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So our last couple of videos were
all about doing user research

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to determine the best ways to label and
group content.

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And if you know your visitors' preferences
and priorities, it'll be much easier to

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build navigation and
provide the right search options as well.

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But another great source of
insight already exists online and

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it comes from your competitors.

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Competitor research is
pretty straightforward.

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Make a list of the companies, groups,
or apps, that are competing with yours.

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These competitors might offer the same
services or sell the same products, or

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they might just create content
about the same topics.

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Once you have a list, go check out
their websites and make notes.

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What categories of
information did they use?

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In what order do they present them?

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What links do they include
in their main menus?

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What do they call the main
sections of content?

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And overall,
which terms did they use the most?

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Here's an example,

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two of the biggest home improvement stores
in the US are Home Depot and Lowe's.

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If you view their websites in their
main departments use side by side,

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you'd see a bunch of similar item listed.

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Things like appliances, building materials
or supplies, electrical, paint and more.

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There's a lot of overlap here which is
to be expected, but some categories like

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molding and trim, or smart home and
security are exclusive to the Lowe's site.

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So, if you're Home Depot,
what could you learn from this analysis?

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Maybe you might wanna consider
listing more categories or

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including a couple of
the ones you don't have.

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But, if you look at this from Lowe's
perspective you might think hey,

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maybe we've got too many categories.

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Or we might wanna test some
of the labels we've used.

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But if you're a new up and

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coming home improvement store directly
competing with these two companies,

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looking at both of these menus
gives you some immediate insight.

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You know which menu items you should
probably include on your own website,

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other categories to consider,
and you might see opportunities

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where you could compete by
adding items they don't have.

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It goes beyond menus of course.

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You could look at a competing blog and
see what its main categories are, or

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what they call similar formats of content.

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Consider this scenario, if a few
different websites produce e-books

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filled with marketing tips, one site might
call them resources while another place

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might call them guides, and still another
refers to them as e-book learning.

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What's the right term to use?

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It depends on your users.

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What terms are they familiar with,
and what do they use themselves?

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By combining your competitor
research with your user research,

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you should be able to
figure out some answers.

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So, the key here is to monitor your
competitors, make an actual list.

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Do it in a Google Doc or a Trello Board,
so your team has access to it.

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If you're not sure who
your competitors are,

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ask your customers on social media or
with an email survey.

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If you're a sporting goods retailer,

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ask what other websites do you visit to
research or buy your athletic equipment?

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And don't just look at these competitors
one time when you're building things,

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keep and eye on them.

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Subscribe to their newsletters and
visit their site regularly.

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Look for any interesting ways they
provide access to their content.

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And don't be afraid to look at websites
in completely different industries too.

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If everyone you compete with does things
the same way, you may have an opportunity

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to try something revolutionary by offering
a new kind of information experience.

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Again, use competitor research to look for
trends and opportunities, and

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user research to validate new
ideas before rolling them out.

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You may discover a great new way
to provide access to information.