If you have a business website with Google Analytics
enabled, it can be fascinating to see how your customers and potential
customers interact with you online. But that’s just a drop in the ocean
in terms of competitive intelligence analysis. It can be a complex and
expensive endeavour, but if you’re running a start-up and need
comprehensive but free tools, here are a few that can provide excellent
analytics if you’re willing to put in the time to learn how to use them.
Do your ‘due diligence’
You don’t have to pay to view Companies House accounts if you can
download them already for free online. In terms of company financials,
Duedil (short for due diligence) is an excellent tool that provides free
business intelligence such as insight into competitors, suppliers,
investors, even clients – but you can also benchmark a business’s
performance and growth over time, build sales leads and integrate social
networks such as LinkedIn.
Avoid sample bias
Google Analytics, Google Trends for Websites and Google Insights for Search
are all good sources to use because they’re integrated with the most
popular search engine in the world. But it’s a good idea to go beyond
Google and mine your data to get deep insight into your website’s
analytics. Comparing data sets can help you avoid sample biases that
come about from opt-in panels or toolbars so that you can get a more
accurate picture of how your audience is behaving in response to your
marketing efforts. For example, have a look at free SEOmoz tools at
SEOBook.
Don't forget Facebook
Every day search engines are learning more and more about how people
categorise and search for information, it’s an ongoing process. A big
part of it in recent years is social media, whose busy signals search
engines now indirectly recognise and attribute authority to. In other
words, it’s important to use and understand social media to reach your
audience – and watch and learn from competitors too! Have a look at
FeedCompare, HootSuite, SocialMention and Google Alerts to analyse how
your social media are faring.
Competitive intelligence doesn’t need to be expensive and
complicated, and if you’re willing to work at it, you can get valuable
insight on your partners, suppliers, clients and customers and get a
step ahead in your business.
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