One of my new coaching clients was losing sleep over the "fact" that his competitor was killing him in the search engine wars.
That was until we decided to do a reality check.
He wasn't basing his information on any set of facts or objective data.
In fact, he couldn't tell me how he "knew" that his fears were facts.
In truth, they were just fears.
It turns out that he was actually getting more visitors to his site than his competitors were.
You might be having the same fears or misconceptions about your marketing efforts.
Chances are you don't have a clue as to how your site compares to your competitors.
Now would be a good time to find out.
Six Steps to Conduct a Marketing Audit 1.
Go to a site that ranks site statistics like Compete.
com or Alexa.
com.
You can find them by going to a search engine and searching for "traffic stats for websites " You'll be able to find out how many people are visiting your site, month by month.
Several sites offer this service for free.
2.
Type in the URLs of your competitors and see how you stack up against them.
You'll see numbers and graphs that show the comparison for several competitors that you designate.
3.
Look at the keywords used to reach your site and their sites.
You might want to put those keywords onto your site so you can get more visitors.
See what works and copy it.
4.
Use keyword suggestion tools to find more great keywords that can attract more visitors.
When you use a keyword tracking tool you'll find out what keywords people search for when they look to find someone like you.
5.
Look at your competitor's sites and keywords to see what they are doing -- and what you aren't doing-- to rank high.
Then edit your site to match what works.
6.
Work with a marketing coach to help you get more visibility.
Armed with this new information, you'll find new ways to attract new prospects to your website and get the results you seek.
You'll also get a better perspective on where you stand against your competitors.