Whether you’re a new site owner, or have had your website for years, an important step of evaluating your data is knowing what your competitors are doing.
With this information, you can identify gaps in the market and ways to differentiate yourself from the competition.
Overview of a Competitor Analysis
A competitor analysis gives you an overview of how your business compares to your competition.
It can help your business determine barriers within the market around your product or service, as well as advantages you can focus on.
What to Include in a Competitor Analysis
Start by doing a review of a competitor at a high level:
Visibility in search results
Target customers
What makes them unique
Their offer & how well they communicate it
Price point for products & services (if listed online)
Free offers or discounts they’re promoting
Get More Specific
How easy is it to navigate through their site?
What’s their approach on social media? How often do they post, what are they saying, how much engagement do they get?
How often are they generating new content on their blog or website?
What marketing tactics are they using?
Do they feature customer reviews or trust elements on their site?
How often do they send emails and what do they offer?
How to Conduct your Competitor Analysis
1. Create a list of 3-5 competitors
This can be a mix of aspirational competitors, as well as competitors that are more similar to your business.
To get started, do some searches on Google and Yelp that you would use to find your product/service/business idea.
The competitors you choose to include should:
Have a similar premise & offer
Located near you & in other states
Market to your demographic & slightly different audiences
2. Prepare a Template
While gathering data & information on your competitors, it helps to have a template, so you can make sure you’re covering the same topics for each.
On the left-hand side of the page, list the following:
Page load speed (use tools.pingdom.com)
Price range
Ease of Navigation (scale of 1-5)
Their Offer
How many clicks it takes to reach the offer
Lead Magnet offered in exchange for email
Social media featured
Marketing tactics
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
3. Start Researching
As you get started on your research, pretend that you’re a customer and assess if they answer the 5 main questions on their site (what they offer, who it’s for, why you need it, why trust them & next steps).
Search on Google, Yelp & social media
Follow them on social media
Subscribe to their blog
Browse the site & focus on the content
Make It a Habit
A competitor analysis isn’t something you do once. Schedule a reminder to do a competitor analysis at least every quarter.
This way you’ll be able to keep an eye on the competition and take a proactive approach to your digital marketing.
Use the information you gather to then optimize your own website!
