Pre-Development Testing/Research for Robust Web Sites

[Memery]

Can anyone share some advice on how to test feasibility and demand for a larger-scale website (not a landing page advertisement).

I want to create a site similar to www.sounddogs.com which sells individual royalty-free sound effects for sound designers and audio professionals. Competitors already exist.

I'm not sure how to evaluate the risk/return of entering a competitive space.

1. How can I evaluate the profit being made by existing competitors and gauge demand?
2. Assuming that demand in this niche is sufficient, should I just create a "coming soon" landing page and see if I can drive traffic to that?
3. I imagine that I should develop the functional website first (without actual products) and evaluate traffic. But, developing a functional version of the site is a large investment already. What types of testing would be effective prior to that stage?

I'm very new to this, so any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks everyone!

[storm33229]

Worry less about the website side, worry more about the content side.
What content are you getting? How much will it cost you? Are you doing audio files or CD's? If you're doing CD's are you storing or drop shipping? The prices will likely be different. If you're doing audio files, where are you getting your sounds?

Define the actual content you will use.
Define the provider of this content.
Define the cost to you for these provisions.
THEN
Pay someone to develop a professional website.
Test the site.
THEN
If the results are what you're looking for, start selling.

[Memery]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

So, assuming that the content can be obtained, there's no way to predict sales short of going all the way and developing the website for testing?

I like how in Tim's book the muse creators took small steps, gradually increasing their investment while testing at each stage to verify that their next investment was a safe one.

Developing the entire website seems like a large leap. Perhaps that's the nature of the beast. I'm just curious - once I have the products secured - if there is any kind of market research that I can do prior to website development.

For example, it would be useful to know how much competitors are making, but I wouldn't imagine that I could just call them and ask... How would I obtain this information?

Thanks again for the help Storm,
-Matthew

[storm33229]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

So, assuming that the content can be obtained, there's no way to predict sales short of going all the way and developing the website for testing?

I like how in Tim's book the muse creators took small steps, gradually increasing their investment while testing at each stage to verify that their next investment was a safe one.

Developing the entire website seems like a large leap. Perhaps that's the nature of the beast. I'm just curious - once I have the products secured - if there is any kind of market research that I can do prior to website development.

For example, it would be useful to know how much competitors are making, but I wouldn't imagine that I could just call them and ask... How would I obtain this information?

Thanks again for the help Storm,
-Matthew

If you use fake sample CD's you can make a test sales page and track results that way. Just say its out of stock and that you apologize for the inconvenience whilst in the background, you're receiving an email reporting the interest.

[AntonTheKhan]

Hi,
Here is what you can do.
Obtain the sounds first, that shouldn't cost you a thing since companies would be dealing with you as a reseller. If it does cost you, find out how much it costs for you to resell them.
You can make a site with some starter effects and promise for more to come and of course include an opt-in where people can get free sounds so you can start building a list.

Otherwise, the way you can judge profits roughly is calculate how many visitors a site has, and assume that about 1.5-2% of the visitors are buyers. Use QuantCast.com for that. QuantCast will also give you a demographic of the audience so you know who you are dealing with.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

So, assuming that the content can be obtained, there's no way to predict sales short of going all the way and developing the website for testing?

I like how in Tim's book the muse creators took small steps, gradually increasing their investment while testing at each stage to verify that their next investment was a safe one.

Developing the entire website seems like a large leap. Perhaps that's the nature of the beast. I'm just curious - once I have the products secured - if there is any kind of market research that I can do prior to website development.

For example, it would be useful to know how much competitors are making, but I wouldn't imagine that I could just call them and ask... How would I obtain this information?

Thanks again for the help Storm,
-Matthew