A lot of webmasters get angry when someone else makes a website similar to theirs. The fact is, unless they are directly copying your layout or copyrighted work there isn’t much you can do. I don’t even think its worth getting mad about — this is just the way the internet is.

From Mosaic to IE to Firefox the web has been built on inovation and doing things better than the last guy. MySpace was hardly the original social networking site, but they definately walked away with the biggest pile of loot (at least so far.) Is Google just being a copycat of Yahoo and Overture? May be, but so far they’ve certainly done a better job.

The web is very transparent. It is not difficult for the competition to borrow your idea and make it better. Thats actually why I created this blog in the first place. On forums, most users have websites they can associate with themselves. I don’t mind people looking at my work, but I do mind the extra competition in what is sometimes an already very tight niche.

How do you build up the barriers to entry to prevent competition with deep pockets from burrying you? Two things — your brand (domain name) and your user base (returning visitors who are fanatical users.)

Surging internet ad revenues mean more investment dollars are pouring back into the web, bubble style. If you aren’t going to be bought out you might be seeing someone new try to outspend you. The good news is that veteran publishers still have the upper hand; just don’t count on it lasting forever.