Are you constantly losing traction to your online competitors? Do they seem to be monopolizing all the sales, garnering all the positive reviews, and generally exuding success? It's time to level the playing field and start competing online in earnest.
Interestingly, not many businesses are actively competing online. While the industry giants are always in a fierce competition, smaller web ventures often fail to compete. The first business in your industry to start actively competing online is likely to reap significant benefits.
Before you can effectively compete online, you need to understand your competitors thoroughly. Only by knowing exactly what your competitors are doing can you effectively compete.
Search engines can provide valuable insights into who is linked to your competitors' websites. This can give you an idea about their advertising strategies and where they have mentions such as reviews, articles, and links. Take note of these places - these are the platforms where you should be present as well.
Different search engines require specific information in their search box to list links going into a site:
You need to make the effort to be at least everywhere your competition is. If your competitor is featured on a particular site, there's no reason why you shouldn't be featured too.
If a website features a competitor's product, reach out to the webmaster to see if they would be interested in trying your product. You can even offer free samples if necessary. The goal is to infiltrate and dismantle your competitors' promotional territory.
Visit Deja 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 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 email lists to see if you can spot them. Good places to find email lists are Topica and Liszt.
You might even be able to find out what books your competitors have been buying. Check out Amazon.com's purchase lists and see if your competitors' company name is listed. From here, you can track what popular book titles have been purchased by your competitors. Check it out at Amazon's Community Page.
If your competitors have affiliate sales programs, consider joining 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 receive regular emails from your competitor offering information such as 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.
