Download You Should Be Researching Your Competitor`s Search Performance

Content Marketing – the First Crucial Step to Content Marketing is Research
Firstly, let me say that completing research is certainly not the most glamorous thing about content
marketing. In fact, most of us would much rather create fantastic headlines, or write that superb
first draft that will have our readers hanging off the edge of their seats, or maybe even
brainstorming our next, great product offer. However, if you want to be a successful content
marketer then the initial stage of solid research is essential.
I would hazard a guess that when most of you hear the word “research”, in terms of content
marketing, the first thought that pops into your mind is keyword research, and optimizing the
content of your website by using keywords for the search engines. Yes, of course keyword research
is extremely important, basically because it is also the language that your audience use, as well as
how it can help you in the search engines. However, research is far more than this, and you need to
start thinking beyond this point.
Your target audience is typically online right at this very moment, searching for content on the
subjects they wish to know more about. They are looking for answers to those all important
questions, and your audience is most likely socializing online through mediums such as Twitter,
Facebook and blogs, in order to find the information they seek. So, in reality, it makes perfect sense
that you should be exploring the places where your target audience hangs out in order to determine
what exactly makes them tick.
You are looking to find out exactly what frustrates them, understand exactly what they desire, and
what exactly gives them sleepless nights. I’m pretty sure many of you are reading this now, nodding
in agreement, and thinking yes that makes sense to me. However, for some unknown reason
research is often ignored and viewed as the most boring part of content marketing, and typically
something that most people try and ignore if at all possible.
What Does Good Research Offer You and Your Readers?
Good research basically gives you a solid foundation for your content marketing efforts. This is the
ideal way to build up a complete profile of your ideal customer, and also how that person thinks,
what they feel, and what motivates them to buy. In fact, I would go as far to say that this profile
forms the foundation of every single thing you do online. I would also say that good, solid research
will almost allow your content to build itself, in that it is far easier to put your content together once
you know your audience that little bit better.
Once you know how you should be speaking to your audience you will typically find that a lot of the
stresses and strains that come with creating content will soon disappear. Writer’s block will become
a thing of the past, and the only real problem you will have is finding enough time to create the
various articles and blog posts that you know your audience is dying to read.
I would also say that good research makes life far easier for you and it should result in better search
engine rankings, higher opt-in rates, more clickthroughs, more sharing via social media, and of
course, more conversions. This is all possible because research will allow you to understand your
ideal client, and then speak to them in a way they understand, which will of course lead to a higher
level of trust in you, your content, your website, and your business.
Another great aspect of good research is that you will eventually learn how to anticipate exactly
what your potential customers need, and what they are looking for, and in many cases, before they
even realize this is what they want or need. You should also find that this dramatically improves your
relationship with your readers, because your careful, yet thorough, investigations into your given
subject will make your readers feel as though you are some type of mind reader.
The 6-Step Process to Content Marketing Research
I think a great analogy for you to think about when it comes to content marketing research is the
training that professional athletes do. If you think about it most professional athletes will complete
hundreds of hours of training, they will spend what seems like an eternity in the gym, just to get
themselves ready for the real competition. No athlete is going to become a world beater without
putting in these hours into the gym and their training program. However, the hard work that they
complete during training is typically never seen by the vast majority of people, although this is what
the difference in an athlete being good and truly great is all about.
So, a good way to view your content marketing requirements is by thinking of yourself as one of
these professional athletes. Therefore your research should be viewed as your training, in other
words this is something you need to do on a daily, weekly, and ongoing basis in order to be
successful. If you think about it, when we talk about doing “work” online we are typically referring to
writing content, managing our email or social media campaigns, creating products, looking after our
customers and answering their queries, etc. However, before any of this is possible you have to get
yourself prepared, and the best way to get prepared is by doing your research.
The following steps are the ones you should be taking to get yourself prepared:
1) Get Motivated
By completing market research you get a far better understanding of what your audience needs, as
well as being able to use this information to help these people in a very unique way. You have the
opportunity to create truly targeted content by fully understanding what your audience wants and
needs. Additionally, you are also able to create products and services which solve the very specific
problems and issues that your audience are facing.
