A 26-Point Checklist for Analysing and Beating Your Competition
In a perfect world, there would be no competition. Customers would have no option but to buy from you. But, the reality is your competition is out there, ready to bite into your share of sales, customers, and even brand visibility.
How can you analyse your competition and be prepared with the right strategies? Go through this 26-point competitor checklist and see how well you hold up against your competition.
The First Impression
The competitor’s website and social media pages can be your starting point. The website and social accounts will give so many hints about their strategy and sales plan. Ask the following questions to get an idea about your competitor’s strategy and see if you can trump them.
1. Do they have customer reviews and testimonials on their website?
2. Do they have the pricing on their website?
3. Do you think their website appeals to a specific type of customers, e.g. students, females, executives, kids or ethnicity etc?
4. Do they collect leads on their website and how, e.g. newsletter subscription, free download/trial etc.?
5. How are they using social media?
6. Do they have a brand story to tell?
7. How are they telling their brand story? Which media are they using?
8. Do their products offer benefits that yours don’t? What are they?
9. Do they promote any social cause on their website?
10. Are they doing paid ads, as in PPC, AdWords or Facebook advertising?
User Experience
User experience is the key to SEO and conversions. A good user experience keeps people coming back to your website, blog or social media page. And a bad one can make you lose them forever. Take a look at your competitors’ websites from the following angles and compare your own website with them.
11. What’s the most impressive thing about their website when you first land there?
12. Is it clear to a user at first glance what business they’re in and what value their product offers?
13. What kind of content or functionality do they offer on their website to help their customers? (e.g. how-to videos, e-guides, price calculator, FAQs, live chat, etc)
14. Is the navigation and important sections of the website easily accessible and comprehensible for a first-time user?
15. Do the action buttons or lead capture forms stand out without being intrusive?
16. What kind of visuals are they using and how impactful are they?
17. Do they have a blog? How often are they posting on their blog?
18. Do they have a mobile app? Should you have one too?
Customer Trust
How can you buy anything online unless you trust the seller? That’s why it’s important to have “trust signals” such as testimonials, social proof etc. Let’s critically look at your competitor’s website and find out if your online customers would trust you more.
19. Do they feature customer testimonials, product reviews, or social media comments?
20. Do they offer a money back guarantee, after sale service, or other warranties?
21. Do they boast about any awards, distinctions, achievements, affiliations, certifications, or trade union membership?
22. In case of e-commerce, how reliable are the payment methods (PayPal, Mastercard, Visa) of the website?
Technical Aspects
Technical issues generally have a site-wide nature. Addressing them can improve your overall search presence rather dramatically. Check the following aspects of your competitors’ websites and determine where you stand.
23. Check their page speed. Does the page appear to load slow or fast?
24. Is their website mobile-optimised?
25. Where are they getting the backlinks? Which are the external links from other websites pointing to their pages? You can use Ahrefs.com or another free tool to track their backlinks.
26. How are they ranking for different keywords? What are their top-ranking keywords? Use Ahrefs.com or another free tool to find out.
Once you get all these answers, you’ll have enough data to start optimising your web presence. Leverage this data and come up with your own online marketing strategies. It will not only get you more visibility but also increase your sales.
If you don’t have the time or expertise to manage your online presence, feel free to contact us for a quick and a free SEO consultation. We’ll audit your website versus your competitors’ and take steps to place you one step ahead of everyone else.
