subject: Keeping an Eye on the Competition [print this page] Keeping an Eye on the Competition Keeping an Eye on the Competition
Keeping an eye on the competition is an essential part of any business plan, regardless of whether or not you have a web presence. However, by creating a web presence through the implementation of a website, blog, podcast or something else, you are helping to promote a buzz about your business, thus improving your credibility by encouraging feedback from current as well as past clientele.
In order to do this, you will have to know what the keywords are for your site as well as what the keywords are for other client's websites. Once you know what the keywords are, you can check Google Analytics as well as use other various tools to help you measure your success against someone else's web presence. Competitors are constantly scoping each other out to figure out what they can do better or differently in order to make sure that their website stays one step ahead of anyone elses. To begin, come up with a list of various key words for your business. After you've come up with a list of words, do research on each of those words. When all is said and done, you should have a pretty good idea of how you fair against your other competitors.
Ideally, the idea is to get onto the first page of Google (or whatever search engine that you use). The thought behind this is that if your website for your business is on the first page of a popular search engine such as Google, then when people go to search for one of your core keyword terms, your business will be one of the first businesses to pop up on that page. This will then lead to more revenue as that person clicks through your site and ultimately decides to do business with you. If you need help illustrating this point, try typing in a keyword for something-anything. After the results show up on the search engine for the first page, how far down the page do you scroll before you click on one of the results? Most people don't even make it down half of the page of results before they find whatever it is that they are looking for. This leaves hundreds upon thousands of search results left untouched. And chances are, if your website isn't ranked somewhere in those two first pages, then you won't get the results that you were looking for.
Try your hand at beefing up the content on your landing page as well as cross linking between other pages within your site. Make sure that the content on your site is clear, concise and easily understood. If you look at your competitors whose ranking may be higher than yours, you will probably notice a nice even trend in their rankings. What is it that are doing with their website or blog that you aren't already involved in?
