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falco85
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 28th, 2005 |
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| Posts: | 8 |
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Posted: Mon Nov 28th, 2005 08:00 pm |
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You're 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. |
Last edited on Mon Nov 28th, 2005 08:01 pm by falco85
____________________
http://www.bookingfast.com | http://www.theloansdirectory.com
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marksman
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 28th, 2005 |
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| Posts: | 56 |
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Posted: Tue Nov 29th, 2005 11:16 pm |
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This actually reminds me. I need to put together a formalized business plan. I kind of fell into my current business. It started with me just fooling around trying some things out and started snowballing into viable business. Really a unique experience for me, because all my previous businesses were all very well planned out and organized in advance. I had formal business plans for all of them. Part of the problem for me now, though, is going back and putting my business plan on paper. I have it in my head and know where I am going, but that is not good enough. As much as a waste I might convince myself it is, it is imperative I stop and put it down so I have it in a hard form that I can refer back to as I move forward.
Again so little time though. Hard to put that up at the top of the list.
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TPT
Administrator
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Posted: Tue Nov 29th, 2005 11:53 pm |
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I'm in a similar boat as Marksman...
I created my business plan, but my business has travelled down a different path than my plan and I have no trevisited my business plan to compare that to where I am or even update. I'm not looking forward to trying to update my plan. It's never high on my priority list, but I do know that a business plan is a good tool to keep track of your progress.
____________________
Fred
Intensify.biz Founder
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marksman
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 28th, 2005 |
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| Posts: | 56 |
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Posted: Wed Nov 30th, 2005 10:10 pm |
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I actually learned from my father that having a business plan is always very helpful. He used to spend an extraordinary amount of time maintaining his business plan for his retail business. It helped him when working on trying to secure and change financing, working with his current banks, and just maintaining a strategy or focus.
Guess I convinced myself I need to get on mine. 
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imarketing0
Member
| Joined: | Mon Dec 5th, 2005 |
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| Posts: | 28 |
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Posted: Mon Dec 5th, 2005 02:14 pm |
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I had a business plan when I started out because I knew this was so important. Every business no matter how big or small should have a detailed plan. My business has changed quite a bit from when I first began about two years ago. I think I will go back through and edit my business plan a little more to help me know where the business has been and where we are headed in the future.
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