This process is what will eventually put cash in your pocket. Granted, you may have started your
business because you genuinely wanted to help people, but I’m sure that money is another huge
factor in running your business. So, I would suggest that you always keep in mind why you need to
do your research – you have the opportunity to help people work through their problems, which in
turn will solve the problems they face, thus allowing them to lead a happier, fuller life. I would also
say that if you can focus on this as your motivation, rather than simply concentrating on making the
big bucks, you will typically find the whole research process far easier and a lot more fun.
2) Become Part of the Community
You will find that the best and easiest way to complete research is to actually become part of the
audience and community that you are researching. A fantastic way to do this is to have blog, which
allows your readers to ask questions, give opinions, make complaints or give general insights, etc.
This way you have the chance to gather some critical market data from that particular community.
With that being said, if you don’t currently have your own audience, you can still take part on other
websites and blogs that attract the readers and audience that you would eventually like to connect
with.
Therefore, you want to join and become part of the community you are trying to help. This should
involve getting involved in discussions via blogs, forums, social networking sites, and any other
online groups you come across. You should be looking to answer questions, give information freely
and as generously as you can, and participate as often as possible. If you are a new member of a
community you should neither ask nor expect anything in return, this is just an opportunity for you
to provide some helpful insight into a certain subject. Whilst you are participating and generally
helping others in the community, you can learn a hell of a lot by watching and paying attention.
3) Audience Mindset
The first critical part of research is to study your audience’s mindset. You will want to understand
the way in which they view the world at large, what they find important, what values they have, the
type of people that they admire, etc. You can actually use various tools, such as Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest, Google+, etc. to gather this type of information. Basically, you have the ability to gather
information about audience’s mindset by simply spending some time on these mediums and almost
eavesdropping on various conversations. In reality, the information you find here is gold and will give
a daily insight into what people are saying and doing on a regular basis.
You can additionally complete keyword research, which once again allows you to find out exactly
how your target audience views the world around them. You have various keyword research tools
which will help you to find out as much as you can about the subjects your audience are more
interested in, as well as the things they would want to know more about. As previously mentioned,
we know that keyword research is important for search engine optimization, but it also provides you
with some of the best market research you are likely to find.
4) What are Your Audience’s Problems?
Another important part of market research is trying to find out about the problems your target
audience face. Basically what do they whinge and whine about? What annoys your audience? What
do they complain about? This can actually give a great insight into not only what is keeping your
audience awake at night, but also what problems and inconsistencies they are finding with the
products and services on offer by your competitors. This allows you to fully understand what is being
handled well within your industry, and how you may be able to provide a better solution.
If you can find dissatisfaction and unsolved problems within your market you have the perfect
opportunity to satisfy a need that no-one else is able to, simply because you have the information to
hand that they don’t, or perhaps haven’t even noticed as of yet. In order to discover the problems
that your audience face, as mentioned, you should be using social media and keyword research, as
well as various other marketing tools, such as focus groups, interviews and surveys. You can then use
this insight to create content, which will hopefully connect with your audience in a way that no-one
else has managed to yet.
Your audience is basically looking for information that speaks to their needs and desires, and in a
way that is similar to how they view the world and who they are as a person. If you complete market
research on a consistent basis, and if you do it well, you will understand the exact type of content
that your audience wants and needs. And it is this knowledge that will give you the upper hand over
your competitors.
5) Consistency
Remember my earlier analogy – market research is just the same as training is for professional
athletes. Therefore, this isn’t just a one-time thing, but rather an ongoing process where you are
looking to practice, tweak, and even redo things until it becomes part of your everyday life. So, you
should really be planning to do market research on a regular basis, thus making it part of your
weekly and monthly content marketing routine.
