Now that you have your list of specific markets (Finding the Right Audience), it’s time to examine the competition – both online and off.
Every business has room for improvement, whether it is better customer service or an easy to navigation website. The point of researching the competition is to find out what others are doing and do it better – or in the case of a writer/author, emulate it (but don’t copy or plagiarize).
Research
Start by researching businesses that cater to the specific markets on your list. For Example: Artists might be segmented into oil painters, watercolor artists, sculptors, advertising. Examine how existing businesses cater to these markets. What approach do they take to the ceramic artist? Are they offering fr*e advice, selling it, providing products?
Finally, take a look at how well these businesses are marketing themselves to the market segment. How organized and professional looking are their sites?
Search Engine Searches
Let’s say you have a website and want to know what information you need to put on there to draw in the right reader audience. A fast way is to do a search for your genre.
I found searching for “best selling author GENRE” helped to bring in the top selling author websites.
Using Marketleap and Alexa Tools
Two great tools to compare companies is Alexa and Marketleap.
Alexa
Alexa provides fairly accurate information, and can give you details for a site; however, it can be abused. I have found several Reviews coming from competitors with less than flattering remarks. The comments were unfounded and only used to try and reduce the credibility of the actual site. I also found Contact Information slow to be updated. However, on the whole it is a great tool and worth utilizing.
Statistics provided on Alexa include:
- Traffic Ranking
- Related Links
- Link Saturation
- Contact Information
- Site, User Reviews
Marketleap
Marketleap will help you compare sites showing Link Popularity, Search Engine Saturation and Keyword Verification.
Their Link popularity check is one of the best ways to quantifiably and independently measure a website’s online awareness and overall visibility. Simply put, link popularity refers to the total number of links or “votes” that a search engine has found for that website.
Search Engine Saturation simply refers to the number of pages a given search engine has in its index for a website domain. Not all search engines report this information but enough of them do to create some meaningful benchmarks for search engine marketing campaigns.
The Keyword Verification Tool checks to see if a site is in the top three pages of a search engine result for a specific keyword.
Assignment
Every business has room for improvement, whether it is better customer service or an easy to navigation website. The point of researching the competition is to find out what others are doing and do it better – or in the case of a writer/author, copy it.
Niche Series
- Recognizing your Niche Potential
- Finding Your Niche
- Finding the Right Audience
- Research the Competition
- Meeting the Demand
- Becoming a Niche Builder
