Following with the details of my plan to build an authority blog along 2009, on this post I describe Phase I of the plan: Market Research, which according to my master plan, I need to spend 1 month working on it.
As Ed Dale stated during the “30 Day Challenge (2008 Edition)”, Market Research is the most critical phase and is where 95% of the problems are originated, and I agree with that. The problem I’ve had in prior experiences, is that I’ve done very little work in regards to market research and basically, all I’ve done in the past was just focusing only on Keyword Research, without really going a little bit deeper into the niche so I could gain “Market Understanding” as Ed Dale calls it in “30DC Plus” (which I’m a member of).
So, Step 1 is basically only brainstorming, but if I’m going to spend a whole year working in it, definitely it has to be a niche around something I’m very interested and have a basic knowledge of or at least that I’m willing to learn otherwise I’m sure I won’t devote the necessary efforts into dominating the niche.
Then in Steps 2 and 3, I plan to use Market Samurai and SEO Elite to build a high traffic, low competition and relevant keyword list that I can use as the base where I can build my content around them. A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading a book written by Brad Callen, the creator of SEO Elite, called “The SEO Mindset” and really enjoyed the way he addresses the topic about Market Research so I’ll try to stick to his way of doing Keyword Research.
And finally, in Step 4, I intend to come up with a list of not only the top competitors but also a list of top players in the market, people or sites that have a degree of influence with the audience. This list should include Web 2.0 properties, and high traffic blogs, forums, e-commerce sites and affiliate products.
I intend to finish this phase by February 6th, and I expect to have a very clear picture of what I’m after, so let’s see how it goes.
Here is the graphic with Phase I: (click to enlarge)
Related posts:
