How do you keep track of your competitors?

[MoneyHacker]

I'm thinking that competitors is a great source for new ideas. Do you guys have a document to keep track of all competitors in your niche? If you do have: What software do you implement? What metrics do you use to analyse your competitors. Thank you

 

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[Monkeycom]

I don't watch them. Focus on your ideas, your actions.

 

[MoneyHacker]

I don't watch them. Focus on your ideas, your actions.

What do you do to find ideas? If you don't mind me asking

 

[Monkeycom]

What do you do to find ideas? If you don't mind me asking

I don't search for innovative products/ideas. I like to sell water in a desert !

 

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[timmy]

I'm think that competitors is a great source for new ideas. Do you guys have a document to keep track of all competitors in your niche? If you do have: What software do you implement? What metrics do you use to analyse your competitors. Thank you

Your competitors will always be the least of your worries.

 

[Dan_Cardone]

I don't watch them. Focus on your ideas, your actions.

Thats silly. You can learn a great deal from your competition.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

I have accounts on their sites. Have loyal clients funnel information on prices/offering/etc. Even have a manager at the competition funneling information.

We treat everyone well, and do honest business, so people like coming to us when they're getting taken advantage of and let us know what's going on.

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

You don't.

 

[MoneyHacker]

Thats silly. You can learn a great deal from your competition.

I can not agree more. Especially the ones that are doing well in the market

 

[MoneyHacker]

I have accounts on their sites. Have loyal clients funnel information on prices/offering/etc. Even have a manager at the competition funneling information.

We treat everyone well, and do honest business, so people like coming to us when they're getting taken advantage of and let us know what's going on.

Nice, getting into competitor's funnel is a great way to learn from them. Thank you, i will implement this.

 

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[MoneyHacker]

You don't.

Can you elaborate?

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Going off what other people wrote:

The first thing that matters is you and your offering. What matters next is the competition.

As @Dan_Cardone said, there's a lot to learn from the competition. In my opinion, being competitive and knowing about your competition is essential to making your offering the best it can be. Who cares if your product is valuable, but it's more expensive than the next best option. If someone is aware of both offers, then they will ALWAYS buy the better option. Think about that.

You have to always strive to do what the direct competition is doing, and do it a little bit better. Indirect competition is less important.

 

[Bekit]

I've used Spyfu and SimilarWeb to see what my competitors were doing.

I make it a habit to look at the way that the largest competitors in my space are marketing themselves. The largest companies have the budget to do multiple rounds of testing. If they are doing their landing pages a certain way or sticking with a certain approach in their funnel, it's fairly likely that they've tested against other alternatives and found this one to work the best. Copying what they're doing (and then improving from there) is often a shortcut if you're an underdog and don't have the budget to do the multiple testing rounds yourself.

You don't necessarily even need software to figure out what your competitors are doing. Just approach their company as if you were a potential client and reverse engineer what they're doing.

 

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[MoneyHacker]

Going off what other people wrote:

The first thing that matters is you and your offering. What matters next is the competition.

As @Dan_Cardone said, there's a lot to learn from the competition. In my opinion, being competitive and knowing about your competition is essential to making your offering the best it can be. Who cares if your product is valuable, but it's more expensive than the next best option. If someone is aware of both offers, then they will ALWAYS buy the better option. Think about that.

You have to always strive to do what the direct competition is doing, and do it a little bit better. Indirect competition is less important.

i will bear in mind this, thank you

 

[MoneyHacker]

I've used Spyfu and SimilarWeb to see what my competitors were doing.

I make it a habit to look at the way that the largest competitors in my space are marketing themselves. The largest companies have the budget to do multiple rounds of testing. If they are doing their landing pages a certain way or sticking with a certain approach in their funnel, it's fairly likely that they've tested against other alternatives and found this one to work the best. Copying what they're doing (and then improving from there) is often a shortcut if you're an underdog and don't have the budget to do the multiple testing rounds yourself.

You don't necessarily even need software to figure out what your competitors are doing. Just approach their company as if you were a potential client and reverse engineer what they're doing.

