Mentioning Competitors’ Services: Benefits and Disadvantages
By now, you probably know that in the world of blogging, the whole purpose is to keep connections with other bloggers and the services that they have used or created. The services that other startups in your same niche or target market create have not been created solely to destroy your presence. The creators of these products/services realized that there was a market (either small or large) and set out to create a product to fulfill the needs of a select group of people.
For example, let’s say you have a BLOG A and you mention (not exactly on purpose, but as a news story) a service that Blog B has created. The main situation is that both blogs are in the same niche, and you have created a similar tool, but Blog B’s is better. Your mention of their service can have a huge impact on the success of your blog, in more ways than one.
First of all, you have designed your service to be unmatchable by any competitors for a long time down the road. However, the time has come sooner rather than later, and now you must decide whether it is best that you drop/discontinue updating the service or relaunch it as a better product. In either case, you are letting your competitors know that you have realized the potential of their services, and you have begun a “competition” to find whose is better.
Events like the one outlined above happen everyday, though not in this specific manner. Competitors try to diminish the effectiveness of the products you have created over theirs, so you must be able to counter with something that is better over time. Why should you even mention a competitor’s product/service figuring that it will just stir a debate between the two of you?
Benefits
- Your competitors are constantly looking for others in their niche to base their product development and growth off of. If your product shows signs of success, there will be an influx of interest from the competitors to release something better with more features.
- People not involved in your particular niche may still find the product useful - with more viable options.
- Competitors may pick up that you like their product and add a link back to their “Testimonials” page
- “Friendly” competitors may even Stumble or Digg your review page.
- Many visitors are interested in reviews, even if you are trying to convince them that your product is better.
Disadvantages
- You are distributing traffic to others’ websites instead of internally to your own.
- People once interested in your product may flock to others in search of a better product that you don’t/can’t offer.
- Your bottom line is jeopardized if you mention or use another’s product/website, as it shows you have little faith or loyalty in your own products.
