Competitor analysis is an essential part of any ecommerce PPC campaigns. Knowing your competitors and how they are positioning themselves in the online market can help you create an effective marketing campaign strategy. Conducting a thorough competitor analysis can help you identify opportunities, threats, and potential clients in your niche. Here are some steps to help you conduct an effective competitor analysis for ecommerce PPC campaigns.
Table of Contents
Step 1: Identify Your Competitors
The first step in competitor analysis is identifying your competitors. You need to have a clear idea of who your competitors are in order to conduct a thorough analysis. Here are some ways to identify your competitors:
- Use Google search to find your competitors.
- Check out who is ranking for the keywords you are targeting.
- Observe who is advertising on the same platforms as you.
- Check out industry directories and search for similar businesses to yours.
Step 2: Analyze Competitor Websites
The next step is to analyze your competitor’s website. This will give you an idea of their messaging, value proposition, and overall user experience. Here are some things to look for when analyzing competitor websites:
- Homepage: Take a look at your competitor’s homepage. What is the message they are trying to convey? Do they have a clear value proposition? What is the overall user experience like?
- Product pages: Go through your competitor’s product pages and see how they are presenting their products. What features are they highlighting? What types of product photos and descriptions are they using?
- Blog: Check to see if your competitors have a blog. If so, what types of content are they creating? Are they engaging with their followers in the comments section of the blog?
- About Us: Take a look at your competitor’s About Us page. What is their company story? What are their values?
Step 3: Analyze Competitor Keywords
The third step in conducting a thorough competitor analysis is to analyze your competitor’s keywords. You need to know what keywords your competitors are targeting in order to optimize your own PPC campaigns. Here are some ways to analyze your competitor’s keywords:
- Use Google AdWords Keyword Planner: This tool can help you get keyword ideas and see what your competitors are bidding on.
- Use SEMRush: This tool can help you see what keywords your competitors are ranking for and what their ad copy looks like.
- Check out competitor blog posts: See what types of keywords your competitors are using in their blog posts.
Step 4: Analyze Competitor Ad Copy
The fourth step is to analyze your competitor’s ad copy. What types of messaging are they using? Are they using a special offer or promotion to entice customers? Here are some ways to analyze your competitor’s ad copy:
- Run a search for your keywords and see what ads show up.
- Use a tool like SEMRush to see what ad copy your competitors are using.
- Check out your competitor’s landing pages to see what messaging they are using.
Step 5: Analyze Competitor Social Media
The fifth step is to analyze your competitor’s social media. What types of content are they sharing? How are they engaging with their followers? Here are some ways to analyze your competitor’s social media:
- Follow your competitors on their social media accounts.
- Use a social media monitoring tool like Hootsuite to track what your competitors are sharing.
- Check out your competitor’s followers and see what types of people are engaging with them.
Step 6: Identify Opportunities and Threats
The final step is to identify the opportunities and threats that come from your competitor analysis. Here are some questions to help guide your analysis:
- What keywords are your competitors bidding on that you aren’t?
- Are your competitor’s ad copy and landing pages more effective than yours?
- Is there a gap in your competitor’s product offerings that you can fill?
- Are there social media networks that your competitors aren’t active on that you can take advantage of?
Conclusion
Conducting an effective competitor analysis is crucial to any ecommerce PPC campaign’s success. Knowing what your competitors are doing gives you insight into your market, which can lead to creating a more effective PPC campaign strategy. By following these steps and analyzing your competitor’s website, social media, keywords, ad copy, and identifying opportunities and threats, you’ll be able to create a successful ecommerce PPC campaign.