Nice, thank you. But can i ask one more question, how do you choose the competitors that you will be watching for? is that just the largest ones? I mean when there are dozens of competitors in your niche, it will be hard to keep track of all of them.

 

[Dan_Cardone]

In addition to watching how the competition markets and sells its wares, look up complaints and issues people have with your competition's products and services.

Figure out what they aren't giving their customer that the customer wants, or how the customer is being underserved, and you now know how to make your product or service better.

 

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[Bekit]

Nice, thank you. But can i ask one more question, how do you choose the competitors that you will be watching for? is that just the largest ones? I mean when there are dozens of competitors in your niche, it will be hard to keep track of all of them.

I would say it's not just the largest ones. If you're a small player in an industry with competitors of all sizes, it's also useful to look at the methods and tactics of the companies your size (because sometimes it isn't realistic to think that you can copy the things that the big dogs are doing).

I would also say, take to heart what others in this thread have said. Focus on YOUR business first. Looking around at competitors is only a distant second priority. Only do competitor research in a way that doesn't distract you from your mission and purpose.

It shouldn't take you very long, anyway. If you're thinking that you need to research EVERY competitor at a deep level, you're waaaayyyyy overthinking this.

Here's an example of quick (but effective) competitor research that I'd do using Spyfu the SEO context.

1. Type in your own website. Look at the 3-4 competitors that they list for you. Look at the keywords that your competitors are ranking for that you AREN'T ranking for. Identify the lowest hanging fruit keywords out there. Put together a plan to create content that gets you ranking for those keywords.
2. Then look at a few of your competitors URL's. Check how much they are spending on ads. (Your adspend budget compared to theirs will definitely restrict the amount you can expect to get the same results as them, but you can think through whether there are "guerrilla" methods of getting results on a shoestring.)
3. Check which sites are linking to your competitors. See if you can create content that's good enough to earn backlinks from the same (or similar) sites and put together a plan to conduct outreach to request backlinks from influential sites.

These three actions are simple. This whole process shouldn't take you more than an hour to plan out what you're going to do. Research this once a quarter and then execute the plan over the course of the quarter.

Hope this helps!

 

[Monkeycom]

Thats silly. You can learn a great deal from your competition.

I actually don't agree, and don't advise to. As @timmy outlined, your competitors will always be the least of your worries.
Make them copy you - but do not copy them.
Focus on your customers, your offers, and nothing else.

 

[MoneyHacker]

I would say it's not just the largest ones. If you're a small player in an industry with competitors of all sizes, it's also useful to look at the methods and tactics of the companies your size (because sometimes it isn't realistic to think that you can copy the things that the big dogs are doing).

I would also say, take to heart what others in this thread have said. Focus on YOUR business first. Looking around at competitors is only a distant second priority. Only do competitor research in a way that doesn't distract you from your mission and purpose.

It shouldn't take you very long, anyway. If you're thinking that you need to research EVERY competitor at a deep level, you're waaaayyyyy overthinking this.

Here's an example of quick (but effective) competitor research that I'd do using Spyfu the SEO context.

1. Type in your own website. Look at the 3-4 competitors that they list for you. Look at the keywords that your competitors are ranking for that you AREN'T ranking for. Identify the lowest hanging fruit keywords out there. Put together a plan to create content that gets you ranking for those keywords.
2. Then look at a few of your competitors URL's. Check how much they are spending on ads. (Your adspend budget compared to theirs will definitely restrict the amount you can expect to get the same results as them, but you can think through whether there are "guerrilla" methods of getting results on a shoestring.)
3. Check which sites are linking to your competitors. See if you can create content that's good enough to earn backlinks from the same (or similar) sites and put together a plan to conduct outreach to request backlinks from influential sites.

These three actions are simple. This whole process shouldn't take you more than an hour to plan out what you're going to do. Research this once a quarter and then execute the plan over the course of the quarter.

Hope this helps!

This is very much detailed and helpful. Thank you a lot, i will try not to overthink this.

 

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[CareCPA]

What do you do to find ideas? If you don't mind me asking

If you're looking to competitors to find new ideas, then you're always playing catch up.
Figure out what your market needs, and beat your competitors to it.