Introduction

Knowing how to do a competitor analysis is stage 3 of our newly-built research trinity.

This tool has been developed to help you vastly improve your business website’s copywriting.

If you haven’t already, take a peek at the prior stages, which include:

Stage one: Audience research

Stage two: Keyword research

The outcomes from these stages will prime you to tackle this final stage, competitor analysis.

It’s like this:

Stages 1 and 2 arm you with the insights to understand what your ideal client values.

This means when completing stage 3, you have a better understanding of evaluating the competition through your ideal client’s lens.

In this guide, opportunities to build outstanding copy come from two places:

a) The ideal client’s needs or desires not being optimally addressed (optimisation opportunity)

For instance, no competitor has conveyed the importance of a benefit in language that the visitor can relate to. This may be expressed as a lot of industry-speak, rather than a more conversational approach.

b) Your competitors are not addressing a known desire (new opportunity)

For instance, an ideal client for a financial adviser may be interested in regular portfolio updates. If no competitors have discussed this capability, exploring it can distinguish your business.

Read on to discover:

✅ How to pinpoint your main rivals

✅ The advantage of hijacking a competitor’s value proposition

✅ One of the rarely discussed tools for competitor analysis (energy saver)

Step-by-Step Guide to Competitor Analysis

Step 1) Identify Your True Competitors

The goal is to identify genuine (true) competitors to add to your list of websites for a copywriting review.

Ideally, the number of true competitors reviewed should be between 3 and 5.

A true competitor:

• Offers services or products similar to your business.
• Targets the same customer with comparable solutions.

Finding these competitors can be achieved via traditional methods such as social media or forums.

However, if your business fits the following categorisations, alternative sourcing methods may be helpful.

For a locality-focused business:

1. Go to Google Maps and type “[Insert your service] near me”.
2. Check the “Update results when map moves” box (pictured below).
3. Move the map to focus on a location that is central to your business.
4. Note down the websites of the ones that you deem true competitors.

For finding niche industry competition or competitors with little search engine presence:

1. Go to Google Search and type your main industry keywords with terms like “directory,” “association,” “listing,” or “database”.
2. For example, “software company association”.
3. Review the search results to find a website that features a list of potential competitors.
4. Note down the websites of the ones that you deem true competitors.

Once you have your list, it’s time to dig into each business’s website for copywriting inspiration.

Step 2) Get Inspired by Rivals

Part A: “Stealing” a Value Proposition

Goal
Determine the value propositions of your competitors and consider whether you can build upon one of them.

Why
By reviewing how your competitors present themselves, you can gain ideas for how you want your business to be known.

For instance, you may find that one of your competitors is on the right track with its value proposition, but it’s poorly delivered.

This means it could be too generic, intangible or confusing.

By reconfiguring a faulty value proposition, you give your copywriting a high-level direction to aim for.

You can learn how to piece a value proposition together here.

Part B: Reviewing Call to Actions (CTAs)

Goal
Review the requests your competitors make of their online visitors (known as CTAs).

Why
This exercise will help you contextualise what makes an engaging CTA for a consumer.

Method
Go through all the pages on each of your competitors’ websites and consider the following for each of the CTAs:

Is it highly relevant to the specific page?
Is the CTA honing in on a particular issue, e.g., “Get a net wealth assessment call now”? Or is it bland, e.g. “Enquire now”?

Is it prefaced by compelling reasons for why you should do what is suggested?
This can often be presented in the form of bullet points.

Are there varying outcomes on offer for completing a CTA?
Free E-book, email course and whitepaper are examples of some of the “rewards” that can be provided by completing CTAs.

Part C: Discover What’s Working Before You Start Building

Goal
To uncover which pages on your competitors’ websites are attracting the most visitors. This will help you identify which type of content prospects are hungry for.

Why
This insight enables you to adapt their winning approaches, or identify opportunities they might be missing.

Method

1. Head to Ahrefs Website Traffic Checker
2. Enter the page you wish to evaluate
3. Change the drop-down box to “Exact URL”
4. *Click* “Check traffic”

Conclusion

This guide to competitor analysis, building on audience and keyword insights is designed to cap your website research process.

By completing all three stage of the research trinity you discover:
(1) What your audience truly wants.
(2) What your audience is actively seeking.
(3) What your competition is offering.

By incorporating these findings into your copywriting, you give your website a strong foundation for converting visitors to prospects.