The internet is probably the first place you turn to when you're looking for something. The internet can help you find people, learn more about your market and keep up to date with regulations affecting your business.

Understanding how to use search engines makes it easier to find what you want. It's also worth thinking about how you can check information can be trusted.

1. Recruitment and finding people
The internet can help you find new employees and make other useful connections.

There are many ways to recruit new staff online

• Major recruitment sites like Monster, Jobsite and Totaljobs allow you to post job advertisements.
• The professional networking site LinkedIn can also be a good place to advertise jobs, particularly if you can get people who already work in your company to spread the word there.
• Most recruitment sites allow you to automatically filter applicants based on qualifications and experience, so you can streamline the selection process.
• There are many industry-specific recruitment sites that help you target jobseekers with relevant experience. Search online or ask an industry association to find yours.
• You can also advertise vacancies on your company website.
• Many companies encourage staff to share vacancies via social networks. You might consider offering a bonus payment for successful referrals.

Social media is a good way to stay in touch with people

• Your network can include current and former colleagues, friends and clients.
• These people might be able to help you reach jobseekers, recommend new customers, help you generate positive PR and more.
• The main social network for business is LinkedIn. However, Facebook and Twitter are widely used by small businesses too.
• Try not to advertise too directly or aggressively on your company social networking accounts. It's generally better to use them to spread news, ideas and insights.

You can use the internet to learn a lot about people

• Searching for someone's name online and on the main social networks can provide valuable background before you meet them.
• For instance, if you're going into a pitch with a potential client, you might want to check the client's website to learn about the people you'll be meeting.
• Business owners sometimes check social media profiles of prospective employees. However, this can put you in a questionable position when it comes to defending the legality of your recruitment process.

2. Customers, suppliers and competitors
The internet can give you access to a wealth of information about existing and potential customers and suppliers. It can also help you learn about your competitors.

You can get information about other businesses, like new clients or prospective partners

• Online credit checking services like Experian and Equifax allow you to assess the creditworthiness of potential customers.
• The Companies House database is online and fully searchable with details of company directors and accounts.
• You can also access information about company financials and creditworthiness via DueDil.

Searching online can give you a sense of what kind of company you're dealing with:

• Use Google News to find out whether a particular business has been mentioned in the news recently.
• You can search Twitter for mentions of a company's name to find out what people think of a company. You can also view the company's Facebook page to see what comments people are leaving.
• Online review websites such as Reevoo and Trustpilot can provide further background on a business's products or services.
• However, don't judge a business solely by what you read online. Review websites can sometimes be 'gamed' by competitors. And people may tend to comment on the negative more than the positive.

The web is the best place to start any competitor research:

• Check your main competitors' websites regularly. It's a good idea to sign up to any newsletter they offer.
• Search blogs, forums and social media to see if they are mentioned.
• Careful searching may allow you to identify some of a competitor's clients. You could then get your sales team to target them with special deals.
• Sites like Alexa will give you indicative traffic levels for a competitor's website. For example, you can see if their site gets more visitors than yours.
• For more in-depth information about visitors to a competing site, you could consider purchasing data from a company like Experian.
• If you want to see how a competitor's website has changed over time, The Internet Archive may have old versions saved.

3. Market research and trends
The internet can provide you with an enormous amount of helpful information when you are performing market research.  Online services can help you understand and identify your target customers:

• The Office for National Statistics publishes a wealth of useful data online.
• YouGov Profiles offers free information about brands and the type of people that tend to be their customers.

You can use the internet to analyse your market and identify opportunities

• Industry associations often publish research, news and reports on their websites.
• You can run online surveys using free tools. For instance, you can use Survey Monkey or Typeform to create a survey for your customers.
• Tracking what keywords people search for online is a good way to identity demand for information or products. Keyword Tool and Google's Keyword Planner will help you understand what people are searching for.
• The British Chambers of Commerce and FSB (National Federation of Self Employed and Small Businesses) offer advice and information.
• Use Google Alerts to monitor the internet for mentions of your industry, business or competitors.

You can keep an eye on wider trends in society and technology.

• These can give you ideas to help you grow your business in new ways.
• Technology websites such as TheNextWeb and Trend Hunter provide good ways to find out about new tech trends and businesses.
• Google Trends lets you dig into what people are searching for and how those terms are changing.
• Trending topics on Twitter can be a good indication of short-term trends - what people are currently talking about.

4. Laws and regulations
Keep up-to-date with new laws and rules that may affect your business.  There is a wealth of legal and regulatory information available online

• Industry trade bodies and associations often publish information on regulations and how they will affect businesses like yours.
• You can get assistance in areas such as employment law from business organisations like the FSB, the British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute of Directors.
• You can check reputable sites like Law Donut and Out-Law for legal information.
• Keep in mind that it's important you interpret legal information correctly. Always consult your lawyer if in any doubt at all.