When it comes to planning how you wish to spend your working week, you should always be
factoring in time for watching and learning more about your industry and your target audience. In
fact, I would suggest that you should be making this a priority, as this is one of the most important
things you will have to do in order to make your business a success. Without market research you
will join the legions of business owners who are simply trying to guess what their customers want
and need. However, by completing research on a regular basis, you will know exactly what they want
and need, and will therefore be in a far better position to deliver this to them.
6) Embrace Research
I’m not going to lie - as someone who is probably considered a content marketer, I, along with
thousands of other, often view market research as a laborious task, and even occasionally as an
afterthought. Basically, most of us view the work of actually creating content, or products and
services as the real “work” we should be doing. However, without market research in place, much of
the “real work”, as it is viewed, is likely to fall flat on its face. There is actually nothing more
important than discovering as much as we can about the people we are trying to reach out to, and
really listening to what it is they are trying to say.
In truth, market research can be a messy and time consuming business, simply because you have to
wade through a lot of irrelevant noise made by your audience in order to discover the real nuggets
of information that will finally help you to discover how best to understand them. In fact, carefully
sifting through all this “noise” can be extremely hard work, and is typically tiresome and very
annoying. However, no matter how annoying it is, you have to embrace it. I would even say that that
this is one of the best things you can do, specifically because it is hard work.
You should also understand that because this is such hard work many of your competitors will leave
out this critical stage, or maybe aren’t doing it as well as they should be. Therefore, if you are able to
put the time and effort into market research you can hold a distinct advantage over the competition.
So, just as with the professional athletes, roll up your sleeves, get yourself down to the “gym” and
put in those extremely hard hours of “training” that will ultimately make you a success. This is
without doubt the most important thing you will learn and do today.
Research the Competition
Let me give you another analogy – most people could only ever dream (and probably do) about
becoming a secret agent like James Bond or Ethan Hunt. Imagine all the glamorous locations you’ll
visit, the sexy entourage, and various cool and fantastic gadgets you get to play with. However, one
of the most important aspects of becoming a secret agent is having insider information. Therefore,
in order to become a successful content marketer, you too will need to get this inside information by
having the scoop on your competition. There are various techniques you can use online to snoop on
the competition, and therefore finding out what they do well, what they could be doing better, and
even how you can adapt the great techniques they use in order to improve your own business.
Why is it Important to Know What Your Competitors are Doing?
You have the ability to find out what type of content your competitors are putting on their website,
the type of products they are creating, and of course how well they are ranking in the search
engines. By completing this type of research you can also discover how your competition is thriving
and in what areas they are failing. This research will allow you to brainstorm for various ideas on
marketing, how to create better content, and how to set up your online marketing strategy so you
get better and better at what you do.
I would also say that spying on the competition and finding out exactly what they are doing can be
extremely motivating, and more often than not this could be the deciding factor in giving you that
kick up the backside to motivate yourself to get stuff done. Basically, if you discover that your
competition is doing really well, you will feel the need to better yourself and then produce that next,
great, masterpiece that forms part of your content marketing strategy.
How Do You Find Your Competitors?
I would say that most of us are aware of who our main competitors are, but I would always suggest
that it is good practice to dig that little bit deeper in order to determine who else we are in
competition with, rather than just the elite few. You should be looking for your competitors in
search engine results, through social media, and indeed through the various other more traditional
media outlets. It is also a great idea to pay attention to authors in your industry, who are writing and
releasing new books, as well as those who can regularly be found on the speaking circuit. However,
one of my favorite methods of spying on the competition is looking through industry related blogs
and discovering who the new, upcoming and talented bloggers are – these are your competitors of
the future.
Researching the Competition
You should be checking out the following when looking at what your competitors are doing online:
-
What products and services do they offer?
-
What type of content are they publishing on their websites, blogs and social networking
sites?
Do they appear to have a specific social media strategy?
Do they have a specific SEO strategy?
How successful are they on a social level?
What are your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses?
