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Suffice it to say
that to be successful in business you need to have a competitive
advantage. The same can be applied to your website or online business.
Can your competitive advantage help you when you are competing for the
valuable real estate on the Search Engines Results Pages? Maybe not
directly but getting traffic to your site is one thing; keeping them
there is another.
For any site that is
marketing a product or service, understanding your target customer
is a must. Well that’s easier said than done. How do you understand
your target customer? You might want to create a profile of your
“typical” customer. You want to put yourself in their shoes and be
your customer and get inside of their mind. You want to know what
motivates them as they go through the buying process. Determine what
the motivating factors for your consumer are.
Motivating Factors for the Consumer
There are numerous
factors that motivate consumers. Here are some of the main ones:
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Price –
consumers want value for their purchase
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Benefits – as
perceived by the consumer
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Reliability /
Trust – a sense of security
-
Convenience –
availability of your product or service
-
Personal Taste /
Style – color and personal preference
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Prestige – the
“I” factor. “Look at me I’m using this product” or “I own this
make/type of automobile."
Now that we
understand some of the factors that may motivate consumers to purchase
your product/service we need to determine if your website has the
competitive advantage to be the deciding factor in purchase selection.
So you have a website, so what? There are millions out there. What
makes your site any different? What is your UOCA (Pronounced u oka) or
Unique Online Competitive Advantage? With
all of the online competition out there you need to have an online
competitive advantage to help make your site and online business stand
out.
With all due respect
to the Utah Code Enforcement Association, I have dubbed the Unique
Online Competitive Advantage as UOCA. Simply put
UOCA is something that each and every online business should have: A
Unique Online Competitive Advantage… something that sets you apart from
your online competition. Having a unique advantage can help sway the
consumer to using your product or service over that of your competition.
In part two, I will
be discussing how you can determine and define your UOCA. In the
meantime, you might want to evaluate your online presence and determine
if you have a Unique Online Competitive Advantage. |