Only 78.5% of small businesses survive the first year. The top reasons for the failure of startups are insufficient market research, poor business plans, and inadequate marketing.
As a business owner, you can overcome these obstacles through access to quality and reliable information about the market, which you can find on the web.
The internet is a rich source of data in areas such as:
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Trends in the market
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Customers' needs and wants
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Competitors' strengths and weaknesses
By collecting data from relevant websites, you can develop workable business plans, develop effective marketing strategies, and create customer-responsive products.
Manually collecting these data requires a lot of human resources, time, and could result in numerous omissions and errors. You can improve this process with data scraping.
What is Data Scraping?
This is an automated technique of gathering data from the web using a scraper. The scraper is set to extract specific data from targeted websites. For instance, it can collect contact details of small business owners from the Yellow Pages or prices of any particular product from Amazon.
Once it extracts the data, the scraper parses it and stores it in a spreadsheet or database in a readable format.
Most websites do not allow scraping on their sites. This is because it slows down the site and compromises the users' experience. Scrapers also give the impression of real traffic, which interferes with the accuracy of web analytics.
Web scrapers make use of proxy servers to bypass this hurdle.
What is a Proxy?
A proxy server acts as a go-between, preventing direct communication between the device using the scraper and the webserver. The proxy comes with an IP address attached to a specific location. Any request made by the device or response from the website goes to the proxy first, hiding the device's real IP and location.
There are two main types of proxies
1) Data Center Proxies
These are an artificial kind of proxies that are created in data centers. They do not rely on an internet service provider or an internet service. Data center proxies are fast, making it possible to scrape large amounts of data in a short time.
2) Residential Proxies
These are proxies issued to homeowners by internet service providers. They are not as fast as data center proxies, but the chances of being detected when using these proxies are low. Residential proxies are legit and reliable, guaranteeing an uninterrupted scraping project.
Proxies can be private or shared. A private proxy is issued to a single user, who assumes control over the proxy. A shared proxy is where a number of users share proxies and their costs.
Although shared proxies are cheaper, they are slow, especially during peak times. They are also less secure. This is because you cannot control the websites that the other users access with the proxy.
Why do Businesses Need Data Scraping?
Here are the benefits that an analysis of the information collected through scraping can bring to your business.
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Collecting pricing information makes it possible to set more competitive prices
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Using data scraping to monitor your competitors ensures that you do not lose your market share
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Scraping data on the most effective keywords improves your SEO and draws organic traffic to your site
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It makes it possible to gather quality leads in a short time, improving your marketing strategy
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You can collect data on your target market and use it to develop products that meet their needs.
Is Data Scraping Legal
Many business owners often question the legality of data scraping. But data scraping is legal, as long as you stick to two rules.
1) Scrape public data
2) Use the data collected to gain insight and not for making a profit
Public data is any information available on the web that does not require any login information to access. A simple search query should reveal the information you need.
The data extracted should be used to gain insight into market conditions, make better decisions, and develop better strategies.
Most businesses provide guidelines on how you should scrape the website, which will be available in the robots.txt file. Follow the guidelines provided.
Avoid scraping the website too fast or making too many requests at a go. It will slow down the site. You can resolve this by using rotating IPs and adding delay periods on your scraper. Adding some random clicks and mouse movements will also give the impression of a regular user, and prevent you from being detected.
Conclusion
So, what is data scraping? This is an automated data collection technique that is transforming the way businesses make decisions. It enables startups and small businesses to remain relevant in the market and grow their customer base by using insights from information extracted from the web.
Scrape publicly available data and avoid using it for commercial gain. Follow the scraping rules provided on the website. And ensure that your scrapers do not affect the website's performance. If you are looking for scraping tools try Zenscrape.