Web research - the most effective methods to catch on the nerve of volatile market

The business sphere is passing through a transitional phase; trends and operations are quickly undergoing a transformation, and one can keep tab on this quickly transforming world, only if equipped with fresh information, giving you real time know-how of latest scenarios. This knowledge helps in designing strategic moves to create a niche in the market and gain an upper hand over the competitors.

This information-driven approach resulting in web data extraction is commonly known as web scraping services. It has gained a tremendous boost in past few years, owing to a surge in the web resources. It has proved to be an excellent method for market researchers to gather important data and use it effectively to understand market volatility.

However, important data extraction services have been marred by the numerous objections (it is mostly termed unethical). But it's nearly impossible to sideline numerous benefits that it offers. This is an attempt to clear the mist about this so-called web-research services or web-scraping services or data-extraction services, as it may be termed by some.

What is web scraping?

First, let us try to get a broader view of web scraping. It is a data mining technique that helps in identifying and extracting information from websites and other web resources.

Web scraping is divided into three broad categories of information:

1. Web Content - Obtaining information from web pages and other documents.
2. Web Usage - Obtaining information from server logs and browser activity.
3. Web Structure - Getting information through links between people, pages, and other data.

What are the benefits of web scraping?

Web scraping helps in leveraging the profit margins - you can extract valuable information that gives you the entire picture of market, consumer psyche and about the competitors. With such a clear picture, you can plan up a strategy that can hit the right chords at the right time, giving a boost to your business.

In fact, web research is a crucial part of marketing intelligence. Web scraping and web data extraction will gather this intelligence and helps in building a strong plan to increase the brand value.

Marketing intelligence based web scraping provides benefits such as:

• Pricing comparison
• Business intelligence
• Competitive intelligence
• Events
• Product data
• Popularity
• Reputation

Moreover, there are numerous web scrapers that automate the process. However, no one actually would match up the genius of a proficient web researcher; they just know what to do with all the information collected and have the ability to incorporate it in your business strategies. Web scraping, if not done by the rules may have serious repercussions at a later stage. However, one can never undermine the wonderful benefits it provides to the business houses to gain a competitive edge in the market.