Running and growing a business is a pretty tough task. It relies heavily on one’s ability to influence and control the market, especially in the online world. The best way to do this is to step up your game and be flexible and resourceful. Especially when it comes to marketing and advertising. You want to be able to understand your audience and know how to provide them with the right content that will get them to convert.
One of the best ways to do this is learning from not only your own actions but those of your competitors. To accomplish this, look into your competitors and see what steps they are taking to get an edge. Whether you are just expanding into the online world or you have been here for a while and are looking to improve, these 5 tips are sure to help you gain insight into your competitors’ actions.
Who Are You Competing With When It Comes to SEO
Identifying who your SEO competitors are is a crucial first step in optimizing your online marketing strategy. An SEO competitor is anyone who is trying to organically rank for the keywords and search terms that are related to your business. SEO competitors usually include businesses that are in the same niche and offer similar services.
However, this is not always the case. SEO competitors can consist of fields that are not related to your business but share common search terms. Take the time to compile a list of the main search terms that relate to your business. Once you have done that, check what sites and pages rank for those terms.
Use The Proper Tools
There are a couple of tools at your disposal that will enable you to get some insight into your competition. These tools are perfect for analyzing the competition. They will allow you to compare your current ranking with them, and some will even provide you with valuable data regarding paid search and social signs. Some are paid and some have a free trial.
Look At Backlinks
Once you determine who your online competitors are, it is essential to look at their backlink portfolio. SEM Rush can help you with this step. Backlinks are an important ranking factor since they determine the domain authority of a website. The more backlinks you have to your website, the better your site’s domain authority will be.
However, it is important to note that not all backlinks are considered equal. You have to distinguish between healthy and poor quality backlinks. Strong backlinks are those that demonstrate trustworthiness, come from a site that has a high domain authority, and have content that is relevant to your page. Poor quality links, on the other hand, come from untrusted sources and can harm your ranking on search engines.
Use tools to check on the competition’s backlinks. Take note of the stronger ones. See what domains they are on and ask if you can get a guest post on their site. This is a great way to get backlinks from sites that are relevant to your niche.
Take Note of Their Content
Content will always be king when it comes to digital marketing. Written content is one of the most significant factors for good ranking and an authoritative website. However, thin content and poorly written content is bound to do more bad than good in the long run. If your competitor is doing well, then look at what they are doing with their blogs. Are their blogs quickly written blobs of text with keywords sprinkled in, or are they in-depth pieces that can bring some value to the reader. Chances are if the site is ranking well, then their blogs are informative and interesting.
Analyze what they are talking about and how they structure their blogs. Blogs need to be interesting and also convert visitors to customers. Apart from the content itself, look at how your competitors optimized their pages. Are they building quick and responsive pages? If so, take the time to replicate and improve your own pages wherever possible. This analysis should let you know what your competitor is doing right, and it should also give you insight into what they are missing.
Who Are You Competing With on Social Media?
Taking note of social media competitors is an important step in the modern digital marketing world. Social media has a lot of potential for your business, and learning how best to use and leverage it is vital for developing and growing your brand. Take the time to see how your competitors are utilizing social media, and see how their strategies can be used for your business.
These are 5 things you can do to scope out the competition and evaluate which of their tactics can bring beneficial results to you. If you wish to start enjoying good results for your business faster, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to discuss your marketing strategy and help in any way I can.
Rob Dunford is a Marketing Consultant in the Great Toronto Area with over 20 years of experience in implementing marketing plans for small businesses.