To begin you must choose a viable competitor. Many of you may already have a clear idea of who your competitors are which will make this simpler. If you don’t, then run searches for your most important keyword phrases on Google (or the search engine of concern) while noting any competitors who appear more than once. With luck you will have quickly identified your competitor(s) of choice to move onto the actual analysis.

If You Can’t Beat Them… Improve on Them! - This competitive analysis will require 4 stages of research; position reporting, search engine saturation, design critique, and link popularity research.

Stage 1: Position Reporting - Now that you know who your competitor is it is time to really get an idea how well they are doing! First write down the first 30 major keywords and phrases that appear in the Meta tags found in the Source (select "View Source" from ‘View’ in Internet Explorer) of the competitor’s Home Page. Now take that list and go to Google and type in each query to see if the competitor has top rankings anywhere within the Top20. I recommend using Excel to document this, it will make analysis easier.

After you have compiled the results note which of the phrases are continually appearing in the Top20. 10 to 1 the rankings will all contain a similar keyword or variation. Now you know what the main keyword targets are for your competitor’s Home Page! To further discriminate their most valued phrase, just look at their Title tag. Often it will include at least one incidence of their core target Keyphrase.

This is a huge advantage because now you have the key to unraveling their marketing tactics. This can be compared to being given a decryption key to read a document… now you just have to read it and understand what you are seeing.

Stage 2: Search Engine Saturation - Just how much of the competitor’s web site has been indexed (read and included) by the search engines? This question is important because the degree of saturation plays an important role in Google’s algorithm. To put it very simply the more pages your site has indexed, the better your chances for top ranking.

To obtain this important statistic, type in the following syntax in Google’s search bar: "site:www.competitorswebsite.com"

Stage 3: Design Critique - This is the most technical stage of all and it will likely require a great deal of time but you will be amazed by the benefits. This stage demands that you consider the method of design, layout and navigation for the competitor’s site. In most cases when reviewing each element of their site you will find telltale signs of optimization such as:

Stage 4: Link Popularity - "How many pages are linking to your competitor’s web site? How many are their own pages?"

Link Popularity (LP) is a crucial consideration when analyzing a competitor. Essentially LP has the power to make or break a web site. The more links pointing to a web site from other related web sites, the more credibility Google perceives the site to have. In this case, the method for basically analyzing the LP of your competitor is to simply type in the following: "link:www.competitorswebsite.com"

What you will likely end up with is a number of external sites linking to your competitor along with many of their own pages showing up as well. In this case it is important to consider just how many of the pages are actually their own. I have seen incidences where nearly 75% of all pages were their own! This is a symbol of the search engine friendliness of their web site. Once you have a good idea of their external back links (links pointing to their site), consider contacting each of the sites and requesting a link from them. To do this you will require a links page within your web site where you can place reciprocal links to the agreeable link provider; this is generally expected by webmasters.

Summary - Now that you have identified the various techniques your competitor is using, try to incorporate the ‘mix’ into your current web site. Pay special attention to the Home Page and focus on these elements in this order of importance: Title Tag, optimization of the first text within your page, implementing a proper Description Tag, carefully remove all barriers to the Spider navigation of your site, and increase the incidences of the Keyphrase(s) within the written copy visible on your page.

By establishing the position of your competition and the techniques used, you should now have a much better concept of what works and what doesn’t when obtaining rankings within your niche. If you have not found the information that you need or you wish to learn much more about your competition please don’t hesitate to contact StepForth, our research services are designed to strip bare the techniques that your competitors are using. An advanced competitor analysis can make all the difference in the world for your web site and it will save you the money involved with repetitive SEO because you will know what works!

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Among the findings from Year Four of the Digital Future Project:

2. The Media Habits Of The Nation Have Changed, And Continue To Change - For the past 50 years, Americans’ time at home has been dominated by television. Increasingly over the last 10 years, Internet users have “bought” their time to go online from the time they previously spent watching television. And, the more experience users have with the Internet, the less television they watch.

3. The Credibility Of The Internet Is Dropping - The credibility of information on the Internet was high among users through the first three years of the Digital Future Project, and that credibility remains generally high in Year Four. However, the project found that the high level of credibility for online information began to decline in the third year of this study, and dropped even further in Year Four.

4. We Have Just Begun to See the Changes to Come in Buying Online - Several issues that affect online purchasing have changed dramatically in the last four years. There is no question that concerns about credit card security while buying online remain extremely high. However, the intensity of that concern is declining.

5. The “Geek-Nerd” Perception Of The Internet Is Dead - Since the beginning of the Digital Future Project, its studies found that going online did not put the social lives of users at risk. The Internet has little or no impact on time spent with family or friends, or on sleeping, exercising, or most other personal activities (other than watching television). In fact, the Digital Future Project continues to show that Internet users are often more socially active than non-users, and are less alienated from others. And because of e-mail and instant messaging, the Internet has become a useful tool to build relationships; Internet users communicate with others more, not less.

6. Privacy And Security: Concerns Remain, But The High Levels Are Changing - In all four studies by the Digital Future Project, Internet users and non-users alike have expressed very high levels of concern about privacy and security. They fear not only for their personal security, but are also concerned about companies or individuals tracking what they do online.

7. The Internet Has Become The Number One Source For Information For Internet Users - The Internet has become the most important source of current information for users – the primary place they go for research, general information, hobbies, entertainment listings, travel, health, and investments. The “always-on” function of broadband has accelerated this importance.

8. The Benefits – and Drawbacks – Of The Internet For Children Are Still Coming Into Focus. - There is no question that the Internet opens a whole new world to children. But it’s a world that is also strewn with pitfalls.

9. E-mail: “E-Nuff” Already? - E-mail is still the single most important reason people go online. E-mail is a tremendous convenience, and for most users, it is a free service with enormous benefits. E-mail opens opportunities to communicate more often and with a much broader circle of people than we ever reach by telephone or by mail.

10. Broadband Will Change Everything – Again - Just as the arrival of the Internet created a flood of social change, the proliferation of broadband technology as a method of accessing the Internet is beginning to cause its own revolution. Broadband is changing entirely our relationship with the Internet at home – how often we go online, how long we stay online, and what we do online. Simply, modem use is disruptive; broadband use is integrative.

Many visitors tend to enjoy an eye catching flash or other graphically intense means of navigation; however there are many search engine spiders that pass these by. Although some spiders are capable of following linked graphics, many seek out and follow straight text links, ignoring the rest. You may want to think twice before using flash, graphics, DHTML or JavaScript as a sole means of site navigation. These technologies certainly have their place for design and usability from a user stand point, however to rely solely only on these methods you stand the risk of having the bulk of your website's content virtually invisible to the search engines.

The key to success in having your site fully spidered is to provide a clear path via text links. For small sites this can be easily accomplished through the addition of basic textual navigation at the bottom of the page including a link to each internal page of the site. For larger websites, a comprehensive sitemap may be required. For sites with a large number of pages the navigation map should point to the main pages within your site, as well as a site map that includes links to all internals grouped by a common thread. If your site is made up of in excess of 100 pages I recommend breaking the sitemap into multiple pages, as some spiders may not follow all the links on the page. In some extreme instances pages with well over 100 internal links may also end up penalized.

Although some spiders are capable of following a variety of links, by providing a clear text path you will significantly increase the chances of not only having your site fully indexed but also reap the benefits of improved placements in the SERPs.

When it comes to web marketing, it's all about 'conversion' - how many of your site visitors you can convert into a lead, a sale, a member etc. Companies lacking a well conceived and well implemented website conversion strategy, are failing to leverage the most important marketing medium of the twenty-first century.

1. Target Audience - The foundation of effective web marketing is the 'who.' Determining your target audience, their needs, wants, level of knowledge, goals, etc is critical to creating a website that will be effective at either lead generation or e-commerce. Often the process of defining target audience is the process of elimination. Figuring out who is not your target audience can help substantially in what can otherwise be a difficult task.

2. Core Message - Flowing directly from who you want to target, is the question of what you want to say to them. Your core message delivers your value proposition in a clear and compelling way. Your core message is not a mission statement, or an executive summary of your strategic plan. Your core message is essentially a list of the reasons that people do business with you - written from their perspective.

Typically, companies have an idea of their core message, but all too often it is written from their own perspective, or is so filled with jargon and technical terms, that it is not understood by the target audience. Once it has been developed and refined, your core message forms the foundation of your specific marketing messages, including your website.

3. Site Structure - Many websites are little more than on-line brochures. Visitors are free to click between this page and that, reading a little here and a little there. The result is that a site visitor develops very little emotional attachment, and the 'back button' is increasingly enticing.

Another way to look at a website is more like a sales presentation. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. Sales people intuitively understand that their message must be delivered in the right sequence - A, B, C, then D, which leads to E. A website that is carefully structured can accomplish this same effect, building understanding and buy-in, step-by-step. At the end of that 'presentation' the visitor takes the next step willingly.

4. Calls to Action - Asking a site visitor to take the next step is the 'call to action'. This is the "contact us", "join our mailing list", or "sign up today" option, which informs the site visitor of the correct next step. Most people are grateful to be guided through the process of evaluating a product or service, so if you tell them that the next step is to sign up for a 30-day trial, many of them will.

In this age of marketing saturation, a call to action of "call or email us for more information" will generate very little response. Luckily there are a number of more imaginative calls to action that will create a higher percentage of qualified leads.

5. Lead Capture - Actually capturing contact (and qualification) information from leads is relatively easy with today's technology. Some simple web scripts and an effective 'off the shelf' business database are all that are needed. Many companies set up automated responses, saving time and energy, and ensuring that their sales people spend personal time with only the most qualified leads.

6. Supporting Graphic Design - Unfortunately, many companies spend 90% of their web budget on graphic design, and only 10% on 'the other stuff'. Graphic design serves two purposes: 1) to establish credibility, and 2) to entice visitors to read your text. Credibility is established when a company uses effective graphic design and 'looks big'. On-line it's hard to tell, but poor graphic design leads visitors to believe that your company is small. Once credibility is established, visitors will spend some time evaluating your specific message.

We know this is true from our own experience as buyers and consumers. When's the last time you purchased a product because the pictures on the packaging looked good? Maybe in the grocery store, but that's it! Typically, good design compels us to spend more time considering the real message of a product and service, and that's why we believe that graphic design SUPPORTS (not replaces) a well- defined and well implemented web marketing strategy.

7. Site Promotion - Once your site has been optimized to maximize conversion rates, using the strategies listed above, site promotion activities should be used to drive increased traffic onto your site. Site promotion ranges from listing your website on your business cards, through expensive and time consuming Search Engine Optimization strategies to increase your ranking on sites like Google.

The area of site promotion can be a minefield to those new to web marketing. Perhaps the four most cost effective strategies to investigate are:

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