online-competitor-analysis-ticinoSo let’s find out how a competitor analysis is composed and how it is possible to derive maximum benefits for your web marketing strategy. We can briefly divide this activity into five macro steps:
- Identify the type of competitor . Too often we take it for granted that we know our competitors, those on whom to “run the race” and those to beat in our company’s distinctive offering. However, very often it happens to lose sight of the goal , or in any case not to hit it fully. If your company, for example, manufactures Made in Italy footwear in an artisanal way, it is clear that your competitors will not be all footwear companies. You will not compete, for example, with Chinese manufacturers; this, of course, both for a question of costs, production and sales, and for the quality of the articles themselves.
- Analyze the reference serp , which is the search engine results page. The first phase is therefore preparatory to the present, which involves carrying out SEO research . Once you have determined the keywords that best represent the products and services offered by your company, it is time to search for them on Google and to study the competitors who appeared among the first results., understanding which ones to consider and which not. If, adopting the previous example, you produce and sell shoes, it is clear that a blog that talks about shoes, an encyclopedia like Wikipedia that dedicates an information sheet to you or a news site where the keyword appears only momentarily, are not yours. competitors. Through the appropriate tools of the trade, the SEO analyst will extrapolate very important data ( KPIs ) such as page rank , domain authority , page authority and inbound links in order to make a study in detail.
- Analyze websites and web portals . This is the phase in which the quality of the websites of the main competitors is thoroughly examined, reviewing every single element that may prove useful to emulate or from which to distance yourself: the so-called strenghts and weaknesses . It will therefore be appropriate to judge the value of the textual and photographic contents, the reliability and presentation of the same, the graphic part and that linked to the design, the SEO aspect and any particular features present; in short, all the on page and off page factors that cannot go unnoticed.
- Analyze the sentiment of the network . What a company offers and how it offers it is not sufficient in itself to understand if a particular strategy is producing the desired results or not. How is it possible to measure, therefore, the satisfaction index of a company in relation to its customers? By drawing a picture of the opinion and satisfaction of users , or what they think of it, of a product or of a specific promotional activity, for example. Using social media, in this sense, can be very useful to get a reliable idea of the sentiment of the network, analyzing comments, reactions and reviews; in short, everything related to engagement. In addition to Facebook and Instagramad hoc evaluation platforms, such as Tripadvisor and Trustpilot , for example, can also help.
- The last step concerns the Gap Analysis , that is the moment in which the sums are drawn, the possible distance between one’s offer and that of competitors is highlighted and a strategy is developed to try to fill it . The gap can of course be limited to some aspects or to the whole. If the distance between you and the competitors concerns the first case, it is advisable to proceed according to the Capabilities Level Chart , a chart that compares the aspects on which you are better than your competitors and those in which you can and must improve. Each point to improve involves setting a specific goal and, consequently, planning an action to achieve it on schedule.
For more details, I invite you to contact the Swiss digital agency digital equestrians