30 Days to a Better Blog: Do a Competitive Analysis

Want to have a better blog? Analyze your competition! You’re bound to find things you can improve. Many sites just focus on an SEO analysis, but I think there’s much more you should look at.

The first step is to find the top five or ten blogs in your space. These may not necessarily be the highest rank in Google, Compete.com or Alexa – instead they may have a large amount of followers or be considered in authority in your niche. Put together a spreadsheet and take a look at the following for each blog:

• Layout. How is it different from yours? Are there elements or plugins that it makes sense for you to include?
• Content. What categories do they have that are the same/different? What is the length and layout of the posts?
• Navigation. How easy is it to find related posts, search their site, and find their other topics?
• Posting frequency. How frequently are they posting? Are you possibly posting too little or too much?
• Voice. How is their voice unique and different from yours. Is there anything you can improve?
• Community. Does this blog have a large following or a significant amount of comments? How is the blogger interacting with his/her community and are they inviting comments with each post?
• Linkbacks and social media. A great tool to easily check out how your competition is doing in this area is Website Grader.

What else do you look at when doing a competitive analysis?

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