30 Day Challenge: Day 2, Market Research

I continued my journey through the 30 Day Challenge. Whether you’re an Internet newbie or a bricks and mortar business owner looking to expand your web presence, these 30 days should provide rock-solid techniques for building a real, live sustainable business online.

The focus of Day 2 is market research. Choosing a market and selecting the best keywords to reach it are where the majority of mistakes are made when getting a new online business off the ground. I had a rough time with this lesson because I don't have a tightly defined niche market. However, I did make it through the full lesson. I had to redo one section four times before I was able to get it right.

We only saw Ed Dale briefly during today's lesson. He introduced an amazing tool that gives us keyword data to help accurately assess our potential niches and make our workload much lighter.

There are five videos in Lesson 2:

1. UNLEASHING MARKET SAMURAI - Ed introduces the magic of Market Samurai and walks us through how to download and install the software. It is a straightforward downloading process. 30DC participants receive a complimentary 40-day trial of the complete Market Samurai software.


2. KEYWORD RESEARCH - Guru Bob, head of The Lab, introduces the major concepts of keyword research. He also lays out what sort of numbers we should be looking for when you begin considering niches. At this stage of the game, he wants us to find micro-niches (keywords with less than 30,000 searches per day). He does a good job of defining terms in this section. I know the difference between a 'market' and a 'niche'. I also know that successful online marketing at my level requires me to identify a 'micro-niche'. This section focused on the theory of keyword research. In the next section, we actually do a case-study and apply it to our personal online business.


3. KEYWORD RESEARCH CASE STUDY - Guru Bob shows us Market Samurai in action, drilling down in the market "Guitars." It sounds innocent enough. I spent a great deal of time in this section because my preferred markets ('African Americans' or 'Information Technology') didn't yield me viable 'micro-niche' markets. Anyhow, I finally found two micro-niche keywords that I plan to carry forward into tomorrow's lesson.


4. MANUAL KEYWORD RESEARCH - Dan Raine steps us through how to do "manual" market research if Market Samurai doesn't work on your computer. I didn't complete this one. I'm counting on Market Samurai to cut away the weeds for me!


5. MARKET SAMURAI TUTORIAL - Ed shows you where to find in-depth Market Samurai tutorials and how to get support if you need additional help. This video was about 2-3 minutes in length.

The videos together run about 60 minutes, however, it took me much longer because I kept having to repeat that 3rd video. Anyhow, my advice to anyone who is just starting is to spend adequate time on the Day 1 lesson. Make sure you have a clear idea of the 5-10 ideas you want to use for this 30DC. I didn't have that clear in my mind ... and it cost me today.