On the web where everything is all about exposure, there is no better way to learn than learning from your own competitors. Entrepreneurs and businessmen can learn from others, know what they do to know how to be better with minimal risk and spending little resources.
Analyzing the competition is not at all about duplicating what they do. But rather to know what's working for them, and understand how to make that strategy to work on you, but in better ways.
Being prepared to dominate your niche is to know how to get the right message at the right time to the right audience. And by seeing what your competitors have done, you will know what strategy works and what won't.
Your Competitors And Where To Find Them
On the internet, the closest competitors to you are the ones that have similar ideas to you. Whether its about their products or services they provide that resemble yours. However, as many websites are depending on search engines for exposure, your competitors are also those who rank better on the keywords you're aiming.
In some cases, your competitors in business aren't your competitors in search, so they don't rank for any of the search terms your trying to get. However, some of those competitors may have a great branding in which can be a huge advantage to you if you can also "stalk" them.
There is also a chance that you're competing in a search result with those that aren't actually your competitors.
As a start, you can first try to dig into the keywords you want to rank, and see which keywords are giving you conversion. You can then you those keywords to see which websites are ranking above you. Note the top ten on the list if you're not already on page one.
Now that you know who are your competitors, it is not time to "stalk" them.
Do What They Do But Better
By having a list of your closest competitors, you can take your time in learning what they do. You can start by learning and tracking their online marketing campaign.
There are lot of tools that are available on the web where you can use to see what backlinks your competitors are building. You can also see business news websites and blog articles that mentioned them. Take note on the big sites that have written their names because they can be the one who are sending reviews and referrals.
You can then find out what keywords they have been focusing to aim. If they're ranking well on those terms, one thing that you have to see is where they're getting those links from. It can be from organic search of paid search. Take your time to dig into that knowledge.
Stalking your competitors is not just helping you to know how good or bad their marketing campaigns are. But to spot any opportunities they may have missed, and get into it sooner than them.
You can also sign up to your competitor's email marketing and newsletter in order just to see how they offer their promotional contents. If you want to take it further, you can also become their customer to see how they have to offer you, and how good they can personalize your deal.
There's no harm done when you're 'Liking' and 'Following' your competitors on social media networks. By Liking and Following your competitors, you can see what they're doing better, and know what is working for them socially, and who are interacting with their posts.
Keeping an eye on their website is also necessary. This can give you a lot of insight about your competitors and how they perform in the competition. For example, you can see whether they're addiing new functionalities and features to their sites, what and how they promote things there, and when is their best time to do so.
Take note from all the information you can get your hands into, and try to make things at least a bit better.
Related: Get More Traffic To Your Website By Spying Your Competitors
Know What To Track
With the endless of possibilities and data you can harvest from your competitors, you may want to filter some of them to see what can benefit you, and what won't do you much good.
Below is a list of things that you can get after "stalking" them.
- How do they describe themselves?
- Their contents, and how they get exposed.
- News, blogs, forums, etc.. The facts, quotes and statistics
- People who frequently mention and write good things about them.
- Unique things they have on their website.
- The backlinks. Where and how to they get them.
- Their network. Affiliate or any others.
- Advertisements they're doing. Where and how.
- Their personalized approach strategy.
- Their clients. Who and where do they come from.
- And many more.
There a lot of scenarios in which you can replicate to get you to the same level as them. Harness the information to create yourself a bigger profile to gain more exposure. By doing this well, you can ultimately get ahead of your competitors if you can just do things a bit better than what they already did.
Improvise To Be Unique
Getting to know your competitors up close can be a great thing because you get a glimpse of their strength and weaknesses. These information can do you much good as the foundation of your marketing strategy.
Be aware that you aren't the only one in the game, and your competitors can also do the exact thing as you. In order to put you in a different league, but in good way, you have to be unique.
Use your own voice, your own character, your own style, your own passion. These are what differentiate you from others, and these are the ones that put that uniqueness in you. Don't be shy in becoming yourself because as a business, this unique value is what makes you different from any other, although you're selling the exact same thing.