This post may contain affiliate links. Please refer to our Disclaimer for more info.
When you’re first testing the waters and doing your research for a new business idea, it’s handy to know about the following free tools you can use to gain some insight.
At first when I started my blog, I knew nothing about keyword research, SEO, or how to look up data to help me get ahead with my blog.
But then I started to discover free and valuable tools that I still use them all the time!
Throw ChatGPT into the mix and you have yourself some very valuable tools to use when starting your business.
Whether you are starting a blog for the first time or any other online business venture, these tools can help you out when you’re in the early stages and beyond.
Let’s take a look at 7 free business research tools below.
Related posts:
How to Start a Profitable Blog – Step By Step
15 Unique Small Business Ideas To Work From Home in 2023
1. Google Trends
Google Trends is a nifty free tool to gain insight into what people are searching for on the web.
You can see what’s trending and what topics are most popular by country and region.
If you enter a seasonal search term like Thanksgiving, then you will see a peak for that term every November.
However, say you search for Traveling, you will see the results are steady and evergreen.
When searching for terms to gather information for a business idea, there are three different types of search results.
The first being seasonal peaks like Christmas, Halloween etc.
The second being “evergreen” topics like traveling, marketing, parenting and so on.
The third being short lived trends where there is a sharp peak and then it drops and doesn’t pick up again.
Check out this helpful article from Semrush to look at some of the most effective ways to use Google Trends.
2. Answer the Public
You may or may not have heard of this website but I think it’s an awesome tool to see what questions people ask.
People ask questions about all different topics, so this is a good way to see what people are asking in your niche.
The main question areas are the how, why, where, which, what, when. But there are so many ways to discover how people ask questions. Which I find pretty interesting!
When you enter what’s called a ‘seed’ term into this tool, an example could be “running”, then you will see results for common questions people ask Google every day. See example below:
Seeing all the different types of questions people ask can give you ideas for blog posts, answer customer’s questions and give you an insight when making decisions in your business.
It can also help you if you’re creating a course, informational video or with podcast topics.
Using this tool will help you get inside your audience’s head and give you the opportunity to answer their questions in depth.
3. Similar Web
When you want a quick data analysis of a website, Similar Web is a handy free tool you can use.
At a glance, they show you how much traffic a website receives per month and the most visits by country.
You can also see what is driving the most traffic to a website whether it’s direct search traffic, display advertising, social media etc.
This is a handy tool to use to see how much traffic a website gets and from where, as well as the bounce rate, pages per visit and estimated duration.
If you want more in-depth data on a particular website, then you can sign up to an account with them but it’s a good tool if you want a quick data check on a website.
4. Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups are so much more than just online groups of like minded people to chatting about their interests.
They provide so much free information to someone like yourself who is wanting to learn more about their target market before starting a business.
Whether it’s a product that Moms are raving about or dating advice, there is a facebook group for almost anything.
I suggest joining as many facebook groups in your niche as possible and observe the discussions. Gather feedback and ask questions to really engage with your target market.
Some examples of things to observe would be what problems do people have that need solving? How old are they and where are they based? Is there a product or service that can already help them?
5. Udemy
Udemy, an online course platform and marketplace, is a gold mine when it comes to finding valuable information.
Jump onto their website and take a look under their Categories drop down at the top left. You will see multiple niches and their sub-niches as well as ‘popular topics’ under each sub-niche.
You want to look at courses in the popular topics to see which ones people are most interested in.
Not only are they interested in these topics but they are paying to access them. This will allow you to get content ideas, dive deep into the popular sub-niches and even create your own course.
Once you have your popular topics, head over to Amazon and select Kindle Store from the dropdown search option. Type in your topic and look for a book that has lots of reviews. This tells you lots of people purchased that book and your researched niche is popular.
6. Pinterest
Pinterest is another very useful free tool you can use to gather insights and is my personal favorite!
I use Pinterest every single day to successfully drive traffic to this blog. Pinterest isn’t just about the latest crafts, trending nails and recipes, it has a whole range of categories and people use it as a search tool for all kinds of topics.
From parenting to cooking to finance – Pinterest has it all and is a very useful platform to use for business.
As you can see below, when I type in ‘personal finance’ it brings up pins that are related to that topic. You will also see other popular search terms related to that topic underneath the search bar.
7. ChatGPT
ChatGPT has been the talk of the town since it launched in November 2022.
It’s the latest in AI innovation and many businesses and individuals alike have jumped straight on board, using it as their handy personal assistant.
ChatGPT is not just good for business, it’s an amusing tool you can play around and have fun with. Having such a revolutionary tool at your fingertips that gives you an answer in seconds has many wondering how they can make money from it.
Stay tuned on my blog because I will be dedicating an entire blog post on how you can make money using ChatGPT. There are so many ways and I’m excited to share them with you!
If you haven’t already played around with ChatGPT, I recommend giving it a go. It will boost productivity and help you out when you’re starting a business.
Give it a go!
I hope these 7 free tools helps you on your journey when you’re thinking of starting your own business.
If you found these tools helpful let me know in the comments section, as always, I’d love to hear from you!
Did you enjoy this post? Don’t forget to pin the image below and follow me on Pinterest for more ideas 🙂
