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eMarketing In-a-Box: How to Attract, Retain and Monetize Your Website Customers Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved
emarketinginabox.com I  All Rights Reserved  I  matthew@emarketinginabox.com

Chapter 4

Checking Out your Competition


Before you get started on your own site, you should check out
your competition, if only to find out what you’re up against. Too
many people approach us with what they think is a brilliant idea
that they think no one else has thought of.

We don’t mean to be discouraging, but more likely than not, there
is someone out there who has already thought of your idea – or
something close to it. It’s relatively easy to start an online business so the competition is fierce.

You should check out your competition, not only to find out who you have to compete against, but also to
help you generate ideas as to what types of products/services to develop, what types of offers to test,
pricing, how to position your products/services, and anything else you can find out that will help you avoid re-
creating the wheel.

One very successful consultant we work with likes to use what he calls the CASE method.

CASE stands for “Copy And Steal Everything.”

We’re not suggesting that you really steal from others and infringe on their trademarks or copyrights. That
could get you into a lot of serious legal trouble. What we suggest is that you learn from others before doing
anything yourself.

Use the search engines, Google and Yahoo!, to find businesses that are offering products/services that are
similar to yours, and learn as much as you can. This is one of the best pieces of advices we can give.

Unfortunately, not many people follow it.

On the Web, you want know about your competitors' websites as much as possible.

You need to know:

  • top search terms they use,

  • what websites link to and from them,

  • keywords they advertise on,

  • how much traffic they get so that you can benchmark your website,

  • type of paid online media they use,

  • and how successful they are so that you emulate what works and avoid what does not.

We always advise our clients, who are serious about online marketing, to invest into Online Competitive
Intelligence (such as link and search term intelligence) in order to better understand the online competitive
environment they are in or want to enter. Check out the Competitive Intelligence we recommend by clicking
here.

Go to the next chapter.
KeywordDiscovery.com Keyword Research Tool
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