What every college site owner should know about market research
Before you start a new website, you must do some market research in order to ensure its success. And no, this doesn’t mean you’re just going to turn to your roommate and say “Dude, do you think this idea is great?” You need to really do the legwork to get your hands on the buying habits of your target customers. If you think you need some fancy marketing firm for this, you’re wrong. Market research can be free or low-budget. Regardless of your budget, market research pretty much works in the same way. Here are some principles of market research that you can apply to your site:
First, you should find out whether there are internet users who would be interested in coming to your website on a regular basis. The best way to assess this is by looking at the currently popular websites and searching for a market with demands that aren’t being met or satisfied by these popular sites. For example, if you notice that there seems to be a need for websites about how to throw the perfect frat party, and that no one seems to be fulfilling that need, you can go ahead and make a site for that topic. Market researchers (the pros, not your roommate) also suggest that you can also look at any available competition and find out their weakness. If you go to a competing site about frat parties and you notice that there isn’t a food section that has some basic recipes for great party food, your site can capitalize on this weakness by creating a section (or an entire site) about that.
The next thing you have to do is to learn how and where you will advertise your website. Identify your advertising budget, as well as what you can do within this budget. Study how and where your competitors are advertising. Given our make-believe college party website, ask yourself “If I was an outgoing college party boy/girl, where would I be hanging out online/offline?” If you’re already the outgoing college party boy/girl, it’s going to be much easier because you and your circle of friends are probably part of your target market. You already know how to reach people like you. Don’t forget - get as much free advertising as you can get your hands on.
After you’ve done initial market research, it’s time for you to create the best site possible that caters to your market’s needs. It’s important to avoid being inferior to your competition in most or all of your website’s features. If you can’t beat the competition in at least one or two areas, then it’s best to look for another market. It’s very important to believe in your own site, but you should also be realistic and try not to get caught up in your own hype.
Listen to what your market research is telling you. True market research doesn’t stop during initial brainstorming – it also consists of trial and error in the areas of site design, advertising, and maintenance. Be open to modifying and renovating your site until you get the results you want. Focus less on convincing people to visit your site, and focus more on bringing them what they want. So if your site allows comments from visitors, read every word, reply, and adapt.
I noticed that a lot of college entrepreneurs find market research boring and unnecessary. Honestly, it makes a lot of difference on your site’s success - even more so than SEO, I believe.
Did I mention that there really doesn’t seem to be a great all-in-one college party resource? You know, a place where party-throwers can post mass invitations, bands can post their availability, and students can get some general college party tips. If Ryan won’t be grabbing that idea, maybe you should. After all, I’ve outlined your marketing research steps for you. Are there any takers?
Related Articles:
- Leveraging Your Online Power For Offline Assets
- Revamping your Brand
- Why selling information products is not such a good idea
- Transferring websites to a new owner
- Be An Online Researcher
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“Did I mention that there really doesn’t seem to be a great all-in-one college party resource? ”
Wow! Great idea. Someone should run with this while it’s hot.