Online Competitors - Who are they?

Online Competitors - Who are they?

| 28/07/2008

Whenever we kick off a website project with a new client, we ask them to identify their online competition. The response we get is almost always a list of local or Australian companies. But given the international audience provided by the Internet, the reality is that the contenders for that customer pool may be located in New Zealand, China or even London.

Bottom line? Your competition is whoever is battling you for the Number #1 position in the search engines – no matter where in the world they are located. In the fight for traffic, clients and sales, you might end up battling it out with an international company.

How do you compete on a global level? We have a few recommendations. First of all, make sure that your keywords are easily searchable in the different flavors of English. For example, ‘optimisation’ is spelled ‘optimization’ in the United States. Regional copy editors can help you make sure that your content is clear to different audiences and language tools like the free ones offered by Google can be helpful, as well.

Secondly, ensure that you publish phone numbers that can be reached from anywhere in the world (non ‘free’ or specialty prefixes) and that fully articulated street addresses are easily findable. If someone in Scotland is looking for a Sydney-based realtor, having that address on your website – and especially the postal code – can be what pops your site to the top of the results page.

Finally, comb your content for the little things that can cause hiccups internationally. Abbreviations, jargon, and regional expressions will all hurt your SEO scores outside your local area. If possible, have people in different countries take a look at the website for you. Also try search for it on the local engines of different target countries. These are some tactics that can make your site a global force.

tags: Web 2.0 ,  Online Marketing ,  Web Strategy ,  SEO