You already know that starting your own business (online or off) takes a lot of research. You have to gather as much information as possible about your field. You need to learn everything you can about the people who buy products in that niche. It’s also good to be aware of any products in your niche that are presently being sold and their strengths and weaknesses. The fact is,if you want to be successful online,there is never a time when the need for research ends. Even after you’ve got your business up and running you still need to keep track of your competition. If you don’t know what your competitors are doing,how can you be sure you’re offering customers something better? A smart move any business can make is testing everything that is done. The possibilities are almost endless when you consider source,and the degree to which you can optimize your business will probably blow you away if you do it. Tools such as various forms of testing,and we have only briefly touched on it,are what those who are most serious will ever do; not those who are lazy or looking for fast money. Once you have started enough online ventures,you just sort of get it done without being careless. So regardless of your approach,if you are reckless or whatever,you will just have to learn at your own pace. Remember that the nature of testing by default implies it will be a small scale operation. Any time you want to implement something new and untried on one of your sites,then think about a small scale test on an appropriate page. Testing alone is worthless unless you have the correct data or feedback from visitor behavior. Twitter looks like it’s just for talking with other people. And that is what it’s for,as long as you adhere to their length requirement with your tweets. But Twitter also lets you know what’s hot at the moment in your niche so it’s very useful. This will give you great insight into what your prospects are looking for. You will also be able to determine what they’re not searching for. You will also get the inside scoop on who they accept and who they don’t,as well as why this is. You can also follow your competitors so that you can see what they’re marketing and how they’re going about it. It’s a good way to get some entertainment while you’re putting in effort. Searches with Twitter. I bet you didn’t know that Twitter has a search engine all their own. As of this moment,Google leads only Twitter in the search engine battles. You will be able to use this search function to get a good look at your competition. Just as you use Twitter,the search feature is great for finding out what’s going on with your niche and also what your competitors are up to. Unlike the actual Twitter,you are able to see the search results you’re looking for on a single screen. If you didn’t have this,you’d waste much of your time trying to find your competition and trying to determine what’s hot within your niche. Wikipedia seems like it is meant more for research purposes. It’s a great resource for high school kids who are late doing their reports. And,you’ll probably find yourself with a Wikipedia page if you get enough people to pay attention to you. So Wikipedia may be a way to locate those competing against you. You can also use Wikipedia to find out more information on your niche. Just remember that anyone can edit Wikipedia so some of the information may be wrong. Tread carefully! You must always know what your competition is doing at all times. Remember,there is not unlimited money out there for everyone. People have a finite amount of dollars to spend. If you want to make the most of this money,you must convince your prospects that you’re who they should spend their money on. There’s no way to do this unless you keep an eye on your competition. If you employ software for this tracking task,not only will you always know what your competition is up to,but you’ll have much more time to grow your business.