7. GIVE A MAN A FISH AND HE'LL EAT FOR A DAY!

Teach him how to fish and he'll eat for ever! Sounds reasonable doesn't it? I recently came across someone who is right at this moment teaching me how to fish in the ocean of e-commerce. I'm giving you my interpretation of his lesson right here right now for free. Make of it what you will; I hope you get as much out of it as I did. Target market strategies, are kinda like fishing, you need to know were the fish that you are trying to catch "hang out", and you need to know what kind of bait they like as well. How do you find where your target fish hang out? You ask a local! So where do you find a local? You find them near the fishing spots! So how does that help us with internet marketing? It helps us by telling us that if we want to find a particular target group of customers we go to the places that they are already going to! For example; if I have an interest in British motor cycles and want to sell information or parts or whatever related to British motor cycles, I would visit Bulletin boards and groups that are established for this market group, Alexa ratings, Amazon, clickbank, etc. In these locations and others I would look at the type of services and products that are available. I'd also look at how many members or posting there, in order to determine how many of my target fish are "hanging out" there. If there are a lot I'd think this could be a "good spot". What would I do next? I'd test my bait! I'd post some free articles to see what kind of interest there is, check out the average sales price for similar products to mine, search for competitors and see what they are doing to attract their fish, etc. After I've tested my bait and found it to be a "good spot" I'd plan a big fishing trip, maybe invite some of my mates along on a joint venture to catch more fish, cause we can share them later. That's a whole other story I'll put that one together after I get this one published. I sincerely wish you good luck and happiness Bill Boyd