Newsletter - Outflanking Your Online Competitors

Performance Marketing
Volume 1, Issue 9
September 2009

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Performance Marketing, the monthly newsletter for online marketers looking for results. With almost 14 billion queries each month, search is a key element of any performance marketing plan. But the rise of search has created some strange bedfellows. Type in “The Gap” for example and you’ll find information from “Mind The Gap Nature Network Blog” as well as from the popular clothing store. This is especially true if your keyword is a commodity like “digital camera” or “mascara.” This issue explores how to position your brand properly against your unexpected online competitors.

All the Best,
Daniel Laury
Founder, President and CEO
LSF Interactive

Feature Article: Outrank Your Online Competitors

The steady increase in search engine use is rewriting the rules of marketing as organizations decide how best to incorporate the realities of this channel into their plans. One effect of search is that dissimilar entities become competitors when they are listed alongside each other on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Being competitive today requires that you position your brand properly – not only against companies in your traditional space -- but also against those who appear in the results of Google and other search engines.

Define traditional vs. online competitors

Traditional competitors are those in your market space that provide the same products and services as you do to your target market. An online competitor is an entity that is competing with you for the top 5 to 10 spaces on the SERPs that does not share your industry or your target market.

Non-traditional competitors are moving into new spaces online and increasing the crunch for Page 1 spots. For example, the Discovery Channel is one of the History Channel’s biggest traditional competitors since it offers similar programming. But the online competitors of the History Channel are surprising: government sites, educational sites and Wikipedia entries that appear when a searcher is looking for that type of content online.

Find your rivals for visibility

Many companies are so focused on conquering their offline competition they don’t realize they’re being ambushed online. An organization that does not properly identify and differentiate between these two will lose qualified website traffic and potential customers. Online competitors may not be your direct challengers for revenue, but they are your rivals for visibility.

For example, if you search for “soft drinks” you expect to see Coke and Pepsi at the top of the SERPs. Instead you find informational sites, health sites discussing the effect of soft drinks on our overall health, and educational sites. While these organizations are not competing directly with Coke and Pepsi, they are gaining prominent online visibility, pushing Coke’s and Pepsi’s rankings lower, and possibly redirecting potential customers.

Word to the wise

People tend to search for problems online, while companies tend to optimize around the solution they offer. If you are looking for competitors in your space, you need to search on the problem and your solution.

For example, someone who spills red wine on his shirt (it’s been known to happen) may search for “remove red wine stain” instead of a specific product name. If you are a company that specializes in stain treatments you want to make sure your pages are optimized beyond the obvious terms to include tips on how these products can remove specific stains

Don't overlook your landing pages

Once you are optimized for search on the key phrases users will look for, you need to think about where these users will land after the click. If you want your visitors to stay on your site and eventually take action, you must optimize your landing pages in order to show those visitors the information they are looking for immediately.

Choose a partner

One of the best reasons to work with a search marketing expert is to get help figuring out what the consumer is searching for and defining the proper search terms. We at LSF Interactive have spent countless hours refining keyword strategies and landing page optimization with our clients. Ask your performance marketing partner how to maximize visibility for your brand and beat your competition online.

Find your online competitors: 4 Tips

• Search on any major search engine for keywords that relate to your core business practices and see who comes up on the first page of the results.
• Search on the names and types of your high converting products.
• Analyze your online competitors’ sites and identify keywords that relate to your business.
• Rethink your keyphrase strategy. Can it elbow these online rivals aside?

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