In business, it is only natural that you will want to edge out your immediate competition. In fact, that should be one of your working goals. But, there are lessons that you can learn from the competition.

How do they present themselves online?

Staying active online is one of the best ways to reach out and stay in touch with your customers. It is also the best way to promote your brand. What your competition is up to online is an important question.

You might even want to follow them on the various platforms available, (not with your official account). Get a feel for what they are doing, how often and exactly how they are going about it. If your business is similarly placed, what works for them, might just work for you as well.

Get your website found.

Which in other words is a local search. When people in your area look up your product or service, what comes up in the first page? Are your competitors there? Where is your business featuring on the list?

You should be on the top half of the first page. If you are not, you might as well not even have a website. If that sounds harsh, think back to the time you actually visited the second page of search results. Now that never happened, did it?

If your competition has found their niche, their target audience, you can make use of the same, or similar techniques that will align you toward your niche, which in this case, is a similar group.

What are they doing wrong?

No business is infallible; even giants like Google and Microsoft have made expensive mistakes in their time. In fact, they still continue to do so. So watch out for mistakes that your competition makes.

Things that make you go, ‘maybe they shouldn’t have done that!’. You now have a real life example of what can be expected to happen when certain routes are taken. Stay clear of them.

Are they aligned with another business or individual?

The approach that a business has toward the market and the way in which they direct their products and services towards their client, should tell you a lot about their basic business acumen.

Before that happens though, running a business can be hinged on two things- first is the suitability of products and second is the nature of the business. To put that in perspective, think of a situation where a high flying PR manager is placed in a home style Italian restaurant. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Are you as good online as you are offline?

You may be the perfect people person who welcomes customers, builds a great rapport with them and are able to make customers for life. If your website is buggy, slow, and just unattractive on the other hand, it is going to work against you.

So make sure your personality comes out and that you are always remaining authentic to your brand and it’s story, especially through your website.

There is a lot more that you can learn from your competition, just don’t copy them in their every move.