging

1. Show up! In order for a blog to be successful, someone has to add content. Unless you have your own team of writers or a bunch of REALLY nice friends, that person is usually you, the owner of the blog.
2. Admit that your blogging habits must change. You can’t keep doing what you’re not doing and expect to miraculously be a successful blogger. Be the change you know you should.
3. Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Everyone Someone will love appreciate the topics you write about and what you have to say. I promise.
4. Don’t think that you don’t know anything. You’ll always know more than someone and can teach them what you do know. You’re an expert when you say you are. (I read that somewhere and I like it!)
5. Show up! Plan your posts, set a writing schedule and get to work. Even if you only post once per week, this is better than not at all. Duh.
6. If (you think) you’re not a great writer (yet) have someone proofread for you. Did you use proper punctuation? Does it make sense? A friend or spouse can help with this. If you remember the basics and can write how you speak, you’ll probably do just fine.
7. If you don’t spell well, use spell check. Don’t count on it to catch everything but it will help you. Again, if you’re unsure, just ask for advice. There’s no crime in that.
8. Stay up to date on your topic and blog about it.Things like news, tips, how-to’s, top ten lists, contests, book reviews, technology and software, etc. The list goes on. Need ideas?
9. Show up! When someone leaves a comment, respond to them. Visit their blog and leave a meaningful comment there. Showing up is THE most important thing. So important, in fact, that it’s on the list 3 times.

I know it’s a pretty basic list and probably out of chronological order but hey, it’s helping me and I hope you find it helpful too.

On a final note, let me share one last thought to keep in mind. Even if you do suck at blogging, you don’t suck, your blogging habits do. The #1 thing to remember is, they say habits can be changed in 21 days and bad habits can be improved if you put just the wee tiniest bit of effort into changing them. (Want to catch me slacking? Come back in 21 days and see how I’m doing with changing my bad blogging habits, lol.)

In case you’re interested, here are the books I’m currently reading:

• Blog Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policy, Public Relations, and Legal Issues
• The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging
• The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

Photo by indieink

- – - – - – - – - -

UPDATED - OFF TOPIC: I figured it out, yay!! I forgot to update my theme, which was updated for Wordpress 2.7. I’m glad it was a simple fix, though it took me a few days to figure out, lol. If anyone knows why I”m having problems inserting photos into Wordpress 2.7.1, please contact me. My blog is blah without them! (TIA.)

I’ve returned from my unscheduled hiatus.

But for those of you who know me, the real question is, for how long? Lol. In my quest to be more open and transparent, I thought of back-dating a bunch of articles to pretend I’ve been here all along but, nah. Too obvious.

Okay, okay I’m just gonna have to man up take a breath and come clean here… I suck at blogging. I really try not to but (noticeably) not enough. Actually, the blogging part I’m pretty good at. I think my topics are timely and, hopefully helpful. I write decently, I can spell, I even think I find great photos at Flickr that improve the overall look and feel of the blog.

So with all that going for me, what’s the deal? It’s posting with consistency that I have a real problem with. I don’t know what to write about, I don’t have time, I (insert whatever here)… the list goes on and on and on. We all have a mile-long to do list and those reasons excuses don’t work. At all. So, I’m here to tell you…

Today Is A New Day

From this day forward:

• I promise to (try very hard to) NOT suck at blogging.
• I promise to spend the necessary time researching and writing each post carefully and to the best of my ability to bring you accurate information.
• I promise to share everything I know and am learning about blogging and web 2.0 marketing strategies to help you learn how to promote your small business effectively.
• I promise to share everything I know and continue to learn about Internet marketing and advertising, both online and off.
• I promise to share the best Wordpress tips, tricks and themes because (IMO) Wordpress is THE best blogging platform, hands down.
• I promise to help you with your blog design and SEO.
• I promise to scour the Internet to find the best articles and information related to small business blogging ever created, and share them with you here at Main Street Geek.
• I promise you will get tons and tons of free stuff that you’ll actually find useful.
• And on top of all that, I promise that if you have questions that I don’t know the answers to, I will help you find the answers.

I Need Your Help

Now before I actually get down to the business of planning and writing, I need a bit of help from you. I would like to know how Main Street Geek can help YOU. Like, what topics would you like to see me write about or what are you looking to learn? What’s got you stuck where you are? What “thing” would move you forward? Do you have questions about design or Twitter? Are you wondering where to get content for your blog? Do all the social networking and bookmarking sites have you running around the web in circles?

What do you need to know IMMEDIATELY about business blogging?

Just for taking a moment to help me out, I will send you the free report, “Web 2.0 – The Next Internet Wave” to help you learn the latest technology to leverage your business for marketing in the 21st century.

I’ve made it totally simple to claim your gift. Just leave a comment or suggestion below or click here to Ask Ms. Geek your question. (Everyone who submits a legitimate suggestion, comment or question will get the report.)

If you’re not yet, subscribe to our RSS feed or weekly updates. As my son would say, don’t bounce out just yet – lots more coming to the neighborhood!

Thanks a bunch for hanging around.