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Internet Marketing
- Evaluating Your Competition
How to Use Your Competition to Help
You Market Your Site
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Before you design your Web site you should check
up on your competition. How sophisticated or unsophisticated
are they? Here are some things to look for.
Sizing up your competitors' Websites
- Checkmate!
Keywords & Key Phrases
First, determine
what keywords and key phrases that your competition
is using. Determine the top Web sites for the keywords
and phrases that you intend on using. You can emulate
their success and go one better.
Try one search engine at a time. Start with Google
and note what Web sites are showing up in the top 20
rankings for keywords and key phrases you intend on
using. Click on the first Web site. Eyeball the site
for elements that might be causing the site to rank
at the top of the list:
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- What keywords are they using?
- Where are the keywords listed
on the Web site?
- Where do they appear on the page?
- top, middle, or bottom of the page?
- Are these keywords being used
in the page title?
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| Use this information to analyze
the page. Next, look at what is 'underneath'
the Web site in the programming. Click on VIEW,
then SOURCE in your Web browser to access the
programming code. Can you see keywords and phrases
used in Meta tags, Image "ALT" tags, and so
on? If the page is well done, save the page's
Source code. Simply cut and paste the code into
a word processor file. Note what keywords and
key phrases are getting results.
Once you have searched out one search engine
move onto another major search engine and repeat
the process. When you have researched a particular
keyword, start again with Google on another
keyword or key phrase set.
The key objective is to emulate the top ranked
Web sites without stealing anything that is
protected by law. Once you have captured the
code and found the trends and layouts that are
working you can begin to see why certain Web
sites rank well.
One note about searching the competition:
some Web marketers may be "cloaking" their source
code. This means you that the code you view
on their Web site isn’t the code that search
engines are finding on their Web site. There
are techniques you can utilize to determine
this.
Design, Layout, Strategy and "Call to
Action"
Next determine what page and
design elements and site layout your competition
is using.
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- What is their "call to action"?
Can you determine what action they want
Web site visitors to take?
- What attitude and feel does their
Web site convey?
- What are they doing on-line to make
it easier, faster or less expensive to do
business with them?
- How are they positioning their brand?
- What are they doing on-line to create
ongoing communications and feedback
with their customers?
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What Web site structure, page layout, and design
can you utilize to improve on what your competition
is offering? Can you make access to information on your
Web site better or make subscribing to an email newsletter
easier or more convenient? Determine how you can make
your Web site more "usable".
Go to school on your competition. Study keywords,
key phrases, programming, layout and design. Then better
your competition and you'll be on your way to on-line
success!
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LEARN MORE:
WHITE PAPER - How to Choose the Right Search Marketing
Consultant
3
Ways to Supercharge Your Website Results
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Competition
