Question
When you are searching informations on a specific topic : a brand, a keyword or list of keywords and you want to get relevant web sites, blogs, documents (pdf, ppt, doc), people's name, companies, competitors etc ...
If you use google search : how many time do you spend on such research ? when and why do you give up ? Do you give up overhelmed by the number of results or you don't know where to start ?
(if you use other tools, i would appreciate if you tell us which ones and why ?)
Thank you
Answer
"Until I am satisfied."
The actual amount of time varies widely. If it is a topic I am only casually interested in knowing more about (the winner of season 124 of American Idol, for example), the time spent searching is pretty minimal. Whereas if I am looking to prove my point, or win random trivia, I am likely to spend more time.
If it is business related, then I spend as much time as needed to satisfy the objective. For example, if I am looking for competitors for a new venture, I know that spending many hours researching is a small investment for the knowledge gained of the industry. But I would never spend 2-4 hours searching for a trivia answer. Searching for competitive keywords may add up to hours per month, but directly coincides with a return of my investment.
What are you really trying to find out? =)