Spying on your competition

Irrespective of what sort of business you're in, it pays to know as much about your current and potential competition as you can. 

• What new partnerships and alliances have they formed?
• What new promotional strategies have they implemented?
• What new ideas have they had? 
• Is their name mentioned on conference, industry associations sites?
• What's their customer service like? 
• What new clients have they won? 
• Have they moved to a new location? 
• Have they hired more staff?
• Are they advertising on other sites through banners, links? Where are they advertising?

Make it your personal responsibility to find out what your competitors are up to, and do your own bit of research to see exactly which of your competitors have a powerful voice on the web and why. 

Using the Google Alerts tool, you can keep an eye on your competition at all times and monitor what they’re offering, what changes they are announcing, what customers are saying about them and what industry leading commentators are criticising or applauding.  Having access to the latest news and information can mean you are much better placed to make the right business decisions which help you, your business, and your website stand out.
Google Alerts are sent directly to your email inbox and currently offers 6 variations of alerts - 'News', 'Web', 'Blogs', 'Comprehensive', 'Video' and 'Groups'.   Simply enter the terms you want to track and Google will do the rest, ensuring you are kept up to date on you your particular industry.  If you want to keep up with your competitor, simply enter the company name or their product and you can begin tracking what people are saying online about them.  You can choose whether to be notified daily, weekly or as it happens as well as manage your list of alerts.

Commit as much time as you can to the Google Alerts tool, and you’ll be rewarded with a better perspective of your industry.  Then use the information you’ve gathered to challenge and improve your own business strategies, to ensure you’re always ahead of the pack.