Competitive Analysis

A website competitive analysis (CA) — is a list of websites you create by searching for websites on Google. 

It is part of Visual Planning and can happen alongside other forms of visual planning.

The goal of a CA is to find inspirational websites, creative ideas, content ideas, layouts. 

It’s not really to find true competitors to the business, although this is part of it.

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Why is a CA useful?

To make a good website, you need to understand the client’s business and the industry they are in. When you look at hundreds of websites, you’ll get a good idea.

You’ll also pick up ideas for content and photos.

You will see that there isn’t a standard formula for all websites, but within a particular industry, there will be patterns.

Analyzing and making sense of your collection

It helps that to study the collection and take down notes.  Remarking on patterns or anything interesting you notice. 

Create a list of websites to share with the client or the team. You can make simple remarks like “I like this one”.

Group websites into categories of your choice such as “top 5”, “good content”, “has a shopping basket”, “client’s favorite”.

When is a CA needed?

You can perform a CA as part of your own research to familiarize yourself with the business of the client or with websites in general.

You don’t have to share the analysis to the client, but you can share so that the client can get inspired too.

When is a CA not needed?
Templates make it easier to make websites without Competitive Analysis and if the budget is low and the client is providing all the content and it fits easily in a template, then you don’t need one.
How many websites to collect?

Collect around 30. You may need to look at hundreds of websites to find 30 okay ones.

If you have too few websites, then you won’t notice industry patterns.

Also, there may be one website out there that is perfect to copy – so don’t skip on research.

Looking at 200 websites is good enough for a typical Competitive Analysis.

How to find good websites

It takes effort and practice. You need to try different keyword combinations in different countries (UK and Australia are best)

You can also look for lists like “best dentist websites 2022”.

Google for keywords that e.g., “Divorce Lawyer Sydney” open up 30 or so website, list down the good ones, then repeat with different keywords such as “Divorce Settlement London”

What makes a good website to add to your list?

A good website is a simple website that is well-made and that we can use. 

It helps to collect some fancy websites, but they won’t be realistic options.

Websites can also be collected because they have nice photos, features, or content.

Tips and Techniques

  • Google and collect URL in Word Document, later – open them all in one go using “Open Multiple URLs” Chrome extension
  • Share your top 5 results in the Visual Plan (screengrab)
  • Place your doc in group chat and Rock Notes. 
  • Have a meeting to discuss results.
  • Write your analysis soon after you’ve done it – otherwise you’ll forget the finer details.
  • Do the collection first, then the analysis after.
  • Screengrab similar parts of the websites you like to do a mockup and comparison of best features.

Types of CA

  • Direct competition (actual competitors of the business)
  • Best of class (best performing businesses in the same sector)
  • Websites in similar or different business sector — since client’s business sector may not have inspirational websites.
  • Search Engine top ranking websites.
  • Overall industry patterns globally
  • Gain specific industry knowledge
  • Similar industries
  • Websites that client’s user’s may also visit