Internet Business Planning & Goal Setting

Anyone can build a website - literally anyone who knows how to use email and word-processing has the basic skills to create a website. However, not everyone, and for the most part, very few actually know how to make a profitable website that will improve their business (improved lead generation, improved sales, improved profits).

My job here is to help you plan an internet business and come up with some goals that you can and will achieve in less time if you stick to the plan.

But first, a little primer....

I've been designing websites for over 8 years and have worked with well over 100 clients. The ones who took my advice and guidance and allowed me to do what I do best, have succeeded. The rest basically told me that they just wanted me to design them a website and they would take care of all the business aspects, the goal setting, the copywriting and so on.

In the beginning, I just did whatever they wanted me to (because, I thought that was my job); even though I knew they were missing some of the most important elements of internet marketing and business planning. So I'd design a search engine optimized website and would help them get traffic to a site that had no calls to action & no structure for bringing in business or profit. Sometimes it used to boil my blood because I knew I was going to be a part of something that wouldn't lead to success.

As time passed, and I learned, applied, tested and tweaked my own business projects, it grew more difficult to keep my mouth shut and not tell these clients what they were missing. It became my job to tell them where they could improve, where they were leaving money on the table, where they were not investing enough in. 

Why would you want more traffic to your site if it doesn't actually do anything? It's a wasted investment. It's like putting an advertisement in the paper inviting people to your store but when they get there the store has no sales people to help them - even worse the store is closed and there is only a sign on the door telling people about what may or may not be inside (but there's no way for them to buy anything). They will leave never to return again.

Only 8 - 10 Seconds

On the web, we only have about 8-10 seconds of our visitors' attention where we can attract them, motivate them and point them to exactly what they need. Did you catch that? 8-10 Seconds - that's it. Look at your own web-surfing habits - how long do you give a website before you go back to Google and click on another link?

Careful planning and goal setting will dramatically improve your results. If you expect to make a living online, expect to spend a significant amount of time preparing your internet business. It's one of the best ways to motivate yourself and keep you on the path to improved results.

Below are the elements of a condensed business plan. A real business plan can take a long time to produce and has to be very detailed and specific. It's usually created not just as a blueprint for the company creating it but as a way to raise investment capital from external investors. In our example, we're not going to get that detailed or worry about external investments. We're going to do it on our own and this will serve as a vivid visualiztion to help you achieve your goals.

Elements of a Business Plan

Executive Summary - Presented first but actually written last. It is essentially your whole business plan condensed in a one page outline. It has to be clear, concise and convincing.

Business Description - Here's where you start writing and visualizing your actual business, what it does, how it makes money and how you will operate.

Market Strategies - This is where you'll want to describe, in detail, the target market you've found who desperately needs your solution/s. Who are they? How old are they? How much money do they make? How much do they spend on your type of products/services?

You will also plan how you intend to market your product or service to your niche. How will you attract them? Where will they come from? Pay-per-click advertising? Free publicity? Offline advertising? In-store promotions? Banner advertising and so one.

Discuss how much you will need to spend to attract a visitor and what that visitor's value is to you. If you're spending $100 to get them to your site but your most expensive product is only $10, you're going to break the bank in no time. Invest your energy in planning the two to three top methods for attracting your target audience.

Competitor Analysis - Do you know what a SWOT Analysis is? Didn't think so. I learned it in the MBA and it's an analysis you do on yourself and your competitors. SWOT stands for

Strengths - Weaknesses - Opportunities - Threats

Do this analysis on yourself first and it will be easier to do it on your competitors. List your own/company's strengths - what's your ultimate advantage? List your weaknesses - what will keep you from success? List the opportunities that are available right now and in the future. List the threats to you like stronger competition, changing technology, rising fuel (shipping) prices and so on.

