Small Business Trend Information #4

“Google Insights,” http://www.google.com/insights/search, allows you to compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames.

1. Searching “ipad” across U.S. Metro regions and also Indiana, reveals which cities are early adopters of technology and can give you insight into where you should direct your marketing. If you want to focus on the technophiles, market to cities and metros at the top of the list. If you have a strategy of bringing user-friendliness to the technologically challenged, focus on those on the bottom. By the way, West Lafayette has the most prolific “ipad” searchers in Indiana (see below).
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Small Business Trend Information #2

Using the Google adwords “keyword tool,” https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal, it is possible to obtain information on Google searches made that are similar to a given exact search. When these results are obtained it provides some trend information about what people were searching for in that topic area.

In this “trend search,” I searched on “Indianapolis,” and received the following 150 related search terms which I ranked by number of searches, respectively. It is instructive to look through the search variations to get some hints for things people are looking for with regard to the topic “Indianapolis.” In effect you can obtain a sampling of the topics of most interest related to “Indianapolis.” Looking for groups to partner with, looking for business areas in which to start a new venture — look for whom and what areas are generating the most interest. The number of searches for each set of terms are Google searches for the month of December 2009, and recorded in the United States.

indianapolis 11,100,000
indianapolis hotel 550,000
indianapolis hotels 550,000
jobs indianapolis 246,000
indianapolis airport 165,000
indianapolis motels 135,000
apartments indianapolis 110,000
indianapolis inn 110,000
indianapolis star 110,000
downtown indianapolis 90,500
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