A Dirty Game of Competitive Sabotage

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Covert ops in business?

You may be wondering what is going on with your business. Stay alert for any red flags that you may not have seen before. Competitive sabotage is the covert ops of the business world. I didn't know this until I read an article regarding SEO. It is an underhanded and blindsided part of having a business.

Don't let your business die

Companies will use all sorts of tricks to upend your business or their competition. There is really no way to stop a competitor unless it gets malicious. Companies are in the business to make profits and if they can keep you from that then your business will die. The business world is cutthroat. We need to stay vigilant to our business and protect it as much as possible.


Sinking rankings

A competitive company will buy bad links to your site so your Google rankings sink. Once that happens your site value declines. The Grim Reaper will be pointing its finger at your business. We don't want to lose what we've worked so hard to build. Be an online sentinel.

Shocked and impressed

A lot of companies may not be aware of what goes on in the corporate world. Especially not new startups where our focus is trying to get up and running. It's unfortunate that companies do this when all we are trying to do is build our businesses. Keep on your business toes and take notes. I was shocked and impressed at the same time when I read some of the tactics.

Virtual burial

I saw some of these tactics in an Inc magazine article. Here are a few of the things companies pull to throw your business into a virtual burial:


1. "We flooded the market with a bunch of clone products, each with slightly different features (some were pretty much the same). This scared off most of the people trying to break into the market, and we ended up killing off all the sites that weren't driving any value. After about 18 months, we consolidated all properties into one site."

2. "Not a competitor, but someone I despised: I found a few credit card fraud forums, posted the person's business on them, and said, "hey this works, try it""

3. "I applied for various jobs (manager at KFC, warehouse clerk at Lowe's) using the CEO's information. I found it wildly entertaining."

4. "I invited our competitor's cofounder to my facility and scared her off. I hired a small sales team to poach their key accounts.

Wasn't pretty but had to be done. The market wasn't big enough (yet) for the two of us, and they were getting too much traction.

It worked and they folded. Sadly, I tried to do an aqui-hire but they overvalued themselves and that same sales team poached the rest of the accounts."

5. "I was a victim of the following maneuver: Somebody sent a ton of artificial traffic to my website and YouTube channel (where I had Adsense). As a consequence, Google doesn't allow me to monetize either anymore. "




Making profits savagely

It is wild that the business world operates using competitive sabotage to make gains. I personally couldn't do that to a competitor. I want to see them succeed as much as me. We need to start building relationships that are positive with competitors. Get to know your competitor. Research them. Make a connection with the owner. Invite them to network with you.

Be a virtual sentinel

All I can say is watch your site with eyes wide open. Check your analytics and data and follow it. Your traffic may be diverted somewhere else. Be competitive and beat them at their own game. Don't be blindsided by business sabotage tactics.

Keep the faith and see you at the top.



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Recent Comments

12

Thanks for the follow and the info.

.Thanks for the information Jeff well received and appreciated!

You are welcome

Your article makes me realize I know nothing about how my potential Affiliate website business could damaged by “ne’er do wells”... you mentioned having our traffic diverted. What can be done to protect against that? Thanks....

Keep watching your analytics and try to have a personal relationship with competitors by getting to know them.

Great post. We all go into these businesses with rose colored glasses and we need to see whwhat happens in the real world.

Yea I think that's just completely jacked up, I don't care if it's a business tactic or not, some people just suck that do that kind of thing.
I would never try to sabotage someone else like that.

This is why our businesses will succeed. We want good karma.

I hope so, fingers crossed.
And definitely, good karma is exactly what i'm hoping for.

Thanks for sharing JB!
So sad to see these things happen to people, with nearly no recourse available.
Stay vigilant!
KyleAnn

Great post thank you.

Thank you.

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