How To Attack Entrenched Websites in Competitive Verticals

All competitive verticals that offer good ROI have those monster websites with thousands of backlinks that seem to rank for everything. If you are short on resources it may seem like a good idea to just move on and go after a different vertical - something less competitive. This is not the case. When you start to look under the hood of these juggernauts they have a lot of weaknesses. In fact, they are VERY vulnerable. The key is to understand the weaknesses and use the proper strategy to attack.

Always Flank An Entrenched Competitor

Attack on the flank and hit your target in a weak spot. Many savvy entrepreneurs instinctively go after niches, but it always baffles me how many people go "yeah diddle diddle, straight up the middle." There was once a study conducted of over 200 military battles where the attacker used this straight up the middle strategy. Only 6 were successful.

When selecting a niche to go after try to find a portion of their market that represents an emerging trend with engaged users. Selecting an emerging niche impacts your long term profitability. Finding a niche with engaged users impacts your ability to exploit the weaknesses outlined below.

The Weaknesses

Once you've made up your mind to avoid business suicide by using a niche attack you have to know where to aim. To attack one of these sites it is important to understand what their limitations are. What they can do. What they can't.

Technology - These sites are often hampered by legacy systems that were developed 4, 5, maybe 8 years ago. This opens up the opportunity to deploy more modern web technology and market yourself as a more progressive solution. Use systems like Drupal, Joomla and otheres to develop rating systems, member profiles, Twitter integration and other emerging technologies.

Profits - Many of these sites are accountable to private equity boards, investors and sometimes stockholders. They have to maintain and increase there current levels of profitability. This leads to excessive monetization. The constant drive to increase returns means that they really push the envelope with the number of ads and affiliate offers on their sites. This opens up an opportunity to offer a more user centric site with less monetization and a more altruistic feel. Use this to make a moral argument that you are looking out for the users while the competitor isn't. They probably won't adjust because you are just attacking a niche and they probably can't. Taking a hit to the bottom line in order to alter their positioning is not often an option.

Lack of Innovation - They are stuck in there ways. They took the top spots years ago and found a formula that works. Things change, and on the Internet they change twice as fast. The people in charge of these monster sites have a hard time letting go of tried and true strategies.

The Attack

The exploits all boil down to one thing - differentiation. Never look at a successful site and figure they are doing it right. They may have been doing it right 5 years ago, but not now. You need to use the strategy above to out gun them. Enter the market with a more user centric website, and altruistic message that resonates. Don't be afraid to broadcast your competitor's excessive monetization, stodgy technology and constant pursuit of profit at the expense of users to the community you are targeting. Get the word out. If they react, good. If Jason Calicanis taught SEOs one thing, it's that a good fight can generate a lot of attention for the attacker. The fact is they won't react. They're too busy trying to figure out where to stuff the next affiliate offer into site. They'll hardly notice as you strike a cord with a with a segment of their user base, attract attention and take over.