Many of you may be wondering what is webscraping. In other words, what is web scraping? Internet Company Services (ICS) presents to you in simple language, the concept of web scraping. Web scraping is a technique used to extract information from various websites, using source code. A computer program extracts all this information and translates it into a database. This was quite problematic at first, but then the internet evolved with better designs and applications which made it easier for us.
But is web scraping a useful tool for business owners? In this article, we are going to be exploring some of the benefits of web scraping for business owners.
Benefits of Web Scraping
1. Competitor Monitoring
E-commerce has seen a lot of growth within the last decade. This growth is evident among retailers, wholesalers, and business owners. As a result everyday competition has forced many business owners to either seize to exist or fall behind top players. With web scraping, you can monitor your competitor with just a push of a button saving you the stress of physically going through their website.
Some examples of data you can scrape from your competition websites include:
- Product information to discover new market trends
- Insight into competitors’ budgets through the scraping of product ads.
- Social media insights from competitors’ channels.
Webscraper.io is a good example of web scraper software that can be used to extract data from competitors’ websites. This tool allows you to automate your task by scheduling your site scraping hourly, daily, or weekly. With this process, you can easily monitor the process at your convenience. In addition to this you can start tracking historical pricing of competitors, and understand if there are any pricing patterns or sales that you should be aware of. How was your pricing at those moments in time?
2. Access to Customers' Data
Another benefit of web scraping is that it’s easy to access to customer data. If you have an online directory that has a lead of potential customers, web scraping can be used to easily convert that website leads into a spreadsheet of customer data. if you have access to data about your customers’ search habits, you can get more specific with your ads and landing pages. This will help increase conversions and reduce costs in the long run.
3. Saving Time
Time is the most valuable resource we have. It is a finite resource and we can’t get more of it, so it’s important to make the most of our time. Imagine downloading a large data set that can take hours, and then analyzing every single row manually at a time. You’re definitely loking at a couple of long days ahead. Web scraping helps us do this by automating tasks that would otherwise take humans hours or days to accomplish in just a few minutes.
4. Cost-Effective Approach
Managing data can be a big problem for companies that rely so much on data. Web scraping can be cost-effective because it allows you to get the data you need without having to have your employees perform long tedious tasks of copying, pasting, saving, and organizing. If you’re trying to access data that is not publicly available, or if the price tag on that data is outside of your budget, web scraping is an excellent solution.
5. Keyword Research Placement
Also, web scraping can help you find out what keywords people are using to search for your products or services. With this information, you can optimize your website’s SEO and make sure it ranks higher in Google’s search results. This strategy will help you get more traffic from organic searches as well as improve your conversion rates over time. You can perform web scraping and compare the results over time, to identify any changes, or potential opportunities.Finally, by using web scraping as an alternative to search engines and other paid advertising methods, you will be able to save money on marketing costs.
If you are a business looking to improve your strategy, we could help implement web scraping and many more tools to help you have more information, and ultimately make better business decisions.
At Garrick Solutions, we provide a variety of solutions in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Resource Management, Cybersecurity Assessments, Business Process Improvements, and consultancy services to assist businesses in their growth.
Contact us today for a chat about how to use technology strategically to grow your business.
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