How to Use Your Competitors to Improve Your Content Marketing

Building a brand, marketing a business and selling products online can be extremely difficult, especially for new businesses, as competition for the attention of customers is high. However, there are ways to use your competitors to improve your content marketing, SEO (search engine optimization) and boost your own marketing efforts. Taking a little time to analyze your competitors' websites and their content can give you valuable insights that help to inform your content marketing tactics.

Content

Analyzing the content posted and shared by your competitors can provide insight into the kinds of topics and ideas that will interest your intended audience. Visit the websites of successful businesses in your industry, particularly those with high-traffic sites and a large social media following. Look at their most popular posts and try to determine why their website visitors are drawn to that particular content. If you notice a recurring theme throughout popular articles or blog posts, you have a starting point for creating content that is valued by your customers.

Consistency

One of the most important aspects of successful content marketing is consistency. Readers want a steady stream of useful content that comes at regular intervals. Look at the frequency and regularity of content, blog posts and other updates posted by your competitors. Some businesses only need to post content on a weekly or monthly basis, but it's important to maintain a regular schedule, rather than adding content at random times. Customers are more likely to trust businesses with a consistent and reliable approach to their updates.

Layout

The layout and organization of content is another important factor when planning a marketing strategy. Look at the word count, paragraph structure and the length of sentences used by your competitors. If popular posts utilize tightly-focused paragraphs with short sentences, consider applying these principles to your own content. Other elements, such as the line spacing, indentations and associated images, can also have an impact on your content.

SEO

SEO techniques like choosing the right keywords, on-page optimization and link building are still important for most businesses. Look for the keywords and phrases used by your competitors to see how they could be used more effectively on your own site. Find out which websites are linking to your competitors' content and try to determine why some pages have more inbound links than others.

Promotion

Finally, look at how your competitors are promoting their content on social media and other platforms. If they use PPC (pay per click) advertising, look at the text or images they are using to reach their audience. Consider signing up to your competitors' mailing lists or newsletters, as this will give you further insight into their content marketing practices.

Analyzing the content marketing strategies used by your competitors can provide great insight that helps to improve your own content marketing. Looking at the type of content competitors produce, as well as the consistency of their updates, content layout, SEO techniques and promotional activities, are simple ways to give your content marketing a boost.