Whether you are redesigning an existing website, or setting up one from scratch, it is worth the time and cost to check out what your online competitors are doing.
A competitor analysis report is a review of a specific number of websites against a set of criteria. The criteria could be best practices, content only, navigation style, interactive functionality, use of social media features, search engine optimization, a comparison against the proposed content of your website, or a combination of the previous and more.
Once you’ve read that competitive analysis report, you will have accomplished the following two things:
1. Know what you want on your website
Ideally, you already have an idea of the content and functionality for your website. Now you know if there are any holes that your competitor is filling, and can adjust your plan accordingly.
2. Know what you don’t want on your website
Whether it’s overwhelmingly large Flash animations that don’t tell you anything important, or three-times long scrolling pages, you now know what you can do better than your competitor.
Your marketing department may already have a list for each of these points. That is a good start, however having a third-party review can be more useful. Depending on what aspects of those competitor websites you want to know about, you can have an information architect, a creative director, an interactive marketing strategist, and/or a technical manager tell you based on their years of experience what they think about those sites. And, if you need any internal buy-in for your website project, that third-party report can show you’ve done your due diligence and know what you are up against in the online arena.
Those two bold points above may seem obvious, but without the information about what’s already out there, you are developing in the dark, and that can be an expensive place to code. No one would build a retail store without researching the competitor’s store, and what kind of shopping experience they provide. Why would you do any less for your website?
