When you were in school, did the teacher impress upon you the importance of homework?

Why do you think this was so?

Basically, homework helps you remember everything you learned in class and it helped you get solid test scores.

In ecommerce, the same principles are present.

You follow the same theme of gathering new info and learning what works in the market to succeed.

This means you need to take the steps to know your buyer, know your produce, and know the market and the world you reside in.

How does all this work? Let’s take a look….

Know Your Buyer:

Sellers need to know what the buyer wants and what needs they possess.

No, you don’t have to do anything crazy such as spy on them!

It means you need to look at what they are seeking out and discussing online.

This can be done increadibly easily thanks to tools like:

• Google Adwords external keywords tool

• Google Insight

• Google Trends

• SEO Books Keyword tool

This can help you select the right keywords and adwords needed to make your sales venture work.

You also need to read what the buyers are writing.

With the internet, this is not all that complicated. You can search through Google for news reports, hubs, and blogs that cover subjects related to that you are selling.

And why not join a social network? It could reveal a lot of info!

Know Your Product:

Some sellers do not know much about what they are offering.

What an error to make! The more you know about your products, the easier it will be for you to sell them. You will be in a better position to promote and hype the product to customers. This will make them more enthused about what you are selling.

You can learn about your product from reading blogs, industry publication, white pages, and tons of other sources. Stay on top of the latest developments in the industry.

You could also seek out sample products. (This is a must for dropshippers) This way, you can develop more than a cursory familiarity with the product.

You can increase your insight on the features and functions of the product. You will understand what it is that makes it so special. You might even learn about the technical features of the item which will help you answer questions that are directed your way.

The more you know about the products that you are selling the better you will be at selling them. This is because you will be in a better position to judge the exciting features of the product and tell the customers what they want to hear.

By reading blogs, white papers articles and industry news you'll be able to keep up to date with the latest developments and newest technology and by becoming a member of a forum you will become an expert in the topic your customers expect you to be.

Does this seem like a lot of legwork to perform? To a degree, it is involved but it is worth it in the end since it will result in a successful venture well worth it in the end.

Know Your Surroundings:

If there was one thing people that have succeeded in the world of ecommerce discovered it was how quickly their surroundings and business environment changes.

Two of the most recent examples of this would Google's Mayday algorithm change and the eBay spring-summer updates that occurred in 2009.

Google's Mayday Algorithm Change

Google made about 350 and 550 changes in the organic search algorithms it developed in 2009 but it was the one in May of 2010 that had the biggest impact on business.

These changes led to the improvement of the relevancy of results, the elimination of duplicate listings, and the speeding up of load times.

This really has a huge impact of ecommerce pros since a lot of income comes from long tail keywords that drive customers (traffic) to product page.

This eventually lead to a traffic drop in the 50% - 70% range. That is a huge drop!

EBay's Spring-Summer Changes 2009

The spring changes during 2009 at eBay promoted the notion that not only was the customer right, the customer was in charge.

This is evidenced by the fact that the customer acquired greater return rights; more involvement in the eBay dispute process; and greater input into the AI FAQ.

These changes – along with DSR rating associated with discounts and the eBay preferred seller badges ended up pushing a lot of smaller reseller off of eBay.

The Google Mayday change and the 2009 eBay change were totally unexpected and significantly changed the game.

Such events really do prove you need to stay on top of current events. How can you do this though? You can check out these really great blogs….

*Colder Ice -

A brilliant blog published by ecommerce giant and eBay powerseller John Lawson. He is a clothes seller and has discovered all the secrets to avoiding pitfalls and maximizing. His excellent writing style is informative and engaging which makes this a "must bookmark" blog.

• Auctionbytes -

Ina Steiner runs this solid ecommerce blog and it mostly deals with eBay, similar online auction sites, and the many services that support these sites. Reader opinions and letters are published on the blog which gives you further insight into the business and its world.

• eBay Strategies -

The name of this blog is pretty self-explanatory.

Well, it may be partially explanatory as Amazon.com is also covered in great depth. Scott Wingo runs this blog and he does a tremendous job. There is a lot of valuable info on here that covers ecommerce from many different angles. It will assuredly give you a lot of food for thought! The annual white pages on eBay changes are almost always a brilliant read.

• Ecommerce Guide -

This is a blog along the lines of internet.com and it helps provide a solid ecommerce guide that covers it subject from many different perspectives. That makes the site an excellent source of info.

A wide array of SEO, ecommerce, and auction site news is presented and it those experienced and new to the game will both find it enlightening.

The bottom line is these blogs help you do your home on the industry. Homework improves your knowledge base and the more you know, the more likely you will be to succeed.