All great marketers know that in order to be the top in your
field you need to know your competitors. But researching each
one can be time consuming and a treasure hunt at best. Using
Alexa (www.alexa.com) can be an invaluable tool for you to find
out what your competitors are up to on the web.
What is Alexa? Alexa is an Amazon.com company that maintains
information about website traffic. You can find out the most
popular sites in a variety of categories such as business,
sports, recreation, and shopping.
How do I use Alexa? To access this tool, simply go to
http://www.alexa.com. From there you can browse the topic of
your business or type in a specific website in the 'Search the
Web' box.
Let's use the gift basket business as an example. First, go to
Alexa's home page and type in 'gift baskets' as a search. When
your search results appear, look at the end of the description
for the link titled 'Site Info.' This is where you will find
your research gold.
What can I learn about the top ranked site? When you click on
the 'Site Info' link, lots of valuable information is displayed.
The first thing to note is the traffic ranking of the website.
The top gift basket site is ranked 119,370. Not bad considering
there are millions of pages online at any given time.
Other useful information listed on this site info page is other
websites that visitors also went to and the number of sites that
link to this website. Other sites that link to the site can be
very valuable - what search engines is the site listed in? Where
are they advertising?
Next, click on the 'See Traffic Details' link near the top of
the page. Look at the traffic for the site and note that in the
last week the number of visitors has increased by almost
100,000. Wow! What could be the reason? The holidays? A contest?
Their keywords and titles? An advertising campaign? Take a look
at the site and see if there is a spectacular giveaway or
something very attractive going on.
Summary Alexa is a very powerful tool for researching your
competitors. Also, be sure to look at your site's listing to
find out how well it is doing compared to others in your
industry. As you analyze your competitors, look for their
strengths so that you can emulate them and also their weaknesses
so that you can set your business apart.
About the author:
Megan Corwin is a personal coach who enjoys helping work at home
professionals grow their businesses while maintaining an
organized household. Download Megan’s free ebook "How to Market
Your Small Business Online for FREE":
http://marketonlinefree.wahwoman.com