Study the Content Provided by Your Competitors
Does it appear as though your main competitors are using a content marketing strategy? If they are,
how does it appear to be going? Are they publishing fantastic, new content regularly? When you are
conducting this type of research, I would suggest that you need to really dig deep and study their
content meticulously. What subjects are they writing about? Is the content they are providing good?
Are there any particular types of content which seems to receive a strong response from their target
audience? Are they receiving plenty of shares through social media for their content?
You will also want to determine what your competition is doing better than you. Do they typically
come up with new insights or creative ideas that no-one else seems to have thought of before? Do
they regularly create content around hot news topics, thus allowing them to get a huge amount of
traffic in a short space of time? Do they have a larger audience than you? Would you say their
writing is better than yours? Does there audience appear to be more engaged or loyal?
By completing this type of research on your competitors’ content, not only can you discover what
they do well, or perhaps not so well, you are also likely to get a lot of very good new ideas for your
own content. A great way of doing this is finding a subject that seems to have really taken off for one
of your competitors, and then adapting this for your own audience, with your own particular angle
on it. Before I go any further, please understand I am not telling you to plagiarize their content or
completely steal their ideas, NO! Whatever, you do, please do not do this. All I am suggesting is that
this type of research can really help to get those creative juices flowing, thus allowing you to create
unique and original content that your audience will really be interested in.
If you find that a particular topic is really catching the attention of your audience, or seems to be
attracting a huge amount of discussion, you will want to figure out how you can cover this topic on
your own website or blog. However, you will always want to do this in your own way, with your own
words, and with your own approach. I am asking you to be ethical here, and think about how you
can legitimately “steal” ideas, but put your own original spin on them.
You Should Be Researching Your Competitor’s Search Performance
Another form of researching your competition is checking out how well they are doing in the search
engines for the most commonly searched keyword phrases in your industry. You should be
completing keyword searches on a regular basis just to see how the competition is ranking. This type
of research can also help you to figure out new keyword phrases that you should be targeting in your
own SEO efforts. One of the best ways to do this is to check the number of backlinks a competitor
has, as well as the overall quality of these backlinks. Discovering the various sites which link back to
your competitors not only helps you to determine how well they are doing in the search engines, but
also about any possible alliances or relationships they have built up.
When you are looking through the backlinks that your competitors receive, you should also check
out the anchor text they are using, which will help you understand their SEO strategy and what
keywords they are actually trying to rank for. In order to complete this type of backlink research you
have a number of free and paid tools at your disposal, although one of my favorites is Open Site
Explorer. However, there are many tools you can choose from to do this job.
What about Their Social Results?
You should also be checking out what your competition is doing on social networking sites, such as
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Linkedin. Check out their social media profiles. Do they have a lot of
fans and followers? Do they consistently post fantastic content on their profiles? Have they attracted
people who consistently talk in a positive manner about their business as a whole, and their
products and services? Are they sending people to their website or trying to convert them into
subscribers through a mailing list?
You could conduct a simple search of your competitors’ names on Facebook and Twitter, which will
give you an idea what others have to say about them. Are the comments generally positive in nature
or are there many, many complaints? From this research you may be able to find a particular need of
your audience which isn’t being met currently by the products and services on offer from your
competitors? I would suggest that one of the easiest and quickest ways to discover what others are
saying about a competitor is to conduct a Twitter search by using the URL of one of their latest blog
posts.
You may also want to check what type of content of your competitors is being shared on Pinterest,
as this has become one of the most used social networking sites over the last 2 years. Simply log into
Pinterest and check www.pinterest.com/source/[yoursitenamehere]. I would also suggest that you
check out review sites, such as TripAdvisor, Yelp or InsiderPages to see what is being said about your
competition. There are also various Facebook groups, Linkedin groups, Twitter chats, newsletters
and forums which will reveal a great deal of information about the competition.
Set Up a System
As you are probably aware, studying what the competition is doing isn’t a one-time thing, and you
should be regularly monitoring exactly what your competitors are doing online. The best way to
achieve this is to set up a system to keep up with the research you are doing. You could set up an
individual spreadsheet for each competitor, regularly add information to this, as well using search
engine alerts and RSS feeds. You should build time into your monthly schedule to complete
competitor research and see if anything has changed. Then you can use your planning time to use
some of the new ideas you may have discovered while conducting this research.
