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you shouldn't discount these channels just because the data comes from the
search engines; the general marketplace insights they provide are generally valuable.
let's use the same data shown in Figure 13.18 in the free (and for some people,
infamous) alexa. this is a great way to see if the sample data of either service is valid
simply by looking at the trended data and confirming similar trends (see Figure 13.19).
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Figure 13.19
Daily reach (unique visitor) comparison using Alexa
as we have similar trends, i can then comfortably continue to use the related
sites functionality in alexa, which is essentially an up- and downstream analysis of what
sites people visit in conjunction with visits to prada.com, as shown in Figure 13.20.
the upstream/downstream data coming from a service like hitwise is a whole
lot more meaningful, but this will do for now. i suggest you outgrow free tools before
you move on to paid tools.
in our example, i know now that my primary competitor from a consumer traf-
fic point of view is paul smith. let's use the Google Keyword suggestion tool to figure
out specific content and product focus in regard to the paul smith website.
in Figure 13.21 we see primarily two things: first, a list of related keywords that
hold information about content and products in general, and just as fascinating, the
interest volume represented as the volume of search.
