We talk about niching down your blog and finding your blogging competitors in many of my blog posts (for example, How to Start a Niche Site That Can Actually Make a Full-Time Income and How to Get the Highest Conversion Rate on Your Site With a Micro Niche). Today, I want to do something a bit different. Yes, we are going to talk about keyword research on Google to find your blogging competitors because that is one of the best methods, but we will also look at two other effective methods that I haven’t talked about much before: finding your blogging competitors on social media and Pinterest.
How to Find Your Blogging Competitors the Easy Way
i decided to give you more options to find your blogging competitors because you can get a fair share of blog traffic from other sources than Google. In my opinion, Google traffic is the most reliable source of traffic but I don’t want to neglect sources like social media (which, btw, includes YouTube) and Pinterest. Furthermore, some health niches (particularly anything related to fitness) will do better on social media and Pinterest.
1. Google
I gave you a deep dive into Google niche research before (you have a decent grasp of it if you check the two posts I mentioned already). For the sake of this post, I will give you some more tips that I didn’t take about in my previous posts, but that you may find useful.
Finding Your Blogging Competitors on Google
The first step is to Google some questions that your potential customer may ask. If you sell (or want to sell) a digital program that will help your clients heal hormonal issues for menopausal women, for example, you can Google how can I balance my hormones during menopause or how to treat hormonal imbalance during menopause. Take note of all the related keywords before you proceed. You will have to do some digging.
Note the Google-related searches and the related searches provided by your chrome extensions like Ubersuggest or Keywords Everywhere as well.
Next, type in each of these Google searches and scroll through the results. Find Websites that are similar to what you want to create. It is very likely that you will have to go down a few pages as the health niche is very competitive and the first pages will be huge sites. Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you have no chance to rank (particularly if your keywords have a Search Difficulty of 40 or less). I know from experience because my health website gets most of its traffic from organic searches. All it means is that you have to dig deeper to find your competitors.
The Ubersuggest chrome extension will let you know the domain authority of each website on your results page. Look for sites with a domain authority under 60. Now, depending on your keywords, you may find that even smaller sites with a lower domain authority are not really what you are envisioning for your site. Again, that doesn’t negate the potential of ranking and selling your product using those keywords. The important thing is to make sure your keywords relate to your product and that you write content for all of your keywords and related keywords (this will mean dozens of blog posts).
Back to our keyword how can I balance my hormones during menopause? On page five, I found an excellent blogging competitor example:
Here we go! That’s how it works and that’s how you find your blogging competitors on Google.
2. Social Media
Even though I sell a basic Instagram course, I don’t tend to recommend you spend most of your working hours on social media (with the exception of YouTube if you are a YouTube creator).
I consider platforms like Instagram to be a fun add-on to my online business. I enjoy connecting with my audience and I know people find me there because they regularly send me DMs. The thing is, I don’t think that I get most of my customers from Instagram. In fact, I only get only a fraction of my customers from Instagram. Most of my customers come from Google and YouTube.
As you prioritize your content, I would prioritize it this way:
- Blog content
- YouTube videos
- Instagram and Facebook
That being said, social media is an excellent place to find your blogging competitors and that’s what this post is about.
How to Find Your Blogging Competitors on Social Media
We will address three social media platforms: YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
YouTube
One obvious way to find your competitors on social media is YouTube. Search for the keywords you had searched for on Google. See the videos that come up and who the producers are. When you find content creators that fall in the same niche as yours and produce content that you want to produce, make a list!
You are most likely following some of your competitors already on Instagram! If you have been on the platform for any length of time, you have found some people that teach the topics you want to talk about too. If you are not sure, let me give you some more tips that will help you find your blogging competitors on Instagram.
Hashtags
One obvious way is hashtags. Search for hashtags in your niche and see the posts that come up. Take note of the accounts that have the type of content you want to create.
Instagram Suggested Accounts
Once you start following accounts in your niche using your targeted hashtags, Instagram will give you content suggestions. They will appear on your feed, on your Explore page as well as your recommended Reels. It’s up to you to start using Instagram purposefully and look at it as a market research tool.
Accounts Followed by Your Competitors
Once in a while, using the tips I just gave you, you will find an Instagram account that deeply resonates with you. In that case, why not find out who THEY follow? You might be able to find other accounts you really enjoy that way.
The last social media platform I want to mention where you can find blogging competitors is Facebook. I don’t spend much time doing market research on Facebook, but I like to keep my eye open for ads. Once Facebook and Instagram know what type of content you are looking for, you will start seeing Facebook ads that promote content in your niche. It’s helpful to find more Facebook pages and blogs to follow. Plus, I sometimes take screenshots of the marketing funnel used by my competitors for inspiration.
3. Pinterest
Most bloggers (and even more so in the health and wellness niche) will find that a sizeable chunk of their traffic comes from Pinterest, so let’s not neglect Pinterest to find your blogging competitors. The main issue I have with Pinterest for competitor research is that most sites that rank are very general and touch all kinds of different topics. I really recommend you become more of a specialist to be successful. That’s why you are niching down.
Btw, if you haven’t signed up for my 30-minute workshop about Niche Sites, don’t forget to do so!
Anyway, I still have still been able to find some decent blogging competitors on Pinterest. Not really through keyword research (which you can do, of course!), but usually through the recommendation I find on my home feed. Once in a while, I will see a pin on my feed that is from a content creator that runs a niche site similar to mine.
In Summary
Your blogging competitor research should revolve mainly around the platform where you want to get most of your traffic from. For most of us, this will mean Google. For some, though, YouTube will be an important traffic channel, or maybe even Instagram. If you find that much of the search results on Google are YouTube videos (that is often the case in the fitness niche, for example), you know you have to focus on growing your YouTube channel. Basically, finding your competitors also helps you determine what type of content to create and where to invest the majority of your effort. It is the key to creating a successful online business! Don’t neglect the step of looking for your blogging competitors before you create your site!
