Competitive analysis is an evaluation on your competition. This marketing tool is essential to success in any industry. By analyzing your indirect or direct competition you are able to get a clearer picture of what works and what doesn’t work. You can also avoid making the mistakes that your competition has made along the way.
One great thing about the widespread use of the World Wide Web is that you have direct access to your competitor’s information via their website. This creates a great opportunity for market analysis. It is important to identify your competition and what their strengths and weaknesses are. You can use their business ideas to your advantage by taking what they are doing and making it one step better. You may be able to find a unique selling proposition which your competition is not offering, thus giving you the advantage.
So how do you conduct a competitive analysis and find out what’s happening on the dark side? Below are ten great hints to help get you started:
1) Make use of Pay Per Click. Find out what your competitors are bidding on each search engine. If they are getting a good ROI, then perhaps it’s time to follow their lead.
2) Find out who your competition is working with – does he use outsourcing or partnerships with other websites to gain traffic? If so, consider doing the same.
3) Check out how your keywords are working in comparison to his. Use Google, Yahoo and other search engines to uncover who is ranking higher.
4) Check out Alexa, Compete and Ranking as well as other online tools to determine where your competition is ranking compared to your website. A little competition never hurt anyone – however, you can make it work to your advantage by always knowing where they stand.
5) Uncover how your competition is making money from the website by checking their revenue model.
6) Analyze your competitors PPC ads to determine if your PPC ads are doing you justice.
7) Check out their customer service by ordering a product or asking for their services. Be polite and see how your competition responds to a typical sales call.
8) Backlinks are critical to a web page’s ranking. Check out your competitors backlinks by using search engine analysis. You can look for any social media sites where they are getting their backlinks.
9) Check out any associations or business organizations that your competition belongs to. Associations can build up relationships and offer a validation on your credentials.
10) Find out if your competition is offering free mailing or newsletter subscriptions to members. This can be an effective marketing tool for the right niche.
Competitive analysis is only one of the many tools needed to discover your business strength and weaknesses and improve your ranking online. Contact us today for more information on how we can improve your business or create your company a web presence that will dominate the search engines and deliver results. Call today at (612) 558-1020 for a free phone consultation.
