Are you constantly loosing ground to your online competitors?
Do they win all the sales, get all the great reviews and
generally ooze success? Well now it is time to fight back.
Now it is time to really start competing online.
The funny thing not many businesses are actively competing
online. Sure the big boys will always be in active
competition.
But take it down a few levels and you'll find that smaller web
ventures just do not compete.
The first business in your industry to start actively
competing online is going to come out a big winner.
Before you can effectively compete online, you need to know
everything about competitors. Only by knowing exactly what
your competitors are up are you able to compete.
Each of the search engines can tell you who is linked to your
competitors' web site. This should give you an idea about how
they are advertising, and where they have mentions such as
reviews, articles and links. Make a note of this…these are
the places where you should be too.
Different search engines require certain information in their
search box to list links going into a site:
Altavista: In the search box type "link:competitor.com"
where your competitor's domain is competitor.com.
Northern Light: In the search box type "competitor.com"
without the "www".
Excite: In the search box type "www.competitor.com".
Infoseek: In the search box type "link:www.competitor.com".
Hotbot: In the search box type "http://www.competitor.com",
then change the pull-down menu to "links to this URL".
You need to make the effort to be at least everywhere your
competition is. If your competitor is featured on a
particular site there is no reason why you shouldn't’t be
featured too.
If a web site features a competitor's product, write to the
webmaster to see if they would like to try your product. Bribe
your way onto the site with free samples if you have to.
Search, infiltrate and destroy your competitions promotional
territory.
Go to Dejanews (http://www.deja.com) and search for their
company or product names through the newsgroups. This will
give you a great idea about what people actually think about
their products and of any problems or success they have
experienced with your competitors.
You should also be able to find out where they are
advertising…this can be tricky as there are a lot of
possibilities. Check out the archives of e-zines and e-mail
lists to see if you can spot them. A good place to find
e-mail lists is at: http://www.topica.com/
http://www.liszt.com
You might even be able to find out what books your competitors
have been buying. Take a look in at Amazon.com's purchase
lists and see if your competitors company name is listed. From
here you will be able to track what popular book titles have
been purchased through your competitors. Check it out at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/community/community.html/
If your competitors have affiliate sales programs, assume a
new internet identity and join up as a sales agent. From here
you should have access to a range of their marketing and
promotional material. As an affiliate you might also be sent
regular e-mail from your competitor offering information such
sales details and future directions.
Remember, before you even start to action an online marketing
campaign ensure you know how, where and why your competition
is marketing online.
About the Author
Daniel Barnett, co-author of Work the Medium, a 200+
page manual of Internet Marketing, Promotion and Selling Strategies:
http://www.workthemedium.com