Do I have to consider the competition? Yes.

It may be hard to understand, but reviewing the competition will let you know what you are not doing right. Why? Because you will see the evolution of their marketing pitch versus yours. Plus if they are doing a much better job than you of communicating their products, then you will know why your traffic is going down.

Does traffic go down for unknown reasons? Yes. What are those unknown reasons? Most likely the competition has changed and you do not know it. Or the competition is getting smarter and you have been lazy in keeping up. The landscape of your competition can change at any moment. If you get comfortable, then sooner or later your competition will make a move and out-smart you.

How will your competitors out-smart you? They can come up with better pricing. They can display their pricing in a more complete way. They can display their pricing in a more transparent way so you can be compared on many levels or pricing breaks or product selections or time intervals.

If the customers are perceiving apples to oranges then that is bad for you depending on how much better the competition is communicating their pricing. Some customers do not like being deceived on pricing. Once they get to you, they better have a clear idea of the price especially if it is a sliding scale on complex services or multi-stage such as automotive repair.

Advertising your products can be another issue your competitors may do better. Are you really breaking down the issue for the customer so they can trust you. Or are you just talking in circles? Customers do not like fancy-talk and elusive talk. They want to find out what the deal is – straight up. And if they feel later that you were not totally clear with them, they will just go somewhere else next time. They have to trust you to come back to you.

So look at how the competition is describing their products, pricing their products, making themselves available, and revealing information that is relevant to their need for the product. The customer is not always looking to understand how you came to sell your products in your life long journey. Sometimes customers just want the product price and service. It is not about you. It is about the customer.

Many times I have to tell it like it is to a business. I’ll say, “the competition is focusing on the customers. You are focusing on yourself!” The SEO changes that approach because you have to consider how customers are finding you. The competition is focused on it. So you should as well. Allied Virtual Media can help you with competitive review and marketing comparisons to tune-up your approach.