Government websites will give you the official line on new initiatives, rules and regulations

• GOV.UK is the main government information resource. You can access a wide range of news and services.
• Many of the main government department websites have been integrated into the GOV.UK website including the HM Revenue & Customs site. You can view tax information and file returns online via the GOV.UK site.
• The Department for International Trade is the Government department responsible for supporting UK importers and exporters.

5. Using search engines
Search engines are the main way people find information online. If you're having trouble homing in on the information you need, there are a number of techniques that can help.  Using basic search operators can produce a more specific set of results:

• Search operators tell the search engine to narrow or broaden the search.
• If you enter a search term in quotes (""), most search engines will only return pages based on that exact term.
• Putting a plus sign (+) in front of a word usually tells the search engine that all results must contain that word. Similarly, a minus sign (-) means pages containing that term will be excluded.
• Often, putting a tilde (~) in front of a search term means you'll search for related terms. For instance, '~school' might also search for pages including words like 'university' or 'college'.
• Each search engine will list its search operators in the help section.

Use the advanced search

• Most search engines offer an 'advanced search' page. These will allow you to narrow your results further. For instance, you can search only a specific website, or websites located in a particular country.

Can you trust the internet?
Anyone can publish practically anything online, so it can be hard to verify the information that you find.  When relying on data you've found on the internet, you must be confident that it can be trusted.

Get a second opinion: Ask colleagues or contacts what they think of the information you've found. Are they familiar with the source? Have they ever seen conflicting data?

Find the original source: Statistics often get repeated online without reference to the original source or piece of research. Use search engines to try and identify where a piece of information originated.Identify who's behind it

The internet is full of 'sponsored content' created by companies or individuals that have an agenda. This information is often reliable, but it's important you understand what motivations were behind its creation.

If you want to get inside your customers’ minds, you need to do qualitative research.

​Face-to-face interviews and focus groups can provide valuable insights into your products, your market and your customers
 
Qualitative research is about finding out not just what people think, but why they think it. It’s about getting people to talk about their opinions so you can understand their motivations and feelings.

Face-to-face interviews and group discussions are the best way to get this kind of in-depth feedback. Qualitative research can be valuable when you are developing new products or coming up with new marketing initiatives and you want to test reactions and refine your approach.

Reasons to do market researchResearch is an important first step before you undertake many key marketing tasks including preparing a marketing plan, doing SWOT analysis, product development, branding and pricing.  Market research should also inform your online marketing strategy - everything from the design of your website to email newsletters, SEO and  social networking.
 
Market research can also help you develop your products and services and make sure they meet the needs of your target audience. For instance, if you run a restaurant and you want to introduce a new lunch menu, you could invite a small group of local people to come and taste the food and give you feedback on your dishes, service and proposed pricing. This kind of exercise would not cost you much but it could provide you with important feedback and increase your chances of success.

Before you go into production with a new line, it’s vital to get your product into the hands of some members of your target market. Is it easy to use, does it do what it's supposed to, is the design appealing? Does it look as if it will stand out next to competing products in-store? Is the packaging working? Is the price right? This type of customer research almost always throws up one or two important issues that can then be ironed out before you launch your product.

Running a research groupGetting clear results from qualitative research can be difficult, however. Some people may be positive just to be polite, while others may be overbearing and dominate the discussion. With focus groups, you are working with small samples of your target market, typically with four to eight people. Or you could conduct one-on-one interviews. By contrast, a survey (quantitative research) might be sent out to a large number of customers.
 
Choosing the right person to interview people or to moderate a group discussion is vital. Professional market researchers are the ideal choice and it’s certainly important that business owner/managers don’t run the sessions themselves. It’s vital to find an independent person to do the job - that way, they’ll remain unbiased and the people they are interviewing will feel they can speak honestly.

A good moderator will run the session in an unstructured, free-flowing way. Answers should be probed and proceedings should be recorded for analysing later. Body language and non-verbal responses are worth noticing and video is useful to remind the moderator how respondents looked as well as what they said in the interview.
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What can qualitative research tell you?

• What customers or prospects think and feel about your product or service.
• How customers choose between different products or suppliers - what motivates them.
• How branding, design and packaging influence customers.
• What sort of marketing messages have the most impact and what turns customers off.
• How price affects decision-making.
• Whether there is demand for a new product or service.

 
Qualitative research is about getting people to expand on their answers so that you can get more insight into their attitudes and behaviour. It’s all about getting underneath people’s responses to find out what is driving their decisions.