I'm going to take you guys inside a strategy guide I'm preparing for a friend who is in a neck-and-neck race with a competitor to get to the top of the e-commerce pyramid in their niche. We'll be going over the step-by-step process involved in seeing where things are, looking at the competition, keyword evaluation, PPC, social plays, video plays and straight up PR plays. At the end we'll have a plan set for over-taking our competitor - and you'll know all the secrets! The goal in our case will be to increase e-commerce sales by $100,000/week.

1. Leapfrogging Your Competition
February 2012
Phil Buckley
SEO – What You Need To Know Raleigh SEO Meetup Group
Twitter: @1918

2. Running the race is fun
Winning the race is more fun
What can you do if you’re #2?

3. Where this Meetup idea came from
lacrawfish.com cajuncrawfish.com

4. Step 1: Evaluate your competition

5. Tweetable moment
Leapfrogging your
competition requires
research. #seomeetup

6. Creating a baseline analysis
 Check the SERP’s (not logged in + pws=0 for no
personalization)
 Check indexed pages (site:mydomain.com vs
site:competitor.com)
 Check YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for
engagement, fans and followers
 Check competitors reviews (especially in SERP’s)
 Check competitors AdWords targets
 Check competitors backlinks
 Write it all down!

7. Comparison
810 pages in the index 192 pages in the index
PR3 PR4
5K Facebook fans 1.5K Facebook fans
400 engaging 63 engaging
Not on Twitter Weak on Twitter
2 videos on YouTube Parent company on YouTube
Not on Google+ Google+ page set up
OSE Authority 47 OSE Authority 48
Homepage doesn’t validate Homepage doesn’t validate

8. Grab the low hanging fruit

9. Two paths are available
You will probably be taking both

10. What is working the
best for you right
now?

11. Find your competitors weakest link

12. Comparison
810 pages in the index 192 pages in the index
PR3 PR4
5K Facebook fans 1.5K Facebook fans
400 engaging 63 engaging
Not on Twitter Weak on Twitter
2 videos on YouTube Parent company on YouTube
Not on Google+ Google+ page set up
OSE Authority 47 OSE Authority 48
Homepage doesn’t validate Homepage doesn’t validate

13. Tweetable moment
Do what your competition
isn’t doing to gain an edge.
#seomeetup

14. Strategy
brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm

15. Ideas
Make sure the ideas fit into your business objectives
¾ of your brainstorming will end up in the trashcan

16. PPC

17. Twitter Strategy
Monitor Twitter for mentions of the following keywords:
• Crawfish
• Crayfish
• Crawdads
• Mud bugs Late April peak
• Etouffee
• Cajun

21. Video Strategy
See what is already working

23. Badging for
quality links

24. Essential Take Aways
• Have a clear strategy to become an authority
• Keep your goals in mind at all times
• Set aside time regularly to work your plan
• Help more

25. Tweetable moment
Tomorrow I start my
ascent. #leapfrogging
#seomeetup

26. F.A.Q.
Do I have to spend money to
leapfrog my competition?
Probably.
Would my time be better
spent doing real SEO tasks?
It’s all one big bowl of soup
When is the next SEO
Meetup?
March 27th. How to Turn a
Videoblog into a 6 Figure
Business by Greg Ng

27. Thank You
Special thanks to our sponsor:
Internet Marketing Analysts for keeping this
Meetup FREE!
www.internet-marketing-analysts.com
This year is the 10th anniversary of Search Engine Workshops. I wanted to give a
special offer to Meetup members, beyond the 50% standard discount.
My next workshop is March 19 - 23, 2012.
New SEO Rockstar offer:
up to 5 people the 5-day workshop for $750.00 per person (normally $2,495.00)
up to 3 people the 3-day workshop for $500.00 per person (normally $1,495.00)
up to 2 people the 2-day workshop for $350.00 per person (normally $1,095.00)