So you have identified your niche market and they're out there somewhere. You are marketing your business and selling your goods and services but somewhere in the back of your mind you are wondering whether your niche market actually exists in significant numbers. And if they do, what are they thinking? What are the trends that are influencing them? You want to know because you could adapt your business accordingly.

Well, in the comfort of your home or office it is now possible, by investing a few minutes each week, exactly what is going on in the minds of your customers or prospective customers. The internet has made it possible to see your niche market under microscope as it were without your customer base even knowing your are surveying them and analyzing the fashions and trends that engage them. Here is this free, neutral and very revealing method:

Sit down at your computer and subscribe to Google Alert entering your niche market topic, keywords or phrases. It's easy and free and the results will be sent to your email inbox daily for you scrutiny. If your target market niche is house numbers, go to Google Alerts (find it from the Google home page) and request that the term "house numbers" be emailed to you whenever a fresh posting including the phrase appears on the worldwide web. Now set the frequency you want them and sit back and wait for Google to do the work for you.

You might, for instance, receive information about house numbers being manufactured in China, about house numbers being stolen off walls, about a competition for the best house number design, etc. You might be directed to blogs where people moan about indistinct house numbers or the unavailability of attractive house numbers in certain localities. So you see you will gather valuable information and be in touch with trends.

Another internet technique you can use is to do a search on your niche topic on search engines other than Google. Although Google has become the standard search engine, do not forget to search on MSN, Yahoo, AOL, etc. You can even go to Wiki to search on search engines. Or search for search engines on Google. You will be amazed how many there are out there.

From your PC you can also visit groups, forums and blogs related to your niche topic. Search Google groups to see if your niche is represented and search for forums. Go to Technorati to check for blogs on the niche. Using the earlier example you can search for house number forums, house number blogs and house number groups.

These simple steps take very little time but believe me they can change your whole mindset about your target market and your business. This freely available information may even inspire you to change your products and services to meet current needs and adapt to current trends. That can only help to increase your profits greatly.