small business plan research

Correct small business plan research is vital to the long-term survival of any small business. The more comprehensive the small business plan research, the more accurate the decision making will be.
Does this mean you need to pay someone to do your small business plan research? Well that depends on the complexity involved in the small business plan research. I suggest you do your own initial research for your small business plan. With a bit of research into the topic you can probably come up with a very comprehensive small business plan. At least this research will give you a good understanding as to what information you need to research, should you have to pay someone to research your small business plan.
Crucial to any small business plan is market research. I'm going to show you a free yet innovative method to determine your market potential for your small business.
In order to use this method to research your small business plan, you first need to sign up for a Gmail account. Once you have this Google “Adwords signup”. Get yourself an Adwords account.
Once you've signed up go to Adwords/ reporting and tools/Keyword tool. If you want the less powerful version, just Google “Google keyword tool” and start to use - both are free.
Now under “Find keywords” type in the word or phrase you want for your small business plan research. If you intend to make party chocolates in your small business, type in the phrase. Next part of the research is to select your country under the “advanced options”. Hit search and Google will tell you how many times people have searched on this term (As well as suggesting other searches). This is excellent information for your small business plan research, as it will give you an indication of how many times people are likely to search the web for your small business.
If you're happy that there seems to be enough business in this niche, the next step in you small business plan research is to see how big a need you're satisfying. Go to Google and search on the same term you entered previously but add "forums" to this. Now your small business plan research will take you to various forums where people are discussing this product or service. You may have to do a bit of research to find a good forum on your small business. Read the forums and see what questions are being asked. The research you're doing for your small business plan here, is to see if you can identify a need that you can satisfy.
Another tool you could use to do your small business plan market research, is to Google the keyword you think people would use. Have a look to see which companies appear on the first page. Have a look at their websites to gauge your small business compared to what they're offering.
All the time you're doing this small business plan research, bear in mind you're looking to differentiate your small business.