How should I treat my direct competitors?

11 replies
I have a sports website, focused mostly on news and interviews. It is one of the top 3 in my country in our niche, and we compete especially in news.

Regarding our common topics, how should I treat my competition when writing? Should I link to them if they do or say something that I did not? Should I use (and obviously give credit and link) their photos if they cover an event that I didn't but need to report anyway?

Our 3 websites mostly don't cite each other, and our biggest competitor views the rest as ENEMIES (their actual words when trying to buy us).

But marketwise, they are very strong in the social medias and maybe it would be good to attract their public if we try to have some sort of "relationship" with them or their writers on twitter, or link them in some cases for seo external links?

What would you do in this situation? Should I fear driving more traffic to them and remain "alone"?

How do you guys relate to your competitors?
#competitors #direct #treat
  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    I'd share and give credit where appropriate. That's just me though.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    A relationship with another site requires mutual consent. If they view you as their enemy, you've got some work ahead of you.

    I most certainly wouldn't do this:
    "Should I use (and obviously give credit and link) their photos"
    Even if you link and give credit, in the U.S. at least, you have no right to use another site's photos.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author MrBlackwood
      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

      A relationship with another site requires mutual consent. If they view you as their enemy, you've got some work ahead of you.
      Unfortunately, this will never change because this is how the owner thinks and passes this view to his writers even if they don't think that way themselves. The problem is that he is a millionaire (got his money in other areas and decided to invest in this niche) and owner of a large group on this niche, while we and our other mutual competitors are financially tiny (even if we have the same ammount of traffic and even more)

      I most certainly wouldn't do this:
      "Should I use (and obviously give credit and link) their photos"
      Even if you link and give credit, in the U.S. at least, you have no right to use another site's photos.

      Steve
      Regarding the pictures, I don't know how is the legislation in here but in that aspect websites in our niche here tend to view this lightly. That's the one thing where there is some type of mutual contribution, even if it is to look the other way.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    If you have one competitor that doesn't want to play nice, there's nothing stopping you from cooperating with the others in a kind of us-against-them way. I also wouldn't ignore the possibilities from trackbacks on his site.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      I have always marketed in some of the most hotly competitive niches (because that's usually where the big bucks are being made), and found that ignoring the competition completely has markedly endearing benefits with customers. Certainly you should keep up with the industry and what the competition is doing, but never mention them by name or brand. This does have practical application within sports news and interviews; provide "exclusives" or insider insights not available anywhere else.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    Originally Posted by MrBlackwood View Post

    Should I use (and obviously give credit and link) their photos if they cover an event that I didn't but need to report anyway?
    About 10 years ago when I wrote my second ebook I quoted from a
    print book giving credit to the author. I quoted TWO WORDS from that
    book so that the number of words I used to give credit was more
    than the words I quoted.

    I was surprised when I got a call from the author threatening legal
    action for quoting from his book in an ebook I was selling. So I
    just removed the credit and kept the two words without the quotation
    mark. Some "competitors" can be nasty, so know who you are dealing
    with.

    -Ray Edwards
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      With Class and Dignity but not necessarily as Associates.


      - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author borsaronero
    When you link out to good resources also your pages benefits. just be sure it is a nofollow link.
    Better is if you create a better article that deep in the information than the competitor.
    In this if you link the competitor like "part" of the information you have the opportunity to rank better.
    Probably you will link to more than one competitor if you create a good study.

    Also consider to find a collaboration with many small competitors instead one big.
    Small competitors will link to you easier and are happy to collaborate in order to grow too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
    offer him 100% commission on one of your products... egoists cant refuse 100% deals and you get his list of buyers to compensate you
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  • Profile picture of the author gmarklin
    You should give them credit and respect when it is due, even if they don't return the favor, but I would sure work like hell to be better the they are.
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  • Profile picture of the author jgant
    I link to competitors when necessary as a reference, but not otherwise. I would consider a mini cooperative network and actually thought about it but it can get messy. If I send them more traffic than I receive, I'm not happy and vice versa. I concluded it's too much of a headache.

    I wouldn't use their images without written consent.

    I think some niches lend themselves to sharing traffic among competitors more readily than others. I happen to be in a niche that's not very collegial, which works for me.

    You obviously know what you're doing, so keep at it. Think of a way to get more scoops and a bigger share of the traffic. Your niche is a good one with social media, so with some creativity you can increase traffic a lot until the dominant competitor wants to play ball with you.
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