Competition

Using Proxy to Check SMB Competition

November 29, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

By Sharon Robinson

If you are surfing the Net and don’t realize that every keystroke you make and every search you instigate is being monitored than you have no right to be on the Net. Information is being gathered at all times to feed this beast that is the Internet; information that is available to virtually everyone for the right price.

This information is vital if you are running a business with an online presence. Never has it been easier to monitor your competition than with the Internet. The Internet has served to destroy barriers to entry in most fields and encourages small and medium sized businesses to broaden their horizons and seek growth via exports to foreign countries. It is this fostering of competition that means that you must keep a closer eye on your competitors than ever because every niche that is perceived as being profitable quickly attracts an inordinate amount of competition. In cyberspace it is the quick or the dead.

If your competition is worth keeping an eye on then rest assured they are targeting overseas markets with tailored content and advertising to suit local tastes. The foreign sites will probably require different keywords and will attract local advertising as another revenue source. So why not monitor their offshore strategies and perhaps copy what you deem to be their successful campaigns. After all, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery and all is fair in love and business.

However, when you perform searches, the search is tailored to your previous search patterns and also localized for content. Via your IP address, the servers know where you are based and respond accordingly. Using a proxy server though, you can check your competition with impunity, safe in the knowledge that you cannot be tracked and your competition will never know you have been checking them out.

Similarly, you can receive accurate search results from foreign websites of your competitors by using a proxy server in the country from which you want to receive the search results. For example, if you want to see how your competitor is tackling the Swedish market, you can connect to a Swedish proxy server and receive localized Swedish search results.

Although there are free proxy services that usually compel you to receive free advertising, it is best to pay for a premium proxy such as GeoSurf where you are assured premium service and you may even select from over 100 countries from which to “surf.” The cost is not exorbitant and it is a legitimate business write-off.

3 Mistakes Every Entrepreneur Must Avoid

January 24, 2010 by Sarah Leave a Comment

It’s a new year. Time for making changes, starting over, and attempting to reach goals both new and old. Maybe you’ve decided to start exercising more or maybe you decided to go back to school. Or maybe you think you’re ready to take the big plunge and start your own business. After all, you’ve had that great idea in the back of your head for months, maybe even years and there are some small signs that the economy is improving.

Before you even decide to start your business, there are a few basic things you need to keep in mind. While you need to be confident in your idea, being too confident can become a problem. If something seems like it’s too good to be true, more likely than not, it is. Look over the list below and make sure you’re not falling into one of these traps before you so much as think about getting that big loan.

1. Sizing Up the Competition. You’ve come up with a brilliant idea and upon Googling it, you can’t seem to find any competition. This has got to be a future business-owner’s dream come true, right? Wrong. Every business has competition; it’s what makes the world go around. If you don’t think you’ll have competition, you’ll need to look further and if you still can’t seem to find any, well, there’s probably not a market for your idea.

2. Maybe it’s not so cool after all. If you find yourself in a position without any competition, maybe you need to rethink your idea. Just because you think it’s awesome, doesn’t necessarily mean it is. Or maybe it’s a neat idea, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into a big business venture. The easiest way to find out is to understand the market. Ask around, ask people what they think of your idea.

3. Marketing. Don’t assume your product is so great it’s gonna speak for itself. Successful marketing campaigns come by putting money and hard work into advertising your product. Once you’ve done the work, it’s possible word of your company will spread like wildfire, but that’s not going to happen if you don’t ignite the flame.

Read more about the mistake business owners make by visiting MSNBC’s Small Business section.