Growing your business in a flat market

take sales from someone else

[Mike_Mackin]

"Traffic is always the critical first step to making a sale. But it is especially important for retailers looking for sales growth in a year when the sales pie is not growing.

The only way to grow in that environment is to take sales from someone else."

USA Today [usatoday.com]

So how does this apply to the net?

[agerhart]

The only way to grow in that environment is to take sales from someone else."

Enter SPAM........enter unethical practices.

[rcjordan]

>Enter SPAM........enter unethical practices.

No doubt about that. I read an article a few weeks ago that listed several online categories that had turned to spam as the growth within their sector had dried up while too many competitors had jumped in. Look at your email filter for "who."

But what about positive techniques? Sure, better ranking and more authoritative content come to mind... but how about tweaking, tuning and reinventing some of the stuff we have at our disposal? For instance, has anyone tried skyscrapers? I was just looking at one on a news site and thinking how they do a good job of catching the eye.

[Drastic]

Total Marketshare = Your visitors + all other visitors.

1) Turn more "other visitors" into "your" visitors. SEO, advertising, etc. Things like comparisons of your product vs. competition's product can result in info of your competition's product being found on *your* site, and are good doorways. Thinking outside the box, and getting in the surfers's shoes help here, but things can vary wildly according to topic/product. Spending a couple of days just on keyword research may help considerably.

2) Make sure your visitors don't leave and buy from your competition. Important if selling big ticket stuff, people compare before spending, especially online. Make it easy for them to come back, with optin newsletters/ezines, bookmark links, etc. You can send updates (newsletters) just for updates to the site, or changes in product/service. People that want this, you want to be in contact with. The comparison of you vs. the competition will help here as well, you keep them on your site while they compare.

Figuring out where your comp gets their exposure can tell you where to focus. Easier said than done, but can tell you where you need to work. I wonder what kind of demographic/traffic info sites give out to potential advertisers.

[bingymon]

How about collaborating with one or more of your competitors to share exit traffic.

That way you both benefit from well targeted traffic that's going to go somewhere else anyway.

[rcjordan]

Study: Sites Trending Toward Aggressive Web Advertising [internetnews.com]