Technology and the internet have leveled the playing field. It has also made things more complex and fast paced. Starting an online business in many ways is easier than establishing a brick and mortar presence. But the one thing that has not changed even in the online world is the presence of competition. As far as competition is concerned, your online business will also have to:

• Keep an eye on what they are doing
• Use emerging technology and support to stay ahead
• Conduct competitor research to stay proactive and
• Find and sustain a unique selling proposition

Here is how you can understand your online competition and use actionable information to develop your business.

Since most social media accounts are free and open to public access, you should sign up for the pages or accounts for your competitors too. This will give you an idea not only of what the company itself is doing but also how its customers are reacting and interacting with it. This should also lead you to craft your own social media strategy keeping in mind that you need to differentiate yourself from your competition.

For instance, if you find that the customers of your competitor are giving negative feedback on a particular product or service, then you should be able to craft your message highlighting the benefits that your product has. Ideally, this should not be a negative campaign because it can ricochet on you at some point of time!

This is another powerful tool when it comes to scoping out your online competition. The websites of your competitors are, again, open to public viewing. So, when it comes to analyzing yours and your competitor’s web presence, you really must start with a visit to the latter. It will also help you to do a search using specific keywords. If your competitor’s website turns up more often than yours with specific keywords, then you know what you have to change in your own content.

Along with a trial and error method of keywords, you can also look for the following:

• Local reviews
• Organic listings
• Pay per click advertisements
• Number of links on search results pages and so on.

All of which will point not only to your competitors’ online presence but also give you an idea of what they are doing which will make it very easy for you to craft your marketing and promotional strategies.

This is perhaps yet another important question when it comes to understanding your online competition. You need to look at both direct and indirect sources. For instance, you may be a restaurant owner in Canberra. Your direct competition may be other restaurants in the vicinity but indirect competition may be fast food joints that allow people to pick up something in a jiffy when they are hungry.

Therefore, the digital world does offer a lot of opportunities to check out your business competition online. It is important that you do so on a regular basis so that you are up-to-date with all the strategies that your competition is using and fine tune your strategy as well.

Author Bio:

SEO Company In Australia provides reliable SEO services. We understand small business and create strategies based on custom research tailored to your business and industry. You can find out more about our SEO strategy at our website: www.seocompanyinaustralia.com.au