Getting Started: Creating a Great Business Plan
by Glenn McDonald
Published on this site: August 18th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
Your excited. You have a great idea for a profitable online
business. Maybe it is an original idea that has not been marketed
online before. Maybe you have come up with a new spin on the
ordinary. Whatever it is that has influenced you to start
your online business, be sure that you have a plan before
you begin. This is not the time to "pick it up as you
go". These are some basic things that should be included
in your business plan.
The business summary should give a brief description of the
entire business and is an integral part of the overall business
plan. After you have completed the business summary you should
begin to list the objectives or the goals that you want to
accomplish through the business. Next and perhaps most importantly,
you should develop your marketing plan. The marketing plan
will address all the specifics of the business. When developing
the marketing strategy you should consider the following:
The target market. The target market is the customers that
you expect to see visiting your site. For example will your
product be more appealing to college students or those who
are in retirement?
Consider the competition for your product when determining
the marketing strategy. Choose a product that will be seen
as unique and useful. Visit sites that are offering the same
or similar products. Find out the cost, and how they are marketing
their product. Finds out the pros and cons of their business
and try to improve your product based on their flaws.
Research the various methods for advertising online. You
should become educated about search engines and how they work
since each one is different. Also be sure that you know how
to submit your site to search engines. You should be prepared
to spend a small amount of money on advertising, but the profits
that you will gain from the advertisements will prove to be
money well spent.
Think about pricing. Again, look at the competition and see
what similar products are selling for. Pricing can play a
big role in the success of your product since selling a product
well below the average price may lead customer to think that
there is a problem with the product or that it is not of the
best quality. However, pricing items too high could also detour
customers.
Determine the shipping method. Be sure that you know how
products will be shipped so that you can have shipping details
clearly posted on your site. If you are shipping things of
great value, you should consider providing shipping insurance.
Also think about shipping outside the country that you live
in.
Think about the different methods of payment that you will
accept. If your business does not accept credit cards, you
should be ready to give up half if not more of your sales.
If you decide to accept credit cards will you use a merchant
account or will you use a third party credit card processing
center? Both will help you get started and the third party
processing center will handle all of the business so you don't
have to. You should decide which you will use and also if
you will accept checks or money orders. It is essential to
have a secure server when taking credit cards.
These few things will help your online business to become
a great success and also provide you with peace of mind knowing
that you have thoroughly thought about and planned for the
opening of your online business.
Glenn McDonald can help YOU start your own profitable
business on the Internet within the next 24 hours. To learn
more, visit: http://www.AutoProfitCash.com/pips.html
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