Knowing as much as you can about your competition enables you to better position your company to succeed. Since so much of today’s business is done over the Internet, evaluating how your competitors position themselves online will reveal valuable information that will help you enhance traffic to your website.

Do you know the leaders in your industry? It’s good information to have because they are the ones setting the pace in your line of business. By analyzing their product offerings, presentation and inventive approaches, you can establish your business so it is perceived by customers to be better than theirs. A good place to start is a competitor’s website. Here are 3 key strategies for analyzing a competitor’s website so you can enhance your own:

1. Identify the major players in the industry in which you do business.

The Yahoo directory is a good starting point. Visit the websites of these leaders to see show they position themselves online. Media Metrix 500 and Alexa are two good sites to use to learn how much traffic the competition receives to their website and how it ranks with others in the industry. You might also consider searching for articles, interviews, or speeches from key players in a competing company to see if they discuss anything related to their website strategy.

2. Evaluate the competition.

Choose about 10 of your top competitors and analyze their websites coming from a customer’s viewpoint. Compare products and services. Is there something that they’re not offering that you can? Maneuver through the site and evaluate its ease of use, functionality and appearance. Note strengths and weaknesses that you can capitalize on. Take note of any advertising campaigns or what their overall web strategy may be.

3. Counter the competition.

Once you’ve completed your analysis, develop ways in which you can counter the strategies of your competition. Perhaps it’s product selection or pricing. Revise your marketing plan to reflect methods you plan to use to increase your ranking with search engines.

All companies have vulnerabilities in which they are not completely serving the customer. In order to compete among the major players, you need to capitalize on these weaknesses and create niches that fill in the gaps.

When it comes to doing business online, you can be a company that competes with the competition or finds another niche to focus on. Just remember, small businesses have the ability to be more flexible and to implement measures faster and more cost effectively than big companies. The key is to analyze a competitor’s website to determine how they are not serving the needs of customers and then take steps to meet customer demand.

Leave us a comment on how you overcame the competition and followed your own path.

Matthew  Toren