Follow.net is the ultimate peephole to your competitor’s marketing analytics. If this isn’t already in your tool box for creating audits and analyses of your own, and your competition’s online marketing, get on it now! This site and plugin gives you a lot of powerful insights just by typing in a domain site.
THE INFO YOU GET
The first display you see is the number of website visits for the past six months (it seems you get the same data between the paid and free version for this metric). It also shows the traffic sources of the website for the past 3 months (also the same amount of info on the paid vs. free version.
Other metrics include: top keywords from google traffic, top google competitors, top keywords from keyword spy, top google text ads, top competitors on google, top networks they advertise through according to adbeat, top placement according to Adbeat Mix Rank, MixRank number of: text ads, banner ads, placements, date first seen and last seen, and finally you get to see the actual most frequently seen banner ads pulled from Mixrank and Adbeat.
*Important Note: this is where the biggest between the paid and free version exists. The metrics mentioned above only show the second half of the list. Ie, when you look at “top google ad texts” the paid version gives you the top 8 individual ads. The free version only gives you ads 2-3. The free version also shows zero banner ad examples.
HOW MUCH IT COSTS
They offer several options and plans:
Free
$37/mo
$97/mo
$297/mo
All plans vary on the amount of domain “lookups” you can do, number of websites you can follow, the amount of data you have access to, additional search charges, and API access.
The Free version only gives you 50% of the information-what that means is that when you see a list of “top 5 keywords” for a website you’re looking up, they will likely only give you the 3rd and 4th highest keywords. Free version also only allows you to follow and receive updates on 5 total sites, and search 50 unique sites per month.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
Below are the basic and verbatim instructions the website takes each new user through to use the tool for the first time when they sign up:
Lookup a domain in the search box,
Lookup a domain in browser extension,
The overview screen shows you a quick, high-level report of a website’s traffic, ad campaigns, social media mentions & other info.
The news feed shows you all of a website’s online activity.
Add domains to your portfolio by following them. Add tags to domains if you want to group them later on.
Use the sidebar to access your portfolio settings, domains & user profile.
You’ll receive notifications about every site you’ve followed in your portfolio.
You can create an unlimited amount of portfolios.
Share portfolios with team members or clients.
Share individual domain reports with anyone on the web.
Free accounts are limited. Refer friends or become a paid member to access more of our features.
HOW THIS HELPS MARKETERS
If you haven’t put this together: THIS IS HUGE FOR DIGITAL MARKETERS! While we are all still waiting around for Facebook’s update to show your competition’s paid online advertisements, this gives you insights into every other place your competition is digitally marketing. If you’ve been at your company for more than 3 months, you definitely know who your top competitors are. As marketers we are constantly being asked and forced to differentiate the business and “think outside the box”.
This tool helps you see where your competition is fighting on the battlefield of the internet. With all of this beautiful, juicy data, you get to decide if you want to join the fight on the same field, or go find a new field to conquer.
If you work for a start-up, or an established company whose marketing department is just starting up, follow.net also helps you get valuable marketing insights into where you can realistically set marketing planning and goals. The digital analytics offered from follow.net are incredibly insightful, affordable, and user friendly for marketers of any level. Follow.net will easily become one of your department’s top marketing tools if you put in the 30 minutes it takes to master this digital swiss army knife.
