Planning is the key
Your business plan is your first step in setting
up your on-line business.
As with any successful business, planning is paramount.
Successful on line businesses are no exception.
The "Interactive
Business Planner" will walk you through a full business plan.
The IBP has been setup by the Canadian government and is designed to help small
businesses succeed.
If you are unsure about what is involved in doing a business plan the IBP says:
"A business plan is simply a written document that describes the future path
of a business. A good business plan explains the business concept, summarizes
the objectives of the business, identifies the resources (both in terms of money
and people) that will be needed by the business, describes how those resources
will be obtained, and tells the reader why the business will succeed."
While doing a full business plan is the ideal, doing parts of
the plan helps.
Consider setting up a marketing plan and using it to track results.
Successful marketing starts from the "Inside Out".
"Inside Out" marketing means you start with:
- Your business structure.
Define your objectives and delegate management routines.
Have your site's FAQ or support pages in place.
- Your marketing plan.
What type of marketing are you going to use and how will you track the
results?
There are many marketing options open to promote your site.
Optimizing your pages for the major search engines is your first step,
getting outside links to your site is next. This can be done by using
signature files in forums, listing your site on directories, exchanging
links with other sites, using email, or sending out press releases. There
are numerous ways to promote, research is the key.
- Your Customer Relationship
Management system (CRM).
This will also include office routines (and software) to accept and process
orders.
CRELoaded has an excellent CRM management system. CRE also offers an
associate sales program which can be used in your site marketing efforts.
- The production and publishing of your website.
Get your site up!
You will need to become familiar with it's operation and routines. Make
"purchases", setup "affiliate" accounts, use the contact forms, in short, do
everything you would expect a visitor to do and make sure everything is
clear and easy to use.
- Marketing your website.
Keep at it. Track your results.
If you are using 0Grief's hosting you will have a comprehensive set of web
stats.
Get to know them.
WebMaster Tip:
An extremely effective email solution is
Postmaster
Their copy states: It's simple: whether you are marketing a product, service or
network business, the key to success is and has always been, communicating with
people.
It doesn't matter if your business is online or off-line focused, the question
is:
Are you taking FULL advantage of this incredible marketing medium, Email?
These insights have been gained through experience and are worth careful
consideration.
WebMