I would like your help please

[gspence]

Hello,

I am currently doing some research amongst small business owners and would-be owners to find out the answer to this question:

If you could have one business problem solved, what would it be?

I am conducting this research so that I can make my website more useful to small business owners by answering their most pressing questions.

I would be grateful if you could spend a couple of minutes letting me know your answer.

Many thanks for your help.

Greg Spence

[walterweeks]

Have you recieved a good response from this generic question? While it is interesting that you are asking this question to set a direction for your online marketing efforts, it's probably a little too generic.

It's like asking someone "what's the meaning of life" or "what does happiness in life mean?" Okay, perhaps not that bad, but you get the point right? :) It's just too open ended.

It might be better to ask something more domain-specific like "In the course of running your business, what computer-related problem would you like to be most solved?" Of course this question would be related to your business and the problems it solves...

[gspence]

Originally posted by walterweeks
Have you recieved a good response from this generic question? While it is interesting that you are asking this question to set a direction for your online marketing efforts, it's probably a little too generic.

I have had no responses Walter! It is probably because people think I am trying to work towards selling them something ;) rather than genuinely trying to make my website more relevant and helpful.

It's like asking someone "what's the meaning of life" or "what does happiness in life mean?" Okay, perhaps not that bad, but you get the point right? :) It's just too open ended.

I agree but I deliberately phrased the question to be open-ended because I did not want to influence the answers. I am genuinely trying to discover what major issue business owners face that they have had trouble finding an answer to.

Thanks for your feedback and advice though.

Greg Spence

[walterweeks]

Hi Greg,

Out of curiosity, what kind of business are you running? Unless it's a market analysis firm like Gartner or Forrester, then I don't think the responses will be very useful...even if you do receive genuine responses.

Different businesses will answer the question differently, depending on the type of business they run. For example, an auto dealer might commonly get haggled for a lower price and spend too much time on each sale.

I still strongly suggest that you focus the question otherwise it might not really be useful. Also, have you tried finding some research on this particular question done by someone else (like a big research firm)? Why bother reinventing the wheel--first try to find the answer from someone else! I'm sure this question has been asked many times before.

Anyway, I wish you luck!

[gspence]

Out of curiosity, what kind of business are you running?
I am helping small to medium businesses either get a presence on the internet or improve their website to give them a more professional image online.
Different businesses will answer the question differently, depending on the type of business they run. For example, an auto dealer might commonly get haggled for a lower price and spend too much time on each sale.
True. But I was hoping to get a largish number of responses and possibly identify a common theme amongst them.
...have you tried finding some research on this particular question done by someone else (like a big research firm)? Why bother reinventing the wheel--first try to find the answer from someone else! I'm sure this question has been asked many times before.
Yes. I am now getting help from a number of research companies.
Anyway, I wish you luck!
Thanks for all your advice. It was worth getting it wrong! :)

Greg Spence

[walterweeks]

That's good to hear. Sometimes when I read what I previously wrote, it seems like I'm being overly critical. Hopefully, I wasn't. I try to give constructive criticism.

It is great that you do have some direction for the content of your Web site. We're all too familiar with business Web sites (esp. small businesses) that are horrible both in terms of design and actual content.