Use Google and Twitter to Find Your Market

Internet entrepreneur: Use Google
and Twitter to find your market
By Michelle Leon
How many of
us use search
nowadays? All
of us, right?
How often do
you find what you are
looking for?

Sometimes it’s a grand-
slam other times a total
miss.
It’s so frustrating when you
want answers to
something and you can’t
find it. You may scan page
after page of Google or
Yahoo only to have to re-
query again to see if you
strike gold.
Usually this means that
you’ll have to do a long tail
keyword search, like “How do I get a good car insurance rate if I
have a ticket?”
This is where Web 2.0 helps tremendously - not only for answers
to questions but also your efforts on Internet marketing.
Mining niche gold
Assuming you’ve already done your competitive
intelligence, you are ready to begin marketing your
product or offer.
Whatever your niche product or service is, how do
you find traffic that is looking for exactly what you
have to sell right now? And how do you get to
know what your market is looking for?
I’m going to talk about two places on the net where
you can find targeted and real-time traffic. There
are others too, but I’ll keep it simple.
Using Google for targeted traffic
If your niche is selling car insurance, go to Google
and type in search queries like “How do I get a
good car insurance rate if I have a ticket?” We’ll use this as an
example.
Above the sponsored links, you’ll see “More Options.” Click that
and then on the next screen, choose “forums” on the left.
Whoa, look at what you have: A lot of people posting questions
and answers about your query and recently too.
You can begin going through the forums to get a good idea of
what your prospects are looking for by their postings.
You marketing efforts become so much more specific instead of
shooting in the dark and guessing what people want.
A specific long tail keyword gives you more relevant information
rather than just typing in “car insurance.” There could be too
many unrelated topics with that keyword phrase. The goal is to
target, target, target.
Using Twitter for real-time traffic
Twitter has been recognized as the first site for real-time search.
So how does a marketer use Twitter to the fullest of its
capabilities? By using Twitter Search.
Go to http://search.twitter.com and type in the word “best” with
your search query.
Using the word “best” is an excellent way to find people looking
for things.
Get creative and find other words too that may also target your
audience.
For example, I typed in “best iPod apps?”
As I scrolled down I saw a guy that posted: “Anybody have
suggestions for best iPod touch apps?”
If you sell apps for iPods, do you suppose you could send him a
link to your recommendations?
He’d really appreciate it and there’s a high chance he’ll buy. Now
that’s real-time traffic.
You market will love that someone has the solution to their
question or problem quickly.
Knowing the needs of your market means you are serving your
customers to the best of your ability. Good service does go a long
way.
Michelle León’s Internet experience has lead her down many online
avenues and she has a wealth of information to share. Visit her at:
www.work-from-home-guidance.com for additional online tips
and techniques.

Source:www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-09-15/business-real-estate/internet-entrepreneur-use-google-and-twitter-to-find-your-market