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Follow The Leader To Online Success

Another reason why I love BUMPzee… A new blog that I like was submitted to my community today that I would not have otherwise known about.

The blog is called Wagerank, and in particular, this post caught my eye. It talks about how it’s ok to follow the leader.

There’s an old story about how McDonald’s spends millions of dollars every year on research to determine where they should build a new restaurant. Meanwhile, Burger King just builds restaurants down the street from wherever McDonald’s decides.

I’m not sure if that’s true either, but you get the point right?

I’m not sure if this is true, but the point is made clear even if it isn’t: don’t spend money/time doing something that people have already done for you.

How does this apply to online marketing? Well, how much time do you spend agonizing over sales copy or writing your Adwords ads? The answer should be next to none. As a society we are exposed to an ever increasing amount of advertising. For the most part, these advertisements were studied for weeks or months by several different people who have been in the business for years before the public gets to see them.

Why are you wasting time trying to recreate what’s thrown in your face everyday?

I’ve been preaching this for years. Let’s face it, the leaders in your space, whatever it is, know what they are doing. So you had better be watching them, and learning from them, and frankly yes, sometimes even copying them. Not stealing… copying.

Do you monitor your competitors? Do you watch the leaders in your space closely? It’s time to start. They’ve spent a lot of time to figure out how to do things. Perhaps they know what works and what doesn’t?

Then again, there’s something to be said for inventing your own success. But this is business right? Choose your path, but don’t feel bad either way.