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Niche Website Competitors: How to Fight Them?

Recently, I have discovered that my Elephant šŸ˜ Website got a competition.

Not just a competition – a pure copycat!

EverythingĀ was copied – the theme, the styling, the structure, the keywords… even the mood of the articles and the way they were written! Only the wording is slightly different – enough to avoid a penalty from Google.

I got very upset when I saw it.

Website competitors can bring you harm

When you just start, it’s one thing to have competitors. It’s actually pretty useful and proves that the niche you chose is viable and can bring revenue.

When a competitorĀ emerges after you got your website established, that’s a different thing. Nobody likes it.

Obviously, they can and will steal some traffic/revenue from you. If they rank higher than your pages, they would steal aĀ LOT. This is a directĀ damage to your business.

IndirectĀ damage may come in a form of Ā duplicated content which can lead to aĀ decrease in ranking. Google does not likeĀ duplicated content and frown upon the ones who break the rule of uniqueness.

What to do if you gotĀ a website competitor?

Got lemons? Make a lemonade!

First of all, try to squeeze out something useful from your website competitors. The good side of having a website competition is that you can learn something from them.

Apart from finding out what keywords they use (and you don’t), you can take a look at the website structure and see if they are doing something better or different.

You can also do an SEO competitor analysisĀ and see how else they are better.

In my case, I spotted a few things like:

  • a few new topics to write about;
  • a better silo structure of the website;
  • more elaborated usage of images;
  • more external links in the text.

I also made sure that their content does not duplicate mine. I used a service calledĀ PlagiarismaĀ that can check the content hosted on a provided URL. If you need to check your competitors’ content, you can also use it – it is a freemium model with first three checks free. You can register using my linkĀ (both links are affiliate.)

In fact, the competition is somehow good for me.

It mobilises me and makes me “get my ass off the couch” Ā and start doing things. I have been procrastinating about publishing new content for weeks but after I saw theĀ website competitor, I pressed the gas pedal and accelerated the process.

This, in its turn, made me think about changing the processes I use to work with freelance writers and make some specific improvements that would make it easier to check the article quality.

Also, I spent quite some time on improving the old content. Seems like getting a competition does help me!

How to fight website competitors?

But still, it’s better if competitors do not appear at all. While you cannot really control them, you still can do a few steps to prevent them from appearing.

First of all, it’s important for you to be discrete about your niches that bringĀ you money.

I think everybody agrees that it’s not a good idea to reveal your keywords or publicly announce the URLs! šŸ™‚ A few friends of mine were very curious about how exactly I make money on the internet. They wanted to peek on the websites… But I was adamant and did not reveal anything! Apart from my earnings šŸ™‚

When you buy a website, you can ask the seller to signĀ a non-compete agreement.

This was my case when I bought Elephant šŸ˜ Website. I prepared an electronic document and asked the website seller to sign it. I do not think it was that important in my caseĀ but still, this precaution step made me sleep better. When you buy a big website then I would recommendĀ even more to get this thing sorted out.

These are preventive measures – but what to do when a competitor is already there breathing down your tail?

I wish I could wave a magic wand and make them disappear! But it does not work that way.

Apart from the wand, there seems to be another method to fight a competition. However, I don’t want to talk about it now. First, I would like to make some tests… and see if it works. I’m also slightly afraid that the person reads my blog and will do something after learning all my secrets! Hehehe.

But in fact, I would like to hear from you guys.

What do you think about the subject? Ā 

Do you fight the competition or let it go? If fight, what’s your way?

Featured image: s9-4pr

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