How to Use Google for Market Research

Daunted by the prospect of doing your own market research? Google can help make it easier! We found an article on Smallbiztrends.com that lists four ways you can do your market research using Google.
Author Lisa Barone suggests the following four ways you can get the information you need through Google’s tools.
Four Ways to Use Google for Market Research:
1. Keyword Searches
It may sound simplistic, but you can gain a lot of information just by typing in a search term in Google and seeing what pops up, Barone says.
It is a quick and easy way to see what the top results are, who your competition is and how your market is using related search terms in their search.
Taking it one step further, you can search for ideas and review statistics for keyword performance using Google Adwords’ Keyword Planner. You can enter a term and see a list of related terms ranked in terms of the number of monthly searches.
It can be very illuminating to discover a certain phrase you didn’t realize people prefer. This tool gives a great advantage of learning the more popular terms related to your business so you can adopt them.
2. Google +
You can put your customers in one of your circles and pose questions to the group.
3. Surveys
Barone says that surveys are a great way to get opinions, assess customer satisfaction and get a pictgure of who your customers are. Google Docs gives you the ability to create customizable surveys that are easy and convenient to fill out online.
When the responses come back, you’ll be able to see the raw data in a spreadsheet or have the option to view it in graphic form as well.
4. Google Consumer Surveys
Barone writes that Google has recently started offering Google Consumer Surveys. They’re not free, but Google will expose your survey to a much wider audience—their complete publisher network!
To view the original article in its entirety, please visit Smallbiztrends.