Many new business owners have no idea how to face competition in business online mostly because it’s a different terrain from the traditional system of a business. It is essential to know the best online business competition strategies as it’ll help you accomplish tangible results in real-time. This article presents all you need to know about how to beat business competition online.
It is no longer news that the digital space is the next big move for business owners looking to expand their business reach. A lot of small, medium, and large-scale business owners have their businesses online. Whether you are considering moving your business online or are just starting, it is essential to note that you are most likely not the only one in that niche. There is a high chance that several individuals and business owners are already marketing your niche online. It means your niche is generating tons of money as it attracts a high number of visitors daily. So, it’s important to know & implement working strategies that’ll help you beat business competition online.
The following are effective strategies to implement in this respect.
CONTENT ANALYSIS
Having the right content online matters a lot, and this is what most marketers use to attract their visitors. Hubspot reports that companies who incorporate blog posts on their website generate 55% more visitors than those who choose not to. It means having blog posts relating to your niche on your website is vital. However, there is one crucial step you need to take before setting out to write – Content Analysis.
Content analysis is essential before writing your content. It is not enough to pick your pen and start drafting ideas; you need to check out what your target audience is interested in, what your competitors offer, etc. The reason for doing this is to know what you need to serve your audience and provide more quality information than your competitors, thus becoming the customer choice in your niche.
One of the ways to do this is to study your audience’s choice of content online. Search for relevant forums, groups, communities, etc. Then, note your audience’s pain points, questions, challenges, etc. Also, you can carry out surveys to find out this information. Knowing these, you would need to create good marketing content that addresses those pain points and answers all their questions.
You can also check out what your competitors are doing as a part of your content analysis. While this shouldn’t form the focal point of your content analysis, it is essential as well. Checking out your competitor’s best performing content gives insights into what resonates with your audience. Amazingly, the internet presents legal opportunities for you to conduct competitor research through data aggregators such as Ahrefs, Semrush, etc.
How to Grow Your Traffic Using Competitor Research
A lot of data aggregating platforms/SEO companies offer the SEO competitor research tool. It helps companies to get insights into the content performance of their competitors. With this tool, you’ll see the web rankings of different content and sort them by their keywords and other metrics. The sorting of ranking keywords in these contents matters as it shows you what your audience is searching for online, and it can help you build the right content around these keywords.
Having done an in-depth content analysis on your competitor’s website, you can now begin to write. It is important to note that carrying out content analysis is not just to know but also to implement this knowledge into writing.
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SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS
Social media platforms are also great mediums used by businesses to increase brand awareness and sell products or offer services. There are several social media platforms, i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Each has its unique features and use-case. Although there are millions of people on each platform, not all platforms are the best for all kinds of business. Your social media analysis entails using your buyer persona to test out which social media platform best works for your business, preferable mode of communication, optimized outreach strategy, etc.
As a new business owner in a particular niche, it is best to find the best platform for your business by observing your competitors’ platforms. Interestingly, a number of them might make use of all available channels. However, you need to study them carefully to know the platforms to start out using metrics like engagements, number of followers, etc. You also need to study the most effective style of communication. It would give you an idea of how to position yourself to the audience.
Now, you don’t need to use social media in the same way as your competitors. However, you can use it as a template. Once you’ve done this, you can then design and optimize your social media platforms using your well informed social media strategy, while offering something better to your audience. By implementing the strategy formed off your in-depth social media analysis, you’re ready to beat your business competition.
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(You can also read on how to create an optimized social media profile for business.)
SEARCH ENGINE ANALYSIS
Asides having unique & effective content and social media strategy, SEO (as a marketing strategy) is essential. For starters, several factors affect the ranking of a post/page. These include domain authority, keyword competition, number of backlinks, among others. So, you can make use of any SEO tool to carry out keyword research.
For your niche, compile a list of competitor websites and research the keywords they rank for on the first page. Compile these keywords, and sort them by volume, competition, etc. You can also study the content structure. Apart from this, it is vital to know the referring domains generating backlinks for your competitors. It would help you in your link-building strategy.
The backlinks will help you understand the kind of audience you are reaching and those that can easily link back to your content. Anchor texts also help in increasing your link value, as it is best to make use of branded anchor texts in place of the exact keyword.
There are several SEO tools available online which can help with search engine analysis. Although it can be a little overwhelming when you are just starting out using them; however, with time, you will get used to them if you keep searching.
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Tips on How to Beat Business Competition Online
Employ the Skyscraper Technique
The Skyscraper technique is a writing technique that requires you to do three things:
- Find a link-worthy and trending content on your competitor’s website.
- Write a better and more detailed piece of content
- Reach out to the right people to help you promote it
Since you must have done thorough research and found the right keywords, you can then write a more comprehensive blog post than your competitors, using the same keywords. You can reach out to websites related to your niche and pitch your content to them. Most of them will agree to do so because you are providing a very comprehensive material.
Capitalize on Ignorance
You would have found some content that your competitors must have ignored or the ones that are not doing so well from your analysis. You can also capitalize on this and write a comprehensive content on this topic. The truth is that these contents might not rank immediately; however, if they are relevant and updated, you will find users engaging with them.
You can also convert the static form type of content on your competitors’ website to interactive content on yours. It means you will not only rely on written content but also some visuals such as infographics, videos, images, graphs, etc. These will make it easier to read your content, and it also adds an appeal to search engines.
Include Catchy Headlines
Creating a catchy headline is another important step to attracting more audiences. The best way to do this is to type the keyword you want to write about on search engines; then you check out the first five results. From this, you can create your headline to be unique and catchy, while still embedding the keyword in it.
User Experience
This is the last aspect of content analysis, and it is slightly different from what has been described above; however, it is equally important. Finding the user experience of your competitors’ website is simply posing as a user while trying to figure out what attracts you to every page of your competitors’ site.
It might mean you have to buy a product or subscribe to the newsletter. It is crucial, as it will make you see from the audience’s point of view. You can then find out the secrets behind the engagement on your competitors’ websites.
CONCLUSION
Now that you know about relevant strategies on how to beat competition in business, you can immediately implement these steps. You can also hire me to help you build a profitable business online using the above strategies. I offer premium content marketing/SEO services. I am also a certified social media analyst who can boost your online presence in no time. Take the right step by contacting me today.
ABOUT THE WRITER
I am John Oladokun Opeyemi. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to access several updates on Business, Work, Marketing, Freelancing, and How to Build a Reputable/Profitable Brand or Business on the Internet.