How to Steal Traffic From Your Competitors with XOVI ~ Social Media For Business Mag

How to steal traffic from your competitors with SEO tool XOVI

There are traditionally 2 main ways to attract traffic to your website or blog – you earn it or you pay for it. That’s it.

Or is it? Today, webmasters are increasingly turning to affiliate marketing and social media to attract users. But one of the most effective methods has been around for much longer than Twitter or Facebook: competitor analysis. In other words, spying on your competitors.

Below, we guide you through SEO tool XOVI’s 7 key steps to successful competitor analysis.

But first, let’s recap:

Earning traffic the hard way

Earning traffic from search engines takes time. You need to build authority to rank on the first page of search results. This can take months, even years.

But the big bonus is – that traffic is free!

The underlying metric that Google used to calculate top ranking search authority was termed “Page Rank”. Launched in the late 1990′s, it’s a concept that is still the core idea behind Google’s ranking algorithms today.

The principle behind Google’s Page Rank is all about getting links from other websites that connect to your blog or website.

Here’s how it works

If your website gets inbound links from important websites with a lot of traffic and high authority then Google said that was a vital sign of the importance of your content.

Authoritative domains include sites such as the New York Times, Forbes, Mashable and other websites that have been around for years. That’s the quality part of the Page Rank equation.

But there is another component to the calculation – Quantity.

You can also get a lot of inbound links from lesser ranked sites and this also adds to your online search authority. The balance between quality “and” quantity tells Google that you are important.

Can’t afford to wait?

Paying for traffic allows you to attract traffic fast. This means paying for Facebook ads or for Google AdWords. And if you pay for traffic, you need to make sure that you can measure the result.

You don’t want to spend $100 on marketing only to make a $10 profit.

Is there no other way?

As we mentioned above, there are other increasingly popular tactics to attract free traffic.

Collaboration traffic

Also known as affiliate marketing, this is the tactic of entering into joint ventures with people who already have big email lists, credibility and authority online.

You can piggyback off their online attention!

Attention from social media

Attracting traffic from social networks has become a bigger challenge since Facebook reduced its organic reach to your followers and fans.

But it can be done.

Twitter is still a social network where you can build a loyal list of followers and get free traffic. Other social networks are in the mix but this will depend on your target market. It is worth experimenting with LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and even Snapchat.

Competitor analysis in 7 steps with XOVI

Competitor analysis has been a key aspect of market research for decades. Businesses need to know what their rivals are up to, and it’s no different online.

This is where SEO tool XOVI comes in. The tool provider has produced a brilliant competitor checklist which can be used in conjunction with the XOVI online marketing tool to check up on your competitors.

Download the checklist for free here

So what are XOVI’s 7 key steps for stealing that vital free traffic from your competitors?

Remember, answers to all of these questions can be found in XOVI, and that’s the great thing – you don’t need to sign up for multiple different tools!

Let’s go:

1. Do your homework

The XOVI tool identifies your main competitors based on common keywords
Create a list of the keywords and phrases you want to rank highly for

2. See how your competitors rank for keywords

What keywords do my competitors rank highly for?
In what categories do my competitors rank well?

3. Review their search engine advertising keywords

Lift the lid on your competitors’ ad campaigns.

Does my competitor place online adverts?
What keywords does my competitor place adverts for?
How can I identify potential new keywords for my adverts?

4. Identify your competitors’ affiliate networks

Identify your competitors’ affiliate marketing partners with the XOVI affiliate tool.

Does my competitor use affiliates as an additional marketing channel?
Where are my competitors’ affiliate links placed?

5. Check out links from social media

Social networks are key drivers of traffic. But which ones work best for your rivals?

What social networks is my competitor active in?
What social networks work best?

6. Discover important backlink sources

XOVI has one of the biggest link databases in the market and the link tool leaves no stone unturned!

Does your competitor have exclusive backlink sources which you could be using?
How many links has your competitor built/removed over time?

7. Check out rival websites’ technical structures

Understanding your competitors technical website structure can provide technical insights that can be very revealing. The XOVI on-Page tool offers unlimited on-page audits.