No proposition development is complete without an honest assessment of what your competitors are up to. If you are in a locally based click and- mortar business like Brad’s, your assessment should take into account both your local and your global competition. Do a search on both your local Google and Google.com. Cross-reference this with data from Alexa (see the section on tracking and tuning, page 224). Focus on competitors that enjoy both good rankings and high traffic levels.
Ignore the SEO aspects for now and focus on the business ideas contained in your competitors’ sites and how these are presented. A useful tool to use is so-called SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
And threats) analysis, where you draw four boxes in a 232 table for each competitor. In the first box you note the strengths of the competitor, in the second their weaknesses, in the third their opportunities, and in the fourth their threats. Strengths and weaknesses are things inherent to their business as it operates today (and are generally internal). Opportunities and threats are things external to the business and are
Normally forward looking.
Look at each competitor website objectively and put yourself in the minds of your customers. Do you like the look of the website? Can you use it? Does it address each customer group separately, focus on one
Segment, or try to be all things at once? Is it easy to get information and do business? Before you become too obsessed with the SEO aspects, it is good to take some time out and get ideas from those who are already succeeding online.
Where and how will you win?
The internet becomes more competitive every day, but it is still a relatively immature medium that is evolving quickly. If you think it’s hard to be on top at the moment, just wait until five years from now! Winning today is more and more about identifying a great niche and then ruthlessly pursuing a dominance in that niche. If you think about things from a business perspective first, your SEO effort will be all the more effective.
In summary (and to use a fishing analogy), look at what the more experienced anglers are doing. Copy what works but don’t follow the crowd: Find a good stream that isn’t overfished; stand where the current runs strongest; and use the right bait. Most importantly, keep the right fish and throw back the toddlers for someone else to catch.
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