How your competitors can keep your website humming

The obvious flipside of a world where your customers can find out all about your business and its products and services is that so too can your competitors.

Never before has it been so easy to find out valuable information about your business.

Conversely, never before has it been so easy to find out valuable information about your competitors.

But rather than view that as a negative, such competitive information on demand can help ensure that your own web presence keeps up with these E Jones.

Is benchmarking spying?

Some might think that this benchmarking is tantamount to spying. But be reassured by two things:

1. Your competitors are spying on you.
2. This information is publicly available, so there is nothing illegal or particularly unethical about it.

So what is benchmarking and why should we do it?

Benchmarking is an invaluable way of ensuring that what you are offering, not only on your website but in your entire business, remains competitive.

In practice it means examining the best websites in your industry, noting the features and benefits they are providing and using those as examples for your own business.

Those features and benefits can be anything a website can offer, for example a stunning design, a useful video, outstanding search engine optimisation, a great offer to sign up to the eNewsletter – essentially anything that makes their website and business more enticing to both existing and prospective customers. But such an exercise is not a once-off.

Regularity reaps benchmarking rewards

The best benchmarking exercises involve regular monitoring and recording of what your benchmark websites are doing, so you remain up-to-date with trends and developments.

This regular approach in turn provides an ongoing stream of ideas for improving your own business and web presence.

No doubt some that want to take this even further are likely to get a friend or relative to sign up to their eNewsletter, meaning the competitive information comes to you. Not that I’m condoning such a practice!

Similarly, ethical benchmarking does not mean direct copying. In addition to ethical ramifications there may be legal ones a straight ‘rip’ might cause.

Instead it’s fair to be influenced by a feature but reinterpret it for your own use.

An ancient practice

There is nothing new here. Ethical businesses have been influenced by others since business began.

But if your conscience is making you hesitant to use benchmarking at all, there are ways other than benchmarking a direct competitor.

You could use a business in a similar line of business or business model, or you benchmark overseas businesses. Personally I prefer this approach so I can’t be accused of copying a competitor’s idea.

Either way, a good benchmarking strategy will ensure that your online presence remains relevant and competitive.

Its benefits shouldn’t be underestimated. 

In addition to being a leading eBusiness educator to the smaller business sector, Craig Reardon is the founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which was established to address the special website and web marketing needs of SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.