When running an online business, there are a lot of great resources you can look to for inspiration about improvements you can make to your site. The biggest source of inspiration is often overlooked. You can actually learn a lot about how to improve your site by looking at what your competitors are doing.
Start by making a list of five to ten competitors in your niche that you feel are doing things the right way. Try to pick sites with better Alexa ranks and Google page ranks than your own. Then sit down and take a good long look at each site. Read some of their articles, browse through their archives, check out their store if they have one, and take notes on the experience. Be sure to jot down both your likes, and dislikes about their sites. Then, take some time, and think about how each like or dislike can be applied to your site. If, for example, you really like the image gallery set up they have, see if you can find a similar script to implement on your site. If they’re implementing an interesting feature that you don’t have in place, think about putting that feature on your site. The ultimate goal here is to make your site stronger by implementing strengths found on other sites. If a particular feature you find on another site won’t work on yours, don’t force it. It’s better to skip a feature rather than to try to implement it poorly, and hurt your site’s usability.
This practice doesn’t just apply to your website either. If your competitors have email lists, sign up for them. See what they’re doing with their list that you aren’t doing. Find out what sort of information they’re sharing with their subscribers, and see if you can find any useful ideas to help you adjust your own strategy.
If they have a membership site, consider signing up for their free trial, if they offer one. That way you can get a look at exactly what they’re charging for, and how it stacks up against your offerings.
There’s no shame in learning what you can from your competition. If they’re implementing interesting features, your users will expect your site to start implementing those features. By paying attention to the competition, you can get a feel for how things are changing in your niche, and what you need to be doing to keep up.
Subscribe To Our Latest Updates
