How to Diminish your Competition with Fresh Thinking

How to Diminish your Competition with Fresh Thinking
By John Alexander

 
A while back, I wrote about 5 Ways To Attract New Visitors By Shifting Your Topic Focus

One of the easiest was to diminish your competition in the search results, is by carefully shifting the focus of your Web site’s content. This is not to say you cannot compete and out perform your competition in the more competitive markets by building your search marketing skills. There will definitely be times when you WILL want to compete and win. But for this article I want to share an old fashion principle that still works great today as it always has.

Can you really diminish the competition just by changing the focus of your content?

Yes, you absolutely can. You can bring in entirely new audiences that never would have found you if you were just following the same path as 99% of your competition.

But this time now let’s also explore how you can benefit by altering your business focus (not just your Web content.)

To “compete” or choose to “diminish the competition” by leading the way.

What’s the difference you ask?

Do you really want to follow the crowd and compete with the world? Of course you can if you wish. Why do so many choose this way as opposed to doing something unique? Probably, because it seems easier.

But remember that if you choose to just follow the crowd then you need to be prepared and fully ready to compete.

If you choose that way, then you also need to not be afraid to lose once in a while.

I don’t say plan on losing but be prepared. Here’s the thing. If the only strategy you ever apply is that of competing with the whole world, there will ultimately always be someone come along who is just a little better than you.

It may not be by much, but expect to lose a few hands and don’t be afraid of losing.

So what about creating a new business that is different?
I’ll share this example before we get on to a few tips.

In the early days of when Robin Nobles and I first started teaching hands-on SEO Workshops several years ago, that concept of a hands-on workshop was quite new.

There was no such thing as step-by-step hands-on SEO Workshops being taught.

There were the big conferences of course and the big trade show style events with hundreds of attendees in a room listening to various professional speakers. In fact I actually met Robin speaking at one of these conferences. They are great for networking and meeting people at etc.

There were the online courses, which Robin Nobles had created as the first person to ever create a comprehensive study course with online Web Training in the 1990s. The only thing else around was perhaps the odd forum or private publication online, but there was no place you could go to study in person.

The first Search Engine Workshop that we developed had a very different approach to training and SEO skill building. We wanted a hands-on Workshop where we could Work with a small group of students to build their genuine skills. Not just an event where we rolled out another program. Then back in 2005, we began opening local SEO community training through our Search Engine Academy Associates and today, we have the capacity to help many more people build their skills and keep up with the latest information.

This was great because 2 people can only be in one place at a time. But now with our network we can help greater volumes of people than ever before while still maintaining that intimate, personalized one-on-one approach. Plus people can study right within their own local communities with the need to travel.

We had a vision to teach people everything from the theory, to the basic and advanced skills as well as Internet marketing and offer a free 6 month mentoring program. To this day, new students that come out to our workshops express surprise and they get pretty excited with the results they achieve after training. All SEO skill building programs are not the same.

So now let’s talk about your business and move on with some tips on…

How You Can Diminish your Competition By Altering Your Business Focus
Here is one way to make a difference in your business that can eliminate the competition.

It’s old fashioned, but it will always give you the edge if you think it out correctly. If you want to lead the way, then you must think about your business services a little differently. Easy to say but for some it seems hard to do for some folks.

Tips for fashioning your business vision:
 

Creativity and originality go a long way to take you from plateau to plateau. Be the very FIRST to come up with something and then if you do it well enough, watch the competition follow you.

Start by identifying exactly how your business be different?

Come up with your own unique twists and your own original value added benefits and begin to fashion a vision that establishes how you will be different than your competitor. In what way will your product or service excel?
 

What is there to keep you motivated?
It starts with your vision forming. But there literally has to be something inside of you that continues to lead you on each and every day. Something that is literally motivational enough to keep you focused on the correct path. Once you have it, you probably won’t need anyone to confirm that you are on the right track.

Don’t expect everyone to appreciate what you trying to build. Some just won’t get it.

It may even appear foreign to the competition. Your vision or goal may actually be something that just quite won’t make any sense to others, because it is your vision not theirs.

For example: From the scenario I shared above, someone running a large conference might think, “Why would anyone want a tiny class size? We’d be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars if we only worked with 25 students?”  But the vision that Robin and I had back in 2002 was more focused on imparting the skills to people than just filling some big event. We wanted our students to leave the class knowing that they were capably equipped. We believe that’s why we experience such great lasting relationships with our students. How will your business be different?

When so many people tend to follow the leader these days.
The new business that creates something original tends to stand apart from the rest. With a focused, work hard play hard ethic you fashion your objectives. It is not a part time hobby mindset that will succeed here.

Develop an action plan and a timeline.
Decide what actions need to take place in order for any part of your vision to become a reality. By breaking it down into very focused actions, you can then break it down in terms of timelines. This is very important so that you benchmark your progress towards your goals. If something is not happening according to the plan, you easily identify it and find out how to fix it.

Explore partnerships
Is there a way you can for good partnerships that are mutually rewarding for your business? There nearly always is if you explore the right avenues. If something don’t work out, then don’t be afraid to move on. There should never be a rush to build partner relations. Build slowly and use good wisdom. Look for complimentary relationships with people who have something genuine to offer. Avoid those who seem to be bitter over some past experience and just cannot seem to get out of being stuck in the past. When you build relationships, build genuine relationships that you can believe in. Don’t build relationships that are simply based on trying get something.

Don’t get involved in any type of get rich quick or easy wealth building schemes
If your business isn’t based upon some integrity and backed with truth then don’t even think about it. There are more lazy man wealth creation tool kits and flim-flam artists out there (in the real world and online) than you can shake a stick at. Beware of those who use the manipulative tactics. Beware of promises that you’ll be shown some lazy secret to success. Beware of charming personalities and a convincing routines but no real long term evidence of genuine value.

Giving back to your community
Is there some cause that you believe in that you can also help support. Find something worthy that you personally believe in and it’s amazing how like minded people are drawn together. Become involved where people are involved, but not just for the purpose of gaining leads or seeing what you can get out of the relationship. Be a part to see how you can be a support to someone else. 

In Summary:

A few other bits of advice from someone I greatly admired, Walt Disney made each of
the following quotes:

• All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
  Walt Disney
• When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.”
  Walt Disney
• You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.”
  Walt Disney
• I believe in being an innovator.”
  Walt Disney
• All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
  Walt Disney

Why not choose to fashion your business vision uniquely?
Be original. Don’t just follow the crowd but dare to be different. Don’t be afraid to be yourself and form a business with a different goal in mind. Ideally a business that is just a little different and satisfies by delivering unique genuine benefits and value to your customers and clients.

Don’t forget to form bite sized actions that can be used against a timeline so that you can benchmark how your business is coming along and being formed.

I like to always say it this way… 
 Having a business is about making a profit – but life is about helping people. Don’t do the first without doing the other.

Whether you choose to be different or whether you choose to compete is completely up to you.
Regardless of which way you move forward – Here’s to your success!

About John Alexander
John Alexander is Director of Search Engine Academy and Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses. John is author of an e-book called Wordtracker Magic and has taught SEO skills to small groups of people from 87 different countries world wide since 1999.