Know Your Competition!
This website now has a new web address! Please visit Be Your Own Boss to access the latest articles. If you use our FeedBurner RSS feed, we've moved it to reflect the new server name.
Before you can even enter a market (whether in your area or online) it is wise to figure out who you'd be competing against. For a local business, I use Google more than anything in finding who my competition is, even after I'm in business.
Using Google's homepage, you can find local "hits" just by entering a topic followed by your city and state. If I was thinking about entering the PC repair business in my home town, I could enter PC repair, Gurnee, IL into Google and see who pops up. I usually recommend trying 10-20 different phrases and seeing what you get.
I try to keep a list of the competition, especially to find out what they're charging and if they're still in business.
Don't be afraid if your area seems to have a high number of competitors. One thing I've learned in some of my businesses is that more competitors actually create a bigger customer base in the area. Entering what seems to be a saturated market can be a quicker way to making a profit than entering a market that doesn't exist yet.
The Yellow Pages is another decent way to find out who is out there, but as Switchboard.com, Google.com and Yahoo.com expand, the Yellow Pages seems to be falling into the trash before it makes it through the front door. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on Yellow Pages advertisements and received very little response -- I think Chinese and Pizza Restaurants and Plumbers are the top topics for that guide, and if that's the business you want to enter, you may want to consider it. For everyone else, the Yellow Pages will likely not be a great way to track down who you're up against.
Using Google's homepage, you can find local "hits" just by entering a topic followed by your city and state. If I was thinking about entering the PC repair business in my home town, I could enter PC repair, Gurnee, IL into Google and see who pops up. I usually recommend trying 10-20 different phrases and seeing what you get.
I try to keep a list of the competition, especially to find out what they're charging and if they're still in business.
Don't be afraid if your area seems to have a high number of competitors. One thing I've learned in some of my businesses is that more competitors actually create a bigger customer base in the area. Entering what seems to be a saturated market can be a quicker way to making a profit than entering a market that doesn't exist yet.
The Yellow Pages is another decent way to find out who is out there, but as Switchboard.com, Google.com and Yahoo.com expand, the Yellow Pages seems to be falling into the trash before it makes it through the front door. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on Yellow Pages advertisements and received very little response -- I think Chinese and Pizza Restaurants and Plumbers are the top topics for that guide, and if that's the business you want to enter, you may want to consider it. For everyone else, the Yellow Pages will likely not be a great way to track down who you're up against.
posted by A. B. Dada at 1:10 PM
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home