Do an honest appraisal - there's no point trying to fool yourself. Creating a business plan isn't meant to fool you or your investors into believing you'll succeed. It's meant to hone your thinking and help you plan for success and how to thwart your competition and offset your weaknesses. If you can think analytically and strategically, you will find ways to improve on your business idea and learn how to be better than your competition.

Operational Strategy/ies - This is where you discuss how you will bring your company into the marketplace, develop a mission and milestones for achieveing your goal. Your mission may be to be the top website in sales/profit for let's say 'baby shoes'. Your milestones will be to make your first sale, then make $10,000 in sales, help 5,000 parents across the county, grow an opt-in email list to 4,000 subscribers and so on.

This is where you must plan to profit and come up with solid workable ideas for pulling in multiple streams of profit. Multiple streams of income can come from direct sales of your product, advertising, joint ventures, selling subscriptions, and so on.

Doing this section carefuly and with full attention to detail will help you in the long run. Keep note of your milestones and when you want to achieve them. By sticking to a timeline, you will undoubtedly help yourself achieve your goals.

Management/Team - This section will help you clarify how and who will help you reach your goals. Many of you operate a one-man show (even if you have employees, you're the one responsible for making all the decisions regarding your business) - so make an honest list of your best assets, knowledge and skills. Do a SWOT on yourself and see where you are lacking in skill and where it might be a good idea to hire someone to help you.

List other people who will help you. Do you have an accountant or a lawyer or business advisor? Do you have access to experts in your field of interest who can help you?

Try to make it as robust as possible. When you look at the competition you can easily see how many skill sets are required to make a profitable business. If you're missing one of those aspects, discuss how you will compensate for it or get it.

Financials - In real business plans that are meant to secure financing, the financials section at the back is usually filled with many spreadsheets and documents including balance sheets, earnings projections, capital requirements and several other very detailed financial statements. From my experience, this section is worthless and won't mean a thing if the sections preceeding it aren't fully planned out and if they're not executed properly.

My suggestion is to make a personal goal for your income. Don't set it too high and definitely don't set it too low. Say you want to make $250,000 in profit a year and work backwards from there. Look at your business plan so far and try to be as objective as possible. What streams of income will be most profitable? How many sales do I have to make to reach my milestones and ultimate goals? How much do I have to spend to make it happen?

With those figures in mind, be honest with yourself and if you're missing some vital information, then do some research. Check online for statistics about your field of interest. See how much people spend on your product or service in a year. Determine what portion of that you need to reach your goals. Is it realistic or are you dreaming? I'm definitely a proponet for dreaming big but hate to set myself up for disappointment so I use very conservative figures (high expenses and low income) - that's the worst case scenario. If it still works and allows me to reach my goal, I proceed. If not, I go back to work on the business planning and find better ways to make money or decrease expenses.

Conclusion

When you've finished your business plan, which for some of you can take days and for some of you it will take weeks, you'll be happy knowing you've actually taken a real big step in preparing for your success.

Keep reading this website and absorb the information within - it will help guide you in all the areas you need to help you reach your goals. From time to time, look back at your business plan & keep it close at hand. Remember your projections and milestones and try to stick to the timeline as much as possible. Hey, if you can do it faster, great. If it's going a bit slow, ask yourself why? Is it your doing? Have you been lazy?

Actually creating the business plan and printing it off will help you from a psychological standpoint as well. It tends to solidify or make your goals real and seem very achievable. Most people jump into a web business with no clue about the details I just discussed. They see other people online making money and they want a piece. Maybe they get started and maybe they don't. I'm guaranteeing that after you've finished the first draft of your business plan (because as you learn, you'll want to make ammendments to it) you will be in a much better position to profit and realize your dreams than anyone who doesn't write a business plan.

If you need any help, or additional guidance, don't hesitate to contact me. If you have a really good question, I'll answer it in an email and will post it online for everyone to learn from.

Now go and get started. Keep coming back to this site for more guidance, programs, software and courses you can use to give you the ultimate competitive advantage.

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