Your website is the core of your marketing program. It is working for you 24/7. Is it working as effectively as it can be? Do you know who your online competitors are? Is your competition outranking your website on major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing?
An online competitive analysis is essential for businesses today. Just as you would evaluate your competitors if you had a storefront, you must now review other websites that sell the same product or service as you do. Your online competitors are not the same as your traditional storefront competitors. Your online competitors are the companies whose websites are ranking higher than yours on search engines for keywords related to your industry.
An online competitive analysis aims to provide you with detailed information on how your competitors are using the Internet to promote their products and services, which strategiesthey are employing and which tactics they are using to attract web traffic. For example, which keywords are your competitors targeting? Is their website optimized for search engines? Do they have more external links pointing to their website than you do? Do they have a social media presence? When you know what your online competitors’ strengths and weaknesses are, you will be better able to structure your marketing program to get more leads and sales directly from your website and outrank your competition.