Now you have successfully signed a new client for your offline marketing services. The first step to starting a new campaign is the competition analysis. The big secret about SEO, PPC, Video Marketing or any service that you offer is that you only have to be better than the competition. That’s it, you don’t have to create ads that convert at 30% or have the best SEO in the world you only have to beat local competitors. This training will help you through your competition analysis.
This training is relies on a lot of tools. Most of the information can be found out using free alternatives however to get the most accurate and up to date information it is worth investing in the tools mentioned. Also all of the tools mentioned come with some type of free trial take advantage of them for free while you get new clients!
Competition
To begin I will assume that you have already done your keyword research. If so then you are ready to begin some general competition analysis. For starters it’s important for you to identify the top online competition for your clients. There is a distinct difference between your client’s physical competition and online competition. You have to find the competitors in your client’s area that are dominating the internet. It will typically consist of 2-5 different companies depending on the area.
To do this we will be using the online marketing tool Semrush. This is an online tool that shows ranking and PPC analysis based off websites and/or keywords you enter. With this one tool you can find out valuable information about the top ranking websites for your client’s top keywords. Visit the tools website and simply enter some of your primary keywords, you will start to notice the same sites appearing regularly. These are your client’s online competition. You simply need to record these top online competitors so you can further analyze their online strategies.
Backlink Analysis
The next step in your competition research will consist of Backlink Analysis. Here you will find the sources that your competitors are using to achieve high rankings. For your backliink analysis you can use SEOMoz Opensite Explorer. This is an excellent tool for you to quickly and easily find what type of backlinks your client’s offline competition is using. You can get an exclusive 90 day free trail of the tool. You also get membership access where you can speak with other SEO’s and learn more about latest Google trends.
When doing your backlink analysis you will be looking for the overall link building strategy the competition has used to achieve high rankings. Some things you can look for include:
- Link building strategy
- Backlink sources
- Anchor text used
- Top backlink sources (news sites, guess post other prominent sites etc.)
Once you have a general sense of your competitors top backlink sources you can begin to get equivalent backlinks for your clients. Since your competitors websites’ are ranking well for ideal keywords then you can assume that getting similar backlinks will help your clients site rank too.
Social Media Analysis
With the last Google updates, Google has made it clear that a high value is placed on social signals. With that in mind you have to find out what your top competitors are doing on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Google+ and YouTube. You need to get a general sense of what they are doing on these networks and how to generate user engagement. If you can clearly define and understand how competitors leverage social media to benefit rankings (and bottom line) then you can begin to implement similar strategies for you clients.
PPC Analysis
The last step for any strong competition analysis is discovering your competition’s PPC campaigns. This will be beneficial even if you don’t offer PPC as one of your services. For the part of the competition analysis you will need to use another online marketing tool and that is Keyword Spy. With this tool you will be able to see the exact PPC ads competitors were using and how effective they were. With this type of information you can quickly develop your own PPC campaign using the ads that are PROVEN to work.
What if you don’t offer pay per click services how can a PPC analysis help you? Well PPC rely heavily on the copy that used to attract readers and take some sort of action. With a quick analysis of your competitor’s ads you can see the wording that prompted user to take action and apply it to your clients site. This alone can greatly increase click through rates and new leads for you clients.
What’s Next
Take the information within this training and start applying it to some of the competitor in your area. You can use a good competition analysis even if you don’t have any clients. A good competition analysis can be the valued added proposition you offer prospect when you meet with them! Be sure to include every section covered in this training and develop the best competition analysis possible. Finally remember to use the tools mentioned as well to get the most accurate and useful information possible for your analysis.