Is There Really Any Competition Online For Your Market?

Here’s an interesting case study I just did in my own market niche which is “Internet Marketing For Local Business Owners“.

If you’re a local business owner wanting to maximize your advertising dollars by utilizing the power of the internet (i.e. Internet Marketing or Search Engine Optimization SEO) then you’ll certainly get a kick out of this.

What’s terrific about the internet is that you can test just about anything very quickly, and even more importantly you can track your specific return on investment for any individual search term using paid advertising such as Google Adwords or Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC).

In any market online you can test whether it makes sense to optimize your website for any given search term by first bidding on a per click basis (pay per click or PPC) on thousands of keywords and keyword phrases at once.

Typically, in any keyword list you might bid on, which is related to your particular business or niche there ends up being only a dozen or so keywords, terms or phrases that ever really convert to one of your desired actions.

A desired action from your website might be a phone call, a lead generation form, a newsletter subscriber, etc.

As an internet marketer, I know the exact terms that convert to sales or “actions” in my business online and I can use that against the competition to ferret out whether they know what they are doing online and if I should pay attention to them.

Here’s the simple premise behind this sort of “test the competition” and see how truly savvy they are. Luckily most online businesses are simply shooting in the dark and hoping for the best.

So, here’s what I did…

I found a local competitor of mine (competitor in terms of search engine rankings) and looked for a local search term in which they ranked number one for.

The search term I chose was: “Northern Virginia SEO Services”

When choosing that local search term, I wanted to chose one that does not convert to customers and essentially has no value (i.e. not a search term that would ever really convert to a sale or desired action). Essentially a very non competitive search term that you would only go after if you were either testing or possibly just shooting in the dark HOPING for the best.

Now, my point in choosing this useless term is to see how savvy the competition really is. The point being; if I launch a full on paid and natural search marketing campaign using a term that another website ranks well for, I’ll learn a few things about them.

1. they will ignore my efforts because they know the exact keywords and phrases that convert to sales in the local market.

OR

2. they will see my efforts as an attack (since they don’t really know what keywords convert for their business) and they will go on to launch a counter attack and be scared simply because they DON’T know what DOES convert to a sale in their own market.

Makes sense doesn’t it.

Based on their actions I will almost immediately know if they are a skilled competitor or if they are a “shoot in the dark” sort of wanna be.

Defending a search engine ranking they have, which doesn’t convert to real business will let me know immediately if they “get it” or if they are simply a “defensive” marketer. Correct?

What do you think they did?

Well, knowing that most online marketers in my field of work typically “don’t” get it – I expected a defense, and I got it.

I stole several top ten listings for the local search term “Northern Virginia SEO Services” and they mounted a defensive for weeks on end.

Little did they know I was stealing traffic on several other fronts that actually convert to customers and business while they were doing their defensive, shoot in the dark marketing to hold on to a top search engine ranking which was essentially useless.

Remember what I said at the beginning how easy online advertising can be in terms of tracking and return on investment. It’s even amazingly easy when testing or spying on the competition (and trust me, there is typically no REAL competition online in most markets).

What’s most interesting is; would you really want an internet marketing company who does defensive, useless promotion OR an internet marketing expert who can see the target and shoots to kill on search terms and keyword phrases that actually convert to a sale?

What would you choose…

Let’s throw it all out there and see what sticks, look at us we do everything?

OR

First let’s test, squeeze out the best of the best and then own that share of the market online?

I think you can make the most obvious choice.

In the end, who do you trust? The company that states they do anything and everything such as internet marketing, financial services, dry cleaning, real estate, business branding, lawn mowing and babysitting.

OR…

Would you rather trust your marketing to a company like Web Market Authority who has focus and doesn’t claim to be buying into the hype of the “we do it all” sort of marketing.

Remember, “he who attempts everything accomplishes nothing” — and as a local business owner you need focus and proven results to beat out the competition online. Don’t trust all of the buzz word marketing speak, your local business is worth more than just a shot in the dark.

If you’re a local business owner interested in gaining more online customers, Web Market Authority will implement a tested, proven plan and move you toward online market ownership without all the technical speak.

Ready to own your market online? Contact Us today and we’ll discuss your online marketing goals.

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