Why you need to watch your competition

As an webmaster and forum owner, it's easy to get carried away with adding new features to your community website. However, adding features that aren't used by your members can be a waste of time and money. Admittedly, I have had to rethink many features or disable some after realizing the time was not right. While it's a good idea to ask your members if they want a specific feature, many will say they want it, but won't use it when it's implemented.

To avoid adding unnecessary features, keep an eye on your competitors. Finding competitors is easy - search for similar keywords on Google, and you'll find plenty of results. Once you've found some competitors, take a look around their site and consider a few things:

• Which sections of their site are the most popular, and why?
• Are there any specific requests or suggestions that their members are asking for?
• What are their members least happy about (e.g., moderators, software bugs, etc.)?
• What features do you personally like about their site? Do you have those features on your site?
• What announcements do they have? This is to have a clear idea of their updates or upcoming features.

By considering these areas, you can improve your own community. However, don't copy your competitors' ideas outright. Instead, stay up-to-date with your competitors' communities, and be responsive to change. This way, you can ensure that your community is always one step ahead of the game.

 

[Uncrowned]

Market awareness is massive for forums or any business trying to succeed. You are 100% correct that copying items will not get you very far, but admins that can see trends happening across their niche and grab them before others do, can often find themselves in front of the pack very quickly.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Indeed it's best to keep an eye out on the competition just to see what they've got up their sleeves and see what you can do to stand out. Copying won't get you far at all though for sure, but doing something unique before another site can definitely help.

 

[Reverie]

It is always good to see what members in general are wanting! As long as you're not copying and being creative still I think it's a terrific idea!

 

[Cedric]

It is always good to see what members in general are wanting! As long as you're not copying and being creative still I think it's a terrific idea!

I just want to add that I have yet to find a more creative person than you Rachael. The stuff that was going on on Atrium was mental. I regretted my resignation every day. But I was stubborn and an idiot.

 

[Reverie]

I just want to add that I have yet to find a more creative person than you Rachael. The stuff that was going on on Atrium was mental. I regretted my resignation every day. But I was stubborn and an idiot.

Aw thank you for the compliment! I just wanted to ensure everyone had fun, and events were amazing! Along with having a great team that supported my ideas as well as coming up with solutions and ideas too. It really was my baby lol. I think if you had stayed on the team we would have gotten really far. All of our skill sets together would have been an epic forum lol.

 

[Cedric]

Aw thank you for the compliment! I just wanted to ensure everyone had fun, and events were amazing! Along with having a great team that supported my ideas as well as coming up with solutions and ideas too. It really was my baby lol. I think if you had stayed on the team we would have gotten really far. All of our skill sets together would have been an epic forum lol.

Definitely. I was too concerned with trying to revive Revision Reviews for the 4-5th time, or more - can't remember. Sadly, I had high hopes which were never even remotely met. I think it's mainly because it was my most successful forum and was put to an end abruptly because of the continuous hacking. So I always wanted to try and get it back to a successful forum - which was never gonna work anyway. So I was blinded at the time, and many just kept ignoring me and trying again and again just damaged my credibility. So yeah, I should've stayed with you, Esper and Chronos. But then again, at one point or another, I would've probably resigned anyway. I was never truly devoted to a forum for longer than a few months. This is something that I learned with growing older.

 

[Arantor]

It always confuses me that people don't look at their competition - especially if you're offering a product or service beyond 'just a community' - because you have much to learn from them. This is not to say that you should copy them, but learn what makes them succeed when they do, what makes them fail they don't, and inform your strategy accordingly.

The best ideas for anything never come from a vacuum.

 

[Cedric]

It always confuses me that people don't look at their competition - especially if you're offering a product or service beyond 'just a community' - because you have much to learn from them. This is not to say that you should copy them, but learn what makes them succeed when they do, what makes them fail they don't, and inform your strategy accordingly.

The best ideas for anything never come from a vacuum.

Exactly. Anyone saying that watching your competition is not important, doesn't know what they're talking about. In real life and offline businesses we as entrepreneurs often look at our competition. There's a reason why your competitor has more visitors/clients than you - it's up to you to find out what that is and to convert that to your business or online community.