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Competitive and Market Analysis

Conduct competitive and market analysis

To compete effectively in the marketplace, know your competitors and your own relative strengths and weaknesses. Create a design strategy that capitalizes on your strengths and on what you have to offer that is unique. Remember that your competitors will not be standing still; they may be developing new sites while you are evaluating their current ones. Aim to make your site better than what you think their next releases might offer.

Find out who your competitors are

You may have more competitors than you are aware of. The more thoroughly you research who your competitors are, the more this information will help clarify and strengthen your strategy.

• Use a keyword search to find other sites with a similar focus and bookmark them for continued reference

• Ask users who your competitors are

• Check back with these sites frequently in order to see how they are advancing

Rate competitors' sites

Rate your competitors' sites and your own site using the list of questions below. You can do the evaluation yourself, or better, you could ask users to do the evaluation. This comparative evaluation will help you determine how you can create a site that is superior to your competitors' sites. It will also help you determine which aspects of your site you may need or want to improve.

• Is the purpose of the site clear?

• Does the site clearly address a particular audience?

• Is the site useful and relevant to its audience?

• Is the site interesting and engaging?

• Does the site enable users to accomplish all the tasks they need or want to accomplish?

• Can these tasks be accomplished easily?

• Is the information organized in a way that users will expect and understand?

• Is the most important information easiest to find?

• Is textual information clear, grammatically correct, and easy to read?

• Do you have a clear idea of what the site contains?

• Do you always know where you are, and how to get where you want to go?

• Is the presentation attractive?

• Do pages load quickly enough?

Examine other media presentations of your subject matter