Friend or Foe?
You tell me...
Over the last week one of our competitors has come into our blog, and added some entries. It's really one thing to go ahead and add entries under her own name, but she added her business name in, which of course linked back to her blog, which in turn, links to her site! She actually put a link to her red hat website in my red hat website. Did she think we were born yesterday? I deleted it immediately. She reposted in a different section, with a different little something to say in support of the topic at hand. Is she kidding? Did she not get the message the first time I deleted her entry. Did she think I wasn't going to notice the second attempt. UNREAL!
Now typically I love these opportunities. I love to craft the finely tuned letter to my opponent... it gets my blood flowing, to be honest. I love a good written duel. But I haven't yet. I'm waiting for her next move. I think it's going to get more interesting. I've also blogged about another competitor who stole our imagery off of the site, and didn't think we'd notice. I was able to handle that swiftly with an email to her, cc'd to our lawyer, and it hasn't happened since.
We watch what our competitors are doing. We should be! Sometimes I get calls from Lee Ann saying "Do you know what they are doing now!! They stole our idea....", to which I reply "They always do!" Somehow it's like a war and not a business. Lee Ann almost takes it personally, especially when one of them finds the one thing she's been looking for. I've even known her to buy three times what we would normally buy, wiping out our manufacturers inventory, just so our competition couldn't have it. She also almost always asks for exclusivity with our suppliers. Some say yes, and it's a great move for us! I have to give her credit for thinking like that. It would never occur to me to even ask.
So, back to the friend or foe issue. Competitor A goes into our blog and makes an entry like she's our best girlfriend. Her entry appears to be genuine and real. What does she have to gain? What's her angle? Reciprocal linking? Pushing shoppers into her blog? Getting my blood to boil? What am I missing? Let me know, thanks!
This post is filed under By Merchants, For Merchants and has the following keyword tags: blogging, link building, competition.
