Do you spend time on your competitor's sites?

[Alexis]

Shortie, it is not recommended to stop! When you read tips from blogs, there's no guarantee; people can read and rewrite without testing; nothing is guaranteed. But, when you copy from someone you know that succeed, you will win if you copy it well.

 

[TobiWallis]

I think you need to be very careful. It's fine to find out what competitors are doing so as *not* to copy them, but in doing so you run the risk of being influenced subliminally by what you see, leading to you running the risk of actually copying *them*! That's plagiarism, whether intentional of not and is to be avoided at all costs.

 

[heidi67]

If you blog, you have to spend time at other blogs engagement is a huge part of driving traffic to your site. Looking at other sites is valuable in so many ways, for ideas especially. It's vital to stay current. Creating the online presence means connecting with other sites and site owners. I love to see what others are writing about to keep my content current. I know in blogging it is a community where we all are helping each other so the more connections you make, the better.

 

[PenguinManiac]

I do. It's not necessarily a bad thing to do, au contraire: if you're just getting started, visiting more popular websites is a great way to get a grasp of what you're going to face (implying you're not ripping their content, of course).
However, it can be counterproductive for personal blogs. You may start copying someone else's style without noticing it, so you should always aim for equilibrium.

 

[Deka]

Well, since my site is all about beauty, I cannot not look at other sites with that niche. To begin with, I subscribe to those sites and follow them even before creating my own site. I don't see them as a competition but rather an inspiration for me. These blogs helped me realise the niche that I really want to be in. They motivated me to build my own site as well. So in essence, they're the ones that got me into building my own site in the first place. And yes, until now, I do go into their sites, not to copy their contents but just to be up to date with what they're doing.

 

[Benoit W]

Yеs. If yоur usеrs dоn't think yоur sitе is usеful, uniquе, vаluаblе оr еngаging thеn Gооglе wоn't think it еithеr. Соnсеntrаtе оn yоur usеrs first, thеn yоur wеbsitе. Dо nоt соnсеntrаtе оn thе rеst оf thе intеrnеt оr links.Yоur wеbsitе is whаt usеrs intеrасt with. Thе bеst thing yоu саn dо is mаkе it bеttеr thаn yоur соmpеtitоrs.

Suссеssful wеbmаstеrs think likе this...

Whаt dо my usеrs nееd / wаnt?

Hоw саn I mаkе sоmеthing bеttеr fоr my usеrs?

I will wоrk оn my wеbsitе until I knоw fоr а fасt thаt my wеbsitе is bеttеr thаn оthеrs in my fiеld

I will lооk аt sоmе оf my wеbpаgеs tоdаy аnd mаkе а list оf whаt саn bе imprоvеd

 

[Fermin420]

Yes I do. I have gotten really afraid of unconsciously replicating in my site what I have seen around to web, so at first I had the idea of manually scanning the whole web just to make sure I'm not copying anything. Of corse that didn't work so now stalk my competition 24/7 just to borrow a few things.