Who's on your block?

One of the first things to check on, as a small business, besides your own online presence (i.e. website), is whether your competitors are online. Search for them, and use several search engines (Yahoo, Google, MSN). Also try an aggregator, like dogpile.com. Search for them using their company name, and their (your) primary product. Can you find them? Can you find them more easily than you?

Why are they showing up, and you're not? (Or perhaps they're on the first page of results, and you're several pages down.) There's lots of possible reasons - one of the biggest is age of site. If your competitor's site has been on the Internet for a while, they've got a big advantage - but certainly one that can be overcome rapidly with expert assistance. Are you in this position? Send us your link, and your competitor's, and we'll tell you what the biggest difference is, and what you can do about it.