The notion that data is wealth for businesses is very true. Information collected from various sources by people can be put to many uses by a business. The web is a huge database of information, and data analytics professionals have to collect important data from it. They have to scrape the web through millions of pages to collect relevant data. This is done through the technique of web scraping. Web scraping is relevant to many organizations in many industrial sectors.
All in all, the simple definition of web scraping is the collection of data from the internet. The internet can be one of the biggest spaces for competitor research and market research. Therefore, data analysts use different tools to scrape the web and collect information on behalf of different organizations. We mention the use of tools here because, without their use, data analysts cannot completely scrape such a vast database as the internet.
With the help of scraping tools, data analysts can crawl through websites and collect information. For example, any scraping tool can collect data types like images, videos, text, and even information on pricing for comparison. These data types can provide a certain advantage when marketing and sales strategies are made. However, the web scraper tools cannot scrape every kind of data. As a data analyst, you are scraping data present on a foreign website. Thus, there are some ethical and legal rules governing the sphere of web scraping and how it is applied in a business sense.
Web scraping is used for analytical processes inside a company. A professional web scraping team helps pull information from online forums and social media pages, whether for market research or competitor research. Ecommerce sellers or product brands also collect data from ecommerce websites to set competitive pricing strategies for their products.
Web scraping is also used by search engines like Google to find relevant keywords and rank content according to quality and keyword usage. Web scraping is therefore used to a great extent in SEO strategy implementation. The technique can be used in the lead generation process to filter out genuine and relevant contact for use in different marketing campaigns and promotional ventures.
The following sections discuss the benefits that companies in different sectors draw from web scraping. Before explaining further, keep in mind that web scraping applications can be broad.
Price monitoring of products is an important step for every product-oriented business. Instead of manually monitoring competitors’ price fluctuations, product-based companies are taking up web scraping by professional data analysts. Data analysts use efficient web scraping tools for product price monitoring across different ecommerce platforms. Web scraping can be done for price monitoring for your company products too.
For example, once your company has set the prices of products on an ecommerce platform, web scraping can be used to collect information about demand and website traffic so that the prices can be reviewed from time to time. When the pricing strategy is data-backed and well monitored, the company can easily make profits over a long period. The company can also take up competitor product research with the help of web scraping to know the gaps present in the market and then launch products to fill the gap and create its niche.
The collection of customer feedback and its analysis is very important for every company. Every company has to keep an ear open and present on social media and the internet to hear what the customers want and need. Web scraping helps crawl over social media content and other forums to collect important data about your customers. By collecting relevant customer feedback from social media and other review platforms, the company can easily continue to cater to the target audience.
The brand established by the company needs to be appealing at all times. As the customerās perception changes with time, the brand has to tweak its message and image to be relevant in the eyes of the customers. Web scraping can help you improve on multiple fronts, from individual products to the entire brand.
Sometimes, customers provide the most relevant suggestion to the company because they are the end-users. Customer analysis and feedback collection with the help of web scraping helps the brand cater better. The process helps improve customer-brand relationships and helps the company operate in the market in a well-defined way.
The productivity of the marketing and sales team is enhanced when web scraping is used properly. With useful web scraping data, the marketing team can understand how a product performs in the market. The marketing team can then create new and improved marketing strategies that suit the market expectations. The sales and marketing team has to stay innovative for good returns on investment.
Data collected from web scraping can help the teams with deeper insights and targeted strategy creation. The data collected also has a good impact on the implementation of marketing strategies. The sales team can also understand where the revenue is generated and which target audience segment has a good scope of revenue generation. The sales team can then micromanage the sales process for better returns.
A company’s advertising strategy impacts how revenue is generated and how the audience perceives the brand. Facebook ads or Instagram ads have the power of converting the online space into a marketplace. However, for this, the team has to understand the scope of advertising.
Every brand today is indulging in advertising and online promotions. How the company can reinvent its advertising strategy connects deeply with web scraping. Web scraping helps the ad placement team understand what kind of ads are popular and what the audience wants to see. Moreover, by collecting information on the competitorsā ad strategy, the company can create a unique advertising campaign for its target audience. The company can also use data from web scraping to know which marketing platforms have the highest user activity and how they can be used for a marketing advantage.
These are how web scraping tools and web data analysts can help companies realize their marketing and sales objectives and translate them into tangible figures. When used to its full potential, Web scraping can act as the eyes and ears of the company on the internet.
Jatin Panchal is the Founder & Managing Director at Rlogical Techsoft Pvt. Ltd. For more than a decade, he has been fostering the organization's growth in the IT horizons. He has always bestowed personalized approaches on .NET, PHP, Flutter, and Full-Stack web development projects. From startups to large enterprises, he has empowered them to accomplish business goals. By delivering successful industry-driven solutions, he is encouraging the capability of AI, ML, blockchain, and IoT into custom websites and hybrid mobile applications.