Web scraping is the process of extracting information from a source or website which contains valuable information and scraping all of that and saving it in your system in the format you would like to view it in such as CSV file and much more.

Previously, if a company needed to extract information from a website, they would opt for the method of copy-pasting. But the drawback here was when it comes to large data the copy-pasting would consume a lot of time to conduct the action and when you copy-paste big data the website slows down alerting the owner of suspicious activity.

But with web scraping, this isn’t the case. In just a few minutes you can easily extract information without slowing down the website which is why it has grown to be popular. To conduct web scraping activities is convenient, all you need to is:

1 . Select the website/source you want to scrape

2. Choose the data which you needs scraping

3. Run the web scraping code
4. Save it all in your system

So let's’ learn better how the use of web scraping can enhance your project planning.

1. SCRAPES RELEVANT DATA FROM THE CROWD

There are tens and thousands of data available online but not all that data is relevant to help your business grow. As a brand you know what is required for your brand’s enrichment and hence with web scraping, extracting only that portion of essential data that can help brands succeed faster in their lead capture activities. 

Let’s understand this with an example:

If you want to scrape data from your competitor's websites, web scraping makes that happen without the competitor's website slowing down or having any risk of any brand conducting this action to be detected. 

2. QUICKER IMPROVISATION OF BRAND’S SOLUTIONS

A brand can enhance its solution when it has the right data which exhibits the requirements needed to improvise the solution. Web scraping provides accurate data because all the data being driven is from sources that have been following it or from platforms where prospects have mentioned their opinion on their expectations about a particular product. 

All of this contributes a valuable data collection to brands which can help them to improvise their solution better. Since brands have an analysis of what their prospects are expecting, it becomes easier to adapt to the modifications and also plan out the next possible changes before the new trend hits. 

3. RETAINS BRAND SUCCESS

A brand success can only be retained when a band continues to serve the needs of all its prospects even with each changing trend. But how can that happen when the trends have no time of their arrival? 

With the data collected, brand’s can have an idea, it might not be the exact prediction but a simple analysis of how their solution will be looked upon a few years from now. Not only that aspect, but brands can also have an analysis of how their prospects will look at a product. 

Interesting Read : How web scraping can benefit the real estate industry?

Let’s understand this with an example:

Maybe the current product offered by a brand is great,it has all the features and the prices are great, with web scraping you can get data which will help you analyze what more prospects are looking for. For instance maybe they want few features to be automated or they want a specific feature and so on.

Web scraping ensures that you get the data that can help you still cater to the prospect's needs no matter the changes and still retain the success crown for longer. 

4. OUTSELL COMPETITORS

The harsh truth is if you want to be successful, outselling your competitors can win you over some brownie points. With web scraping, you can easily scrape any information which will most likely help your brand to hover in front of your competitors. It could be their pricing strategies, their prospect reviews and any other information which will most likely help in catering to your very own prospect needs.

The market is growing and changing all the time when it comes to conducting activities which can pull your brand closer to assisting their needs better, web scraping is an ideal tool for that action to take place.

While web scraping can help you to capture the insightful data, conducting this process for long can put a risk for you online. It can block your IP and put a stop to your work. It is advised that to avoid this from happening, using a reliable proxy server assistance can help secure your web scraping actions better. 

5. CONDUCTING EFFECTIVE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

For you to create a better project it would be better if you had the right information in hand. 

Let’s understand this with an example:

Many brands today invest their revenue in conducting multiple pieces of research with the help of CTO’s or data scientists who can help to use data to retrieve insightful results that could matter to a brand. But when data itself is so minimal how can the right predictions or the right accuracy be implemented in such an action?

Proxy servers ensure that every data being retrieved is of added value. Whether it is a competitor's website, social media or any other source which is limited or restricted, the proxy server ensures that when you use it to conduct any online data retrieval activity you are able to access all of it. When the insightful data is in your hand, it becomes easier to create a solution that will impact the way your brand will perform in the near future.

6. COLLECTS RECOMMENDATIONS, REVIEWS, AND FEEDBACKS

How can you create a better project? 

When they are able to sell what exactly their prospects expect from them. 

Let’s understand this with an example:

For a brand, the most important factor which matters in the creation of an effective solution is the needs of the prospects. With the changing market, trends change as well as the choices of prospects, and imagine if you were able to retrieve all the advice, reviews and feedbacks of prospects towards a product, wouldn’t you be able to sell much better?

A proxy server is a solution that helps you a brand to access any kind of information from any source without the fear of their identity being hidden. For instance, say you want to access information from your competitors in order to understand what their particular strategies are. The first step you would do is to send a request to view their website. 

Instead of the request reaching their website, the proxy server will receive it first. The proxy server will change your IP address and then send the request. Once your competitors approve of the request sent, you can then access their information.

The reason why proxy servers change your IP address is that this address can give away your current location. 

Interesting Read : How can web scraping help in efficient growth hacking?

Let’s understand this with an example:

Now your competitors have only limited their data access on their website to certain users. If you are not a part of those set users, chances are you would either have the request denied or be blocked. The way they find out is through the IP address you hold.

What a proxy server does is it hides your IP address and showcases another IP address so when your competitors receive it, they will think that you are a part of their users and give you access. When this action is being conducted, proxy servers ensure that nowhere at any point will your identity be revealed.