Today's competition would define the future of your business. Your business survival and growth is guided by competition in your market. If you say that a research of this kind is only for big companies who have access to right tools, then again you are wrong.More...

Is not your business a business for you? If it is then you need to do a research on your competition. If money is your concern then there are free tools available to internet marketer. In fact a simple research on your competition will take a little time and hardly any money.

Know Your Competitors: Before you commence your search, you need to know whom to search for. You must first know the competitors and then start your search.

Visit the major search engines and type in the sort of keywords or phrases that people would use to find your site. The search findings will show you the competitors your customers are likely to visit. Don't just limit your search to the top search results, because many of your direct competitors may be ranked a lot lower than that.

Visit Their Websites: The easiest way to find out about your competitors is to visit their Web sites. When you are at their website, check them out for layout, content, web design and navigation.. Most importantly check the offers they are making. Can you make a better offer?

Learn their business design and see if that asks for changes in yours. For example what is their mechanism to capture email addresses, are they doing any upselling or is there any backend strategy? Are they able to retain their customers?

Sales process: How easy it is to buy something from their site. Can you improve upon that. Are their customers able to find and purchase products easily or it is a lengthy process. Can you make some improvements Make sure you keep an open mind as you search rival sites. After all, they could end up being associated partners. When you visit competitor sites look out for information that could influence your own online marketing strategy.

Advertising: Do people advertise on their sites. If they do, it could be worth posing as a potential advertiser to find out how much their advertising rates are. This will also enable you to discover other relevant information such as the number of visitors they have, where their target market is based, what age range they cater for and so on.

What Is Their Reputation: Visit forums and see how people talk about them. Both in positive and negative terms. Make a note to improve your own site functions.

Research Regularly: Remember that competitor research is an ongoing process and not one time deal. Keep checking regularly if any changes have been made in your competitors' site in terms of strategy or design.

Study your notes you made while studying them and make match your site up to your competition.