Friday, December 7, 2012

Why and How Should I Monitor A Competitor's Website?


In any business, gaining an edge over the competition is key. It is both recommended and normal to watch what the other guy is doing to make sure businesses keep up with current trends in order to appropriately market to the right audience. Monitoring competitor websites is a way to keep up with their business activity; however, it does involve more than just occasionally visiting competitor location for internet communications. Analyzing SEO results and website traffic to get a behind the scenes look can help gain an edge as well. Best of all, there are a number of methods and web tools available to accomplish this task.

Know the Competition - This may not be as simple as it sounds. On the internet, primary competitors are determined by search engine results, since it is search engine ranking that makes any specific internet location more visible. So the best way to find the opposition is to search using the very niche-common keywords and see is returned by the search engines. This is the best way to see how other websites are using those keywords to direct search traffic in a positive fashion. Analyze the Website - Once any main adversaries have been identified, visit the website and observe the use of design, function, social media, and more. Search social bookmarking locations to see how many times they have been bookmarked as well as verify the number of page likes or followers, etc. Try to get a picture of what is being done socially and whatever results can be found. If very active on a Facebook page and there is evidence of sales and other positives results, it would be time to pay more attention to social media. Observe SEO Usage - Pay attention to what kind of SEO tactics are being used, especially in the cases of larger companies and businesses with websites built by professional SEO design companies. Locate the keywords, meta data, incoming links, and any other information that is being used as an SEO tool and analyze it. Check keyword density as well as popularity with the use of a suggestion tool. Go through SEO checklists, see what is different, and whether or not any indicated ideas should be tried. Maybe a competitor has found a unique version of a keyword or has some really great back links that are increasing SEO results. All of these factors should be known in order to improve SEO efforts. Run Analytics Tools - Besides visual and manual checks, there are various programs online where a website's rank and performance can be compared with others. Tools like Google Trends, Google Insights, AdPlanner, Alexa and Compete all offer page comparison where traffic and a number of other statistics can be viewed. Used in combination with other manually gathered information, it is at least possible to get a general idea as to what the opposition is doing right as far as their internet presence is concerned.

So much can always be learned from observing how other businesses conduct activity in the general sales arena - after all, be assured that they are doing the same thing as well. By monitoring and comparing websites every now and then, it is a good way to remain competitive in the cyberspace market by uncovering new trends and SEO methods that could be a large help to achieve similar or better outcomes. Undoubtedly, a large part of effective SEO involves ongoing research which is not always the most enjoyable of activities; however, it is the nature of the game. So be alert, be observant, and watch the competition to stay ahead - it just must be done!

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