I believe these questions are currently the most important questions for every web marketer:

► a. Who will be my potential customers?

► b. Why do they shop online?

► c. What are their shopping habits on the street?

► d. How do they choose a company or a brand?

► e. How many segments are there in a certain market?

► f. Is there a niche market that's best for my Web business?

► g. What are the winning strategies?

Of course, to answer these questions, we need to conduct very sophisticated marketing research. For most small web businesses, they cannot afford it.

However, marketing research is not a methodology, IT IS A BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY. Even you know nothing about marketing research (as a method), you still can conduct marketing research. The very first and the most important thing a web marketer needs to know about his/her customers and the market is to ask the customers: "What can I do for you?"