This site allows searching for e-commerce sites in specific industries in order to view status, link popularity, ranking, etc. For our company we began by selecting five companies that best fit our industry and were in top 500. We took a look at what they were doing, and they must be doing something right if they are in top 500.

We made a list of their strengths and weaknesses and compared our strengths and weaknesses to theirs. This was best free Competition Analysis tool we had come across. It provided information on our competition and allowed us to begin carving out what our special niche could be and how to compete. The only thing that it cost was time.

For a startup e-commerce site with a limited budget I recommend trying this approach for Competition Analysis. This approach does not have to be your only tool but it can be a beneficial tool to add to your marketing toolbox.

That is double opt-in, that person filed out form, and then got an email from company asking if they filed out form. If they did they hit a link that would confirm that to company.

Then you want to look to see if that company also supplies address, phone, IP address of lead.

And what I think is most important, does company offer leads that are spam compliant! This means you will not be accused of spam when you contact that lead! And will this lead be unique to you.

What I mean by unique to you is, once that lead shows up on your list, it will not show up on anyone else’s lead list.

And last but not least price! Please don’t think that higher fee better leads will be. This is definitely not true; I can vouch for that one.

I have used lead sources to promote my business that cost anywhere from $30 a month for 1000 leads, to $150 a month for 4000 leads. Which do you think I had better luck with?

You guessed it, one that gave me 1000 leads for $30 a month was best deal, and I am averaging about a 28% signup to my business.

It does not sound like a lot, but think, that is 280 people a month, and if only 100 of those do any business for me, that is a bunch of money in my pocket each month. And all that for $30 a month.

So remember when choosing a lead generation company, look for price, double opt-in lead, spam compliant, unique to you, all pert ant information for lead, and of course how many leads do you get each month!