So What about Keyword Research?
As previously mentioned, keyword research will form an extremely important part of your content
marketing strategy. However, I will also add that it happens to be one of the most difficult as well.
I’ve already mentioned a couple of times that research isn’t typically the most interesting, fun or
sexy thing to do, but it is something you need to work on in a consistent manner in order to be
successful.
With that being said, it is an arduous task, and many of the tools available to conduct keyword
research can be confusing. More often than not, you won’t really know what you should be looking
for, and you probably won’t have a system in place to conduct effective keyword research.
For me, keyword research can be extremely difficult, simply because I feel all the information I come
across is equally important, and unfortunately I have trouble deciphering what I should be focusing
on and what I should be ignoring. I have even found myself making a pretty lame effort at keyword
research and then getting irritated and then deciding to focus my time on something less frustrating.
Sound familiar? Therefore I want to focus on some of the more important aspects of keyword
research, which include staying focused and how to avoid getting bogged down with the things that
really won’t make a difference.
Get Focused on What You Are Trying to Achieve
The main goal of conducting keyword research is to identify what it is that matters most to your
target audience. You will also want to ascertain the exact language used by this audience when they
discuss a particular subject or search for relevant information. In order to achieve this goal, you must
come up with an effective, yet simple, way to conduct keyword research. I would suggest you follow
these steps:
1) Start Your Research By Using Possible Keywords You Have Thought of Before
I would hazard a guess that there are keywords you have previously tried to rank for or phrases you
have thought you should target at some point in the future. These keywords are very important for
search engine optimization purposes, but I would say that they are equally important for your
overall content marketing strategy, as well as for developing products. However, you should also be
aware that it is unbelievably important to know the exact language that your target audience uses
when they talk about their desires and the challenges they face within your industry.
What are your target audience looking for when they search for information within your industry?
When they visit social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, what are the actual words and
phrases that they search for? You should initially start off with perhaps five or six keywords to begin
your research with, remembering that this initial list is nothing more than an informed guess as to
what your audience is interest in - however, it’s a starting point at least.
2) How Popular Are Each of Your Keywords?
You can use a research tool such as Google’s Keyword Tool in order to check just how popular
certain keywords are. You will want to find out how many times people search for your terms when
compared to other search terms. The keywords you are targeting should be receiving a lot of
monthly searches, which basically means this is a subject in high demand, and a subject people are
searching for more information on.
The next stage is to look at how much competition there is for a particular keyword. How many
websites and web pages are targeting a particular keyword? If you find that there is an extremely
large number of people trying to rank for a certain term then you will have a far harder time trying
to also rank for that keyword. The best type of keyword is always going to one that is extremely
popular, due to the number of monthly searches, but very few people trying to actively rank for that
keyword. So, you should be using a keyword tool to get the numbers on a certain keywords and then
determining how they may be beneficial to your end goal.
3) Related Keywords
Using a keyword tool such as Google’s, you will notice that when you conduct keyword research you
will be provided with a list of keywords related to your original search, which you should also
consider using. These keywords are selected on what is known as “semantic search principles”.
Basically, they are there to help you think of new keywords, which may not have occurred to you at
the outset. Therefore, I would suggest that you look through these other suggested keywords and
pick a few, and then research them in more detail. You should be completing the same tests, in
respect of popularity and competition, before deciding whether these keywords can be added to
your original list. This overall process will help you to dig deeper with your research, but please don’t
overdo it. Remember your goal is to find keywords which are popular, but with little competition.
So, there you have it a guide to completing research for your content marketing needs. As with all of
our other guides, I would say that this is simply a starting point for you, and there is plenty more to
learn about the art of research. However, the information provided in this guide should definitely
give you plenty of food for thought, and can help you to complete the all important initial stage of
your online content marketing strategy.