Why Competition is a GOOD Thing!

Lynn Terry
November 2004

When you are researching a new project, or when you begin marketing your website, the competition may seem overwhelming.

"How can I ever compete with them all?!"

Most people will give up, feeling that it's just too competitive. Not necessarily true. In fact, nothing is really as competitive as it seems! AND, competition is not necessarily a bad thing.

Let me explain:

First, in order to be truly competitive, you need to know HOW to compete. Next, you need to actually do the work that it takes in order to compete.

It's that simple. But the truth is... most people either don't know how, or aren't willing to WORK. So if you can do those two simple steps, you are way ahead of the so-called competition!

It's a well-known fact that Google will REWARD you for content and for relevancy. This means that if you want to obtain a top ten search engine listing for a particular term, you simply have to have more content - or more relevant content than those that are competing for these listings. If you want to advertise on Google Adwords, you simply have to create an Ad that is more relevant to the keywords that you bid on than the other advertisers did. This is JUST as important as the amount you bid per click!

It's NOT hard to out-do your "competitors" - you simply have to work just a little bit harder than they do ;) Considering that most people don't even want to "work" - your job is made very easy!

That said, let's talk about why competition can be a really GOOD thing:

If you choose a super-micro-niche market and create a website or a product, with no known competitors in sight, then you are most certainly going to appear #1 on all of the major search engines. However, your work will be cut out for you for a long time to come, because there are literally no sources from which to draw.

For example:

- There are no other products or affiliate programs that you can add to your website, so you must create all of the products on your own.

- There are no leading authorities in the industry, so you must write all of your own content.

- There are no other webmasters to do link exchanges with, and no relevant websites that will want or need to link to you!

- There are no relevant advertisers to appear on your Google Adsense

So you see... competition CAN be a good thing! These are people with affiliate programs that you can integrate into your own site. People that you can partner or "joint venture" with. People that will link to you, and that you can link to. People that pay for Google ads, so that you can earn an income from Google Adsense click-through's.

You want to choose an industry that is alive and full of opportunities. And if you have already chosen an industry, take a second look at those "competitors" and all of the potential ways that you may use their leverage or content or popularity to YOUR advantage!
____________
Lynn Terry, of Self-Starters Weekly Tips:
http://www.SelfStartersWeeklyTips.com
Shows you the difference between websites that
COST you money and websites that MAKE you money!

©2004 This article was written exclusively for Internet Based Moms™ and may not be re-published or copied without permission from Internet Based Moms™, except to print one copy for personal use. Any questions regarding use of this article should be directed to Linda. Comments and general questions about the article's content can be directed to the author.