Russ submitted his site/domain for a surgery review by the docs – www.laptopcomputers.co.uk.

At the time of writing, the keywords “laptop computers” received an exact search volume of 550,000 in January; an enviable domain name to have for development if ever you saw one!  However, it is a ruthlessly competitive sector, so Russ posed the following question to give him some ideas on how to progress the site development:

“Hi.

I have the domain name laptopcomputers.co.uk and have commissioned a designer to build me a site.

I have planned a large laptop review site with price comparisons, reviews and possibly videos, however, I would be very interested to see if the doctors have any other thoughts as to what could be included?  You guys think outside the box which can throw up some really interesting ideas.

The development is currently underway, but I’m in a bit of a flap so any input at all would be fantastic.

Thanks and kind regards.

Russ”

Here’s what the docs had to say:

Dan

Hi, Russ, how are you?

Congratulations on the fantastic domain name!  I’ve worked on a few laptop sites amd know you’ll get a ton of search traffic if you can rank well for that.

To be honest, you could do a hundred different things with the site.  BUT I’m going to be the most boring man in the world and suggest you keep it simple for the first few months.  Set yourself some targets, concentrate on the launch, plan some actions to get you to your targets, and put together a longer term plan to make money from the site.

A few examples for targets could be:

1. Reach page 1 of google for the phrase ‘laptop computers’ by June 2010.
2. Increase traffic to the site by at least 100% each week for the first 12 weeks.
3. Add 20 new laptop reviews to the site each month.

Aside from that, one big, big thing you don’t mention in your plan is to build an email list.  A good opt-in list in this niche could be worth thousands every month.  Laptop manufacturers are clambering over themselves to increase market share and have very good advertising budgets.

Hope this helps!

Dan

Lammo

Hi Russ.

How about the ability to compare more than simply price?  By offering your users the chance to compare any two laptops spec next to each other, they can make the purchase decision much easier.  I say this as a non-techie who buys his laptops using the criteria “is it a Toshiba” (they’ve always been reliable in my experience!) and “is it cheap” (I’m tight), but if I can compare two models next to each other and see that one has much larger memory for the same price, then it may sway me to buy there and then, rather than look elsewhere.

Then of course there’s those who NEED a specific amount of RAM, screensize, software.  You could pull all this data from the feeds and effectively let users narrow the entire laptop market to the handful of models that entirely match what they need/want.

Elaine

Hi Russ.

I think there’s plenty of scope for getting some unique pages/content up and running, simply by thinking of all the uses for a laptop.

– Different colours – red laptops, blue laptops
– Kids laptops with security built in – or recommended programmes to install and tips on how to keep kids safe on the web
– Gaming Laptops – need high spec – check out the World of Warcraft specs
– Business Laptops – fast spec, robust for carrying about or lightweight ones
– Long lasting battery life required?
– Basic laptops – is it simply going to be used for research or Facebook etc.
– Laptops for first timers/silver surfers  – with easy to use instructions and links to ‘idiot guides’
– Laptops for music lovers with good sound systems etc.

Good luck.

Kier

Hi Russ.

My main piece of advice would be to keep it simple and be sure what you’re building before it starts, because currently you sound a little unsure of the overall direction.  I’m not sure of the level of experience you have so far, but hiring a designer should only be done where you’ve got a very clear idea of what you want built and are sure that it’s beyond your own skills to do so.  As such, I’d say the trickiest part from what you mentioned is going to be price comparison.

Knocking together a basic CMS or modifying an existing one for a broadly static site consisting of content like reviews, pictures videos etc. isn’t too hard at all, and you could probably do this yourself in fact.  Price comparison however is a big undertaking so think very hard about this aspect, how it will work and how it will interact with the site.  Is price comparison the main focus and reviews etc are for extra fluff or is it the other way round?  Decide what you’re building and make it excellent in that area, then add new features later.

Editor’s Note

Hi Russ. 

Thanks for sending in your proposed site/domain for review.  I’d echo these views and add that with such a generic domain name and a broad number of categories and laptops to promote, try and find a merchant/network that can provide you with good quality feeds to work from.  If you don’t have much experience with feeds, find a developer who does!  It is a potentially massive undertaking in a sector that is very competitive, but you’ve got a fantastic domain on which to build something that could do very well.  Build it slowly and don’t rush to do everything in one fell swoop.