Archive for Beating Your Competition
Using Competition Information To Plan Your SEO Strategy
Posted by: | CommentsInternet Marketing Services – Competition Analysis
There is no doubt about it, there is no better feeling than beating out your competition in search engine placement. It generally takes a certain length of time, but that day when you climb one step above your competition is a sweet victory. The easiest way to do this is to analyse just what exactly your competition is doing, and do it better.
It really is that easy. But how do you discover the key information about your competition in order to know where to start? There are a number of ways to find out what your competitors are doing and it is no secret. In order for any website to appear in search engines, certain elements in their page code will have to be there and available to anyone who knows where to look.
The page source code is the first place to check out. This will display for you the keywords they are using and their site description. You can view the page code of the top ten sites and build your own keyword list from them. Take a look at the description and tailor your site accordingly. Obviously what they are doing works, right?
The next place to look is their off page linking strategies. There are various software available that will allow you to see exactly which sites your competition has inbound links pointing to their sites. You can also determine exactly how many one way links and what page ranks they need to be that you will need in order to take over the top spot in the search engines.
These sites did not get to the top by accident. Chances are they have a very complex strategy in place and have implemented it over time. You will need to do the same. You must dedicate a portion of your time or budget to your SEO strategy and you will see a steady improvement that you can measure to see if it is effective. SEO is not difficult, but it does require commitment. Anyone can get to page one in Google if they do just one thing better than their competition.
The best way to start is to do a complete competition analysis of the sites you would like to beat out. A professional internet marketing service can provide you with this information. They will also be able to help you develop and implement a strategy to overtake the competition in the search engines.
That sweet feeling of beating out the competition is within your grasp. You just have to reach out and take it.
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Although many personal development gurus say that the best way to build good self esteem is to stop comparing yourself with others, there are times when it is good to do so. When you are competing for business in the online marketplace, you can learn a lot by holding up your website against your competitor and comparing the two. If your competition is doing better than you then this is a perfect opportunity for you to find out what they are doing differently. You can then use those same internet marketing tactics to push your website towards the pinnacle of success.
A good place to start is to check the basic metrics of your competitor’s site such as Pagerank, traffic, inbound links, and social media presence. There are many websites and browser plugins that will tell you the Pagerank of a particular site. However, you will also want to find out how well they are ranking for specific search engine keywords that you both are targeting in your internet marketing campaigns. You can go to a search engine, enter the keyword and see where their site lands. There are also several website evaluation tools online that will also show you how your competitor is ranking for keywords.
Unless you have access to the website visitor statistics of your competitor’s site, you won’t be able to get an accurate accounting of their website traffic. However both Alexa and Compete will give you a general idea of how many people are visiting every day. Alexa will also give you a general counting of how many websites are linking to your competitor. A high number of links usually means they are doing something right in their internet marketing strategy. If they are on social sites, like Twitter or Facebook, then check the number of followers they have.
Besides comparing statistics, you’ll want to actually visit their site and test how usable it is. Test how quickly it loads and how easy or difficult it is to get to all parts of the site. It doesn’t matter how much internet marketing you do, if your site is hard to use then people are going to avoid it like the plague. Note what they are doing well and what can be improved upon. Take all the information you’ve gathered and study it. Take what seems to be working for them and apply it to your website to help boost your visibility and profitability in the online community.
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Small Business Websites and The Internet High Street
Posted by: | CommentsMost professionals, running their small businesses from high street premises rightly expend huge amounts of time and effort on finding the right site to trade from; a wealth of consideration is given to every detail of the work place, from the colour of the carpets to the style of chair; professional designers are enlisted and marketing specialist consulted and a great deal of thought is given by all as to just how attractive the place will be to potential customers. With the beautiful new signs in place, all that’s left to do is await passing trade, of course other marketing will be done and business also comes from word of mouth, but it is this visual presence on the high street that is all important to such firms.
Why is it then that even the most seemingly tech-savvy of traders are still ignoring the ‘Information Super Highway’ so completely? Just as on the local high street a presence on the internet’s virtual high street is indispensable. Your shop window should tell potential customers everything about doing business with you and yet there are still a frightening amount of local businesses that don’t have a website; amazingly some of these websiteless professionals are still soldiering on trying to market on line. Expecting to do business online without a web presence, is something akin to trying to trade on the high street behind a boarded-up shop front.
Of those that have realised a website’s importance, many have still treated it as something of an afterthought, rather than the bright attractive shop window given all of the thought and consideration it’s due, plenty of the small business websites out there seem to have been thrown together in a weekend over a bottle or two of Blue Nun.
Far from being an optional extra, businesses from the local high street should arguably be giving their virtual shop-window’s more thought than their actual ones. Unlike the high street, search engines, which are the online equivalent of taxi drivers, do more than simply take people to your site when asked, they control when or even if your site is ever seen. Imagine giving even your favourite taxi driver that much power and you’ll see how important getting him to like your shop front is.
It is not then enough just to have a website that looks good, it is also vital to have one that is search engine friendly, one that has been search engine optimised or SEO’d preferably by a professional internet marketing service, the online equivalents of those designers and marketing gurus you consulted offline.
So rather than trying to trade behind a giant blackout curtain, why not set-out your stall in a well-lit location and ask the experts advice on how to pitch to the punters; it may take practice to learn the spiel but at least you’ll be in the game.
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Learn What Your Competition Is Doing And Do It Better
Posted by: | CommentsThere is no mystery behind beating your competition
Reaching the top of the search engine in any market is attainable if you know what the competition is doing. Once you understand why a website is sitting in the number one spot of a search engine, it is possible to set a course of action to take over that coveted position.
You see, search engines are really not that intelligent. They gather information and present the results according to a specific criteria. They have no personal preference to who they place in that spot. It is simply a matter of math.
Once you understand this, it takes all of the mystery out of the whole process. The only way you will ever know what it takes to get to the top is to do a complete competition analysis to discover the numbers. When you know exactly how much on page SEO and off page SEO your competition has in place, all you have to do is do it one better.
That’s right. If your competition has 3,000 inbound links. You need 3,001. If your competition has not fully utilized every bit of on page SEO possible, then you must make sure your page excels in all areas. It really is as simple as that.
If your competition does not fully understand the ins and outs of SEO, it makes it easier for you. Many professional websites lack proper on page search engine optimisation. If they used a professional web designer to build their site and they relied on them to do the on page SEO, chances are their site is failing miserably in that area.
Although most web designers will claim to have optimised a website, the truth is they do not understand how search engines work or how to effectively apply all on page strategies that will set your website ahead of your competition. The reason is that their expertise is in design and graphics. They are not search engine marketers.
Hiring an internet marketing service is probably the most cost effective service you can put in place to insure that your beautiful new website will actually get visitors. Chances are your competition is not search engine savvy. You can gain a definite edge by having experts putting you in front of your customers. You have spent good money to have your site designed. Don’t let it be a waste of money.
A website can be one of the best assets your business can own. It may be the only advertising your company may ever need. Invest in it wisely and it will pay you for years to come.