Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Competitive Insights Tools, Whats Your Experience

Posted by dennis.koraen on 8/18/2010 at 3:41 AM ET 125 Points
Hi there
Did a search on the forum but couldn't find that the topic had been brought up before.

Whats your experience of competitive insights tools, free (like alexa.com), partially free (like compete.com) or purchase ones (like hitwise.com).

I can see that a totally free tool like alexa.com won´t give me as accurate data as a paid service like for example hitwise.
But whats your thought on them, are they worth buying into, are you using them frequently and how are you using them?

Looking forward to hear some first hand experience thoughts on the subject.

/Dennis
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Levon on 8/18/2010 at 1:07 PM Accepted
    I love the free tools which offer just as much value as the paid tools. The built in analysis within Google Analytics is most valuable. Most recently I found CherryPicker available at CherryPickerSoftware.com - a great tool that brings together great SEO analysis in a very simple format that is easy to use.

    For backlinking counting - Yahoo's Site Explorer is the bomb:

    Let me know if you know of any great tools that you would also like to share with me. Love this forum for that very reason.
  • Posted on 8/24/2010 at 11:07 AM Accepted
    I've used all of these tools... And my favorite is Hitwise. Unfortunately, It's also the most expensive. But Hitwise will provide the most reliable competitive data. It's important to keep in mind that NONE of these tools will be 100% accurate. They all should be used for directional purposes.

    My least favorite of these is Alexa, their methodology isn't up to par with Hitwise. Compete, in my opinion, is a little better but still no where near the sample size or accuracy of Hitwise. Hitwise has the largest sample size and the best methodology for collecting data of all of these tools... which probably explains why companies are willing to pay.

    I use Hitwise primarily for competitive analysis. It provides great insight into how my sites are doing in relation to my competition online... From search performance (paid/organic) to site traffic metrics and even conversions. One of the biggest benefits with Hitwise is your account manager. My agreement with Hitwise provides 1 presentation per month where an experienced Hitwise expert presents relevant findings from the tool... This is worth the cost of the tool alone but of course we also have complete access to the tool and all of it's great features.

    If you've got the budget and you're in a competitive online environment then I highly recommend Hitwise. It will help you adjust your strategy to capitalize on your competition's weaknesses while improving your own.

    Whatever tool you decide to use to help with decisions; please take the time to look into their methodology for collecting the data. Some of the tools out there are pretty sketchy with how they collect the data and many times it's not as accurate as they promote.

    Ugh... This sounds like a commercial for Hitwise... I promise, I don't work for them and they didn't pay me! :)

    Hope this helps,
    Zack Pike
  • Posted by dennis.koraen on 8/25/2010 at 3:54 AM Author
    Thanks for all the answers.
    Levon i think you got some tool insights from the answer Vincent posted, i know i did.

    Zack, your answer was spot on for what i was looking for. Good to hear the thoughts from someone that have been on both sides of the non-paid and paid services.

    Again, thanks!

    Denins Koraen
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