| eMarketing In-a-Box: How to Attract, Retain and Monetize Your Website Customers Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved emarketinginabox.com All Rights Reserved paul@emarketinginabox.com 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.
Chapter 5 - Automating your Website
Advertising
Advertising
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