Market Research Before Web Design & Other Tactics
Often times I get asked to “design a website” or “do some SEO” or “Run Adwords”. What businesses don’t always realize is that doing a little bit of market research before they embark on revamping their web design or starting an Adwords campaign can move the needle much further than if they just start out with tactics alone. I was inspired by SEOMoz’s Whiteboard Friday and thought I would share.
Organizing efforts to gather information about your customer markets is a very important part of your web design strategy. By doing market research before you invest in tactical execution, you are able to gain an advantage over competitors, identify market needs, not to mention make possible connections with experts in your field. Many aspects covers both social and data sciences and can help your company gain insights into making informative decisions for your company and your website.
Similar to market research for “brick and mortar” businesses you need to start by gathering information and discover what your clients want, need or believe they need as it pertains to your website. Just like you thought about how it would be great to serve businesses your particular piece of software, you now need to figure out what they want from your website. The best way to do this is to start your market research with a few questions.
- Who is your customer target? What are their names? What do they do? How old are they?
- Where are they online? What web sites are they using? Are they on Facebook, Twitter, Google+?
- How do they make Purchase Decisions? Do they read reviews online? Do they ask their friends?
- Who and What are their influencers?