free competitor website traffic analysis
We often talk about how important it is to focus on your own project and not get distracted by what other people are doing. It's true but... A little friendly spying never hurts, especially when it comes to your competitors' websites.
You can get ideas to try new things, write new content, and new opportunities to steal some traffic. And you can do this without spending a lot of money on different tools to track competitor data.
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| free competitor website traffic analysis |
Here are some simple and free ways to analyze your competitors' websites and get some great ideas for yourself.
What can I learn from my website competitors?
A word to the wise: Before you open the information hose, find out what you really want to learn from the competition. Otherwise, stopping at your competitors' sites can be a real waste of time, comparing yourself to others and feeling more suspicious. Don't go down the rabbit hole!
Start your competition research with a specific goal in mind:
- Are you trying to increase traffic to your website?
- Set yourself apart from the competition?
- Improve your search engine rankings?
- Find out where your competitors advertise?
- Are you improving your social media strategy?
Knowing this will also help you use your free 7-day trials effectively in more expensive competing analytics software so you don't waste time.
How do I find competitors on my website?
You may already know who the competition is. You might be looking at them across the street now. But in many industries, your competitor may be in your area or on the other side of the world.
- Start by compiling a list of about 10 websites similar to yours (companies of similar size and target audience). You can do this with a free tool like Similar. Enter the URL of your website or competitor you already know, and select “Similar Sites” (note: with the free version, you are limited to 10 results).
You can also do it the old-fashioned way by simply typing some of your most important keywords into Google and seeing which websites appear in the results. Low tech, but free and effective.
- Once you have the list of competitors, find out which websites have been the most successful so far . Type the URLs into a similar grid and you will get an overview of your monthly traffic and other stats. You will also be able to see where your traffic is coming from (such as social media, email, search engines) and where they are getting referrals.
This is a good way to get a feel of the terrain, and you may find that a website that you thought was really popular doesn't get much traffic (or vice versa).
Tip: If you are interested in these numbers for your website, make sure you turn on your stats!
Now you know who your competitors are and what kind of traffic they are getting. excellent! Now what are some free ways to spy on competitor website?
1. Evaluate your competitors' website content
Just because a competitor gets a lot of traffic doesn't mean they won the site game. Sometimes a website receives traffic for not very good content!
This is why it's so important to go over the numbers and take a closer look at what's already on your competitors' pages. What information do they cover? Are there obvious gaps? Do you have a FAQ section? If they do, then perhaps something obvious is missing.
What you are looking for here are content ideas that you can put on your website better than they have. Use a free trial of BuzzSumo to see which content performs best and then see if you can create something better.
2. Pay close attention to your brand.
Do they have a logo?
What are your brand colors?
Do they have a "look" they use constantly?
Perhaps they are trying to choose a certain type of personality: sophisticated, playful, expensive.
By knowing your competitor's brand identity, you can emulate it or make your identity different. Spending time on your own brand, including getting a logo, can give you the polish and professionalism you need to stand out.
3. Find out what website tools they use
Use a free service like Built With to take a look at what tools and add-ons your competitors are running on their websites. You'll see where your website is hosted, what email services they use, and maybe even get ideas for tools you'd like to try on your own site.
4. Free competitor analysis tools for social media
There are many social media monitoring tools. But be careful with expensive software that will take a very long time.
To get a basic overview of your competitors' social media activity, you can simply follow them and see what's happening in their feeds. If you mainly focus on Facebook, you can probably spend your time on a different social media channel.
- What publications do they have that work so well?
- Is there anything you do differently?
- Do they post 100 times a day?
- How is your response time?
These questions will help you formulate your social media strategy.
5. Look at their pricing page
Take a look at your competitors' prices. What features do they offer? How do their prices compare to yours? Do you use any discount and promotion?
If they don't have a pricing page, this is a good opportunity for you. It can be intimidating to rethink your pricing if your competitors aren't already, but transparency in pricing is a really good thing. Plus, it can offer features and benefits that they don't. Here are more tips for building your own pricing page.
6. Get a picture of your SEO strategy and traffic
There is a ridiculous amount of tools to dig deep into backlinks, keywords, referrals, and more from your competition.
If you are new to the SEO game, start with a free tool like SEMRush . Type in your competitors' website URL and you'll find out which keywords are bringing organic traffic (search engine traffic) to your site. (The free version of SEMRush has a limited number of searches and results, but it's a great way to get started.)
We also love the free MozBar extension. This will give you an idea of your competitor's "domain authority" and is an indication of how well they perform in search engine results.
7. Become a customer
You may hate the idea of spending money on a competitor, but it's important to swallow your pride and do it. Register and buy
How was the process? What worked and what didn't? Consider the flow of the payment process, the information they collect, and the tone of your brand. Are there any shortcomings you can take advantage of (eg maybe shipping times are really slow)?
If they have a newsletter, sign up so you can control what they do. Try contacting customer service with a FAQ and see what their response looks like.
Nobody is perfect, even that competing site that looks bright and friendly. When you're a customer, you'll see where the gaps (and opportunities) are.
When should I conduct a competition investigation?
Don't get stuck looking at the contest. The best time to do this is when you are starting a new website, considering a redesign, looking for a blog topic or something to write about, or a few times a year as a normal cleaning chore.
In the end, most competitor research won't tell you something you don't yet know: that driving traffic and being successful online means sticking to the basics:
- write good content,
- Using social media and other PR tools,
- Link building and
- Take advantage of search engine optimization tools.
Use a competitor's website to your advantage
Competitor site is a tool to improve your site, there is nothing to fear.
These free methods will give you a basic idea of who your competitors are, how their traffic is, and also provide you with metrics and ideas to apply to your website.
Even better, you'll start to see some opportunities and spaces to populate your website.