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Copy good ideas from other sites
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Always keep your eyes open for good ideas. North America is the most mature of the internet markets and the normal progression is for good internet concepts to establish themselves in the US and then get ported globally.
The European market is fragmented, trading borders and language differences separate Europe. This in turn can create opportunity; it’s not always easy to port good ideas across Europe. Look out for good ideas in overseas markets that are not being taken advantage of locally. You might be able to replicate these concepts, be careful not to
plagiarize and always observe copyright, strive to improve the idea and/or make it less expensive. Being the best and/or least expensive will give your site a fighting chance of real success.
For example: there were three German brothers called Samwer, one of which spent some time in 1999
analyzing Silicon Valley start-ups. After consideration he decided that he and his brothers, together with three other friends would form a German
equivalent to eBay, which they called Alando.de. Within two months of its launch the auction site had closed more than 250,000 auctions and was well on it’s way to
monopolizing the German auction market. Ebay quickly recognized the threat and only a few months after its launch eBay had agreed to buy the German copycat site for $43 Million in eBay stock.
This example maybe a little extreme but it indicates the potential opportunities that can be discovered by
analyzing overseas and or regional markets for good ideas that can be copied and/or improved.
Once you have chosen your product line the copying ideas theory should extend to periodically checking competitor sites. You need to identify who your main competitors are; these sites should be checked on a regular basis for the following:
Prices – make sure they are not considerably cheaper than you. If you are coming up on the same internet searches and their pricing is better than yours you can guarantee they will be getting a high percentage of the new custom.
Content – never copy content but look at your competitor’s site, pay attention to the quantity and quality of the product descriptions. If this content is better than your own or they have any extra information, try to incorporate the ideas into your own site
Products – look for new product ideas on your competitor’s sites. Make sure your competitors aren’t selling any new exciting product lines that you are not. If you want to extend your product range then competitors sites should be your first call when you are looking for new product ideas.
Site features – are there features on your competitors site. For example: one click ordering, customer accounts, product searches, knowledge bases etc. If so, try to incorporate these features into your site.
Services – do your competitors have any value added services that will draw potential customers to their product? Once again look for ways to incorporate these into your own site.
Speed and navigation – surf your competitor’s site - complete the order process, is the site faster or easier to navigate than your own? If so,
optimize your site and/or move it to a faster hosting company.
Appearance – are there areas of your competitor’s that are more aesthetically pleasing than yours? Try to make your site good to look at, a jumbled, over filled site can confuse your visitors and could stop them from making a purchase.
Contact – what methods of contact do your competitors offer and are they easier to communicate with than you.
Basically you are looking for anything good they do that you don’t and anything they do better than you. If you
analyze several competitor sites and incorporate the best ideas from each of these sites into your own, it should make your site stand out from the rest. You don’t actually have to limit yourself to local competitors you could look at likeminded overseas sites for new ideas, concepts and products that, again, could be incorporated into your own
site.
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