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Okay so we’ve all been there scrolling aimlessly on IG and stuck in that comparison wheel with no end in sight.

My first piece of advice is – STOP! Put down the iphone or whatever device you are using to move deeper into this comparison wheel. We can all agree you never leave feeling better about yourself after a session like this. We are literally doing this to ourselves so let’s all agree we should do less scrolling and more content creating! We should be spending more time focusing on the people or accounts who uplift and inspire us and do away with the ones who don’t.

Now that I have that off my chest the reality is it can be very beneficial to look at other people’s websites or social accounts to get inspiration for yours when you are doing a website refresh. I am constantly looking at websites and browsing Pinterest to keep up on current trends, spark new ideas and to keep my work fresh and exciting. I am the first one to admit it can be difficult to separate healthy inspiration from comparison.

Tools like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc…  can be useful for business purposes and are often platforms we need to be engaging with for our business. In an effort to use these platforms in a more productive way try to be extremely conscious this next week how often you are on your phone and how much of that time is wasted versus productive. I would challenge you to say that you are most likely not using these platforms to their full extent for your business. If you spent less time aimlessly scrolling and more time intentionally growing these platforms for business I bet you would see huge returns in your and you would feel better about yourself (win-win)

My best piece of advice when doing a competitor analysis for your website so you don’t feel like crap is to spend some time focusing on YOU before. If you haven’t read the blog post, “Understanding your target market begins with understanding you” – go back and read that one.

I find if I am super clear on my mission, goals and where I am coming from it is much easier for me to look at other people’s work and focus on gaining inspiration. My other huge piece of advice is to make sure you take some time to plan before you start scrolling. I take a pen and paper (old school) and wireframe out a rough concept for my website and make sure to capture some of the fun features I’m thinking of so I can get some of my ideas down on paper. This helps me stay clear on my goals when I start looking at other people’s work.

When conducting a competitor’s analysis for a website here are a couple tips:

1. Look at your competitors and start to notice how their sales funnels are set up, how they are speaking to their clients and what “need” they are solving or saying they are solving for their client
2. Look for inspiration outside of your direct competitors or your direct industry
3. Don’t focus only on websites – look at competitors Pinterest, IG, Facebook accounts to get a full picture of how they are speaking to their clients and representing themselves (understand how many followers they have on their social platforms to see how much effort they are putting in).

If you like a website start asking yourself some of these questions to understand why you like it:

1. Do I like how this website flows?
2. Do I like the colors and images on this website?
3. Do I like how I move around on the website?
4. Do I like the copy and how it’s speaking to me?
5. Am I inspired by the “need” they are solving?

Remember inspiration can come from ANYWHERE. This can be Pinterest, magazines, a box, a greeting card so get creative with where you are looking for this inspiration.

Competitive analysis’ can be great tools to use. To get the most out of it make sure you are clear on your goals and mission before you dive in and start comparing yourself to others. Remember you are looking for inspiration not a different direction.