Retargeter

David vs. Goliath: The Battles For Hearts And Clicks [Part 2]

This is the second post in a five-part series on how to use online marketing to look as big as your biggest competitor.

Anywhere They Go, You Go

In the last post, we discussed how Google uses backlinks to determine your site’s search engine ranking, and how you can use this knowledge to improve your Google PageRank. Today’s post will review how backlink research provides valuable insights into your competitor’s online presence. Armed with this knowledge, you can then take steps to get your brand noticed on the same sites that feature your major competitors.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Research: You can uncover your competitors’ backlinks using moz Open Site Explorer.
2. Approach: Review the sites that are linking to your competitors to see if any of them accept content submissions or guest posts. This will allow you to get noticed alongside your competitors, and also has the added benefit of building backlinks for your own site.
3. Exchange: Approach the owners of sites that link to your competitors to see if they would be interested in a link exchange with your website, which is an easy and mutually beneficial approach to creating backlinks. Moreover, a targeted link exchange would allow you to put your brand in front of the most relevant audiences possible.
4. Target: Buy targeted ads on those websites to capture attention and drive traffic to your site. By doing this, your prospective customers will be exposed to your brand even when they’’re viewing information about your competitor, effectively allowing you to compete head-to-head despite your limited resources.

Backlink analysis allows you to see which sites are linking to your competitors, providing you with an opportunity to approach those same sites with guest content, a link exchange, or targeted advertising. Putting your brand alongside those of your biggest competitors will enable you to capture valuable traffic while vastly increasing your brand’s mindshare online.

Remember to check back next week for Part 3: Don’t Just Get Noticed—Be Remembered