Keeping Ahead of Your Internet Competition -- November '99

Online as well as off, examining your competition will help you to determine what you need your Web site to do. When you get to competitors’ sites, you need to decide precisely what you like and don’t like about them so that you can use their mistakes to make your site better. Try to approach the site with a “customer” mindset. And remember, all too often designers and content creators assume their audience has a larger store of knowledge and information than is actually the case. Erring on the side of simplicity is usually better than starting off making something too complicated.

Your first step in any Internet marketing assessment is to search the 'Net using keywords and phrases associated with your business or the niche that you are interested in researching. Print out the results of each search, and take the extra time to examine the list. What does it tell you about the companies that are already involved? What terms and phrases are repeated? Analyzing these lists can help you to set your priorities, tap into your own creativity, and capitalize on the marketing savvy used by your competition. You can start by going to the major search engines:

Or use some of the composite engines like http://www.dogpile.com to search many engines at once.

Type in the names of the keywords that you think your customers will use to look for you, then visit the top sites that come up in each of the search engines. Most customers won't look beyond the first three result pages of an Internet search, but you should go a little deeper just to be certain that no one is going to pop up to surprise you. And remember, search results change frequently, so this is something that you will want to do on a regular basis.

Next focus on identifying a list of keywords that will help drive customers to your site. Use a tool like WordTracker to help you identify the keywords that have the most search requests. You can also sneak a peek at the keywords that Internet users are searching for by going to some of the sites on the Web that are devoted to discovering how people search. Sites like Metacrawler's MetaSpy or Galaxy Voyeur can show you in real-time how people are combining search terms. And of course, if you are comfortable with HTML, you can view the source code of your competitor's sites to discover what keywords and search terms they have defined as important. You can then use those keywords to find still more competitors via the search engines. Also pay attention to banner ads that pop up as you key in search terms. And don't forget to visit some of the mega-stores and portals, such as http://www.i-village.com/ and http://www.Geocities.com , which offer links to selected shops.

Once you have found your competition, make a note of how you were able to find each one. Were they at the top of the search engine index? Did they buy banner ads associated with certain keywords? Did they purchase real estate on AOL? Did they buy a television or radio commercial that mentions their site? Do they use their catalog or printed advertising to drive customers to the Web?

Next, consider what the sites actually offer. Assessing the quality of a site is often one of the best ways to identify areas of opportunity that you can exploit yourself. Ask yourself the following questions for each site you visit:

	What is your first impression of the site?
	How does the site compare to the company's catalog or printed advertising?
	Are you able to find everything that you are looking for on the site?
	Does the site respond quickly?
	Are you able to navigate easily?
	What did you especially like or dislike?
	What does the company offer that is similar to your own product or service?
	What do you offer that is unique?
	How can you differentiate yourself and make your site more memorable?

Not all of these questions will be easy to answer. You may need to find out more about your competition’s business(es), owners, or customers. To do so, you can tap into the wealth of Internet resources available, including:

The best sites on the Internet deliver information in ways that no other medium can: they become interactive. The greatest strength of the Web is its ability to bring people together and to allow e-marketers to respond quickly to what happens when those people meet. If customers are talking about a problem, a good site can respond immediately by displaying an ad with a product that can solve it on the next page they visit. Customers can personalize their pages to display their personal preferences, and companies can feed ads and information based on a customer's previous sales history. Personalization and solution marketing will become more sophisticated as they become more pervasive. As you evaluate each site, consider whether your competitors are using one-to-one marketing techniques to enhance a customer's enjoyment and shopping experience, or whether they are using them in a way that is obviously designed to sell more product.

Pretend that you are your customers; you know them better than any researcher can. And knowing what your customers like and dislike, approach your own Web site with fresh eyes. Which of the sites that you have seen would your customers prefer? What can you offer that is better? But don't just stop at guesswork. Ask your customers and employees the following questions, outright:

	Where do they shop online?
	Where do they search the Internet?
	What motivates them to buy from a Web site?
	What frightens them about buying online?
	What makes them feel more secure online?
	What annoys them about various Web sites?
	What makes them remember a Web site?
	What makes them enjoy an online shopping experience?
	What are the top five things that they would like you to do for them online?

Provide a survey and offer a prize for the best answers or draw randomly from contributions. Giving your customers and employees a stake in your site's success is a sure way to encourage them to use your site when it is finished. And isn't that the point?

A Web site that doesn't get used is worse than no Web site at all because it drains your resources and shows potential customers that you are not keeping pace with technology and new innovations. But by staying aware of what your competition is doing online and what options they have failed to capitalize on, you can build a site worth using. That's the kind of site that not only pays for itself, but also increases your customer satisfaction index and expands your business opportunities.