If you have decided to start your own online business, you need a business plan for website startup.

Internet sphere’s choice for startup allows you to have a wide range of different directions or even to diversify (e.g. start a few small businesses to decrease a risk level):

  • information and affiliate marketing
  • online store and e-bargains
  • on-line catalogues
  • remote technical support
  • software platform and webdesign
  • teaching online courses
  • blogging

and many others ideas.

The main steps of business plan for website are the following:

Step 1. Business or product overview.

Step 2. Create a detailed marketing plan.

The successful marketing campaign has crucial meaning for an Internet business:

  • Determine the demographics of your customer base. Research studies by The Internet Society or The Internet Group and quote them, if applicable, in this section. You must be able to prove that your customer base exists on the Internet.
  • Determine key competitors. Luckily, it is easy to determine who offers similar products through Internet searches. Evaluate their sites to determine how big of a threat they are. In some cases, it is even a good idea to buy their products in order to determine differences along the entire sales chain.
  • Describe your advertising campaign in the short and long term. A good website and its regular maintenance are the first steps. Then you should include other possible steps, such as buying similar domain names, Google ads, banners, email blasts, newsletters, list buying, free trials, print ads and more, according to their relevance to your business.
  • Explain your pricing structure. After extensive research of your competition, you should be able to provide good reasoning for your price point. Explain special offers, sales or holiday pricing, if applicable.
  • Explain your payment and fulfillment process. You need to provide a secure checkout environment, so look into offering PayPal, Google Checkout or Digitalis for added security. In today’s Internet environment, where the customers post reviews, it is important to have a smooth and fast checkout process.
  • In some cases, this may be only your own experience. Explain the major players and their Internet expertise. Include full resumes as an attachment to your plan

Decide what options can be useful for your website promotion:

Search Engine Marketing
PPC
Business Networking Groups
Facebook Ads-Social media
Blog Advertising
Video Advertising
Newspaper Ads
Magazine Advertising
Radio Advertising

Also you need to create a list of potential customers segmented according to market’s niche. It helps for direct mailing advertisement.

Step 3. Operational Plan and Sales Forecast.

Step 4. Implementation plan.

Create a schedule for your business for the immediate future and long term plan. This should include date for start, employee hiring, marketing initiatives, loan repayments and more. It is not only important for the business, but it is a practical way to ensure your business follows its path.

  • Update the Internet business schedule regularly. It should be changed weekly or monthly. You can cross off minor and major milestones as you hit them.

Step 5. Management team.

Review your management team. Explain the background and experience of all major players in your management team. A financial institution is not only investing in a company, they are also investing in you.

Step 6. Financial plan.

Create a detailed financial plan explaining start-up capital, costs and a forecast of profitability. Highlight the low start-up costs associated with Internet commerce. State the amount of start-up capital you still need and include financial statements as an attachment.

Step 7. Business Plan’s Summary.

And only after that you can write a business plan’s summary. Think of all the questions a person might ask if they knew nothing about your project.

This summary should be placed first on your plan, above all the previous sections, but it should be completed after you have created the other sections and have a firm grasp of the details. Summarize the company, its mission and financial and organizational strategies.

  • Although many people choose to write their executive summary in prose format, it should be a quick view of the business. Others may choose to break up the executive summary into its mission and its keys to success, detailed in bullet-point format. You may choose to experiment with the 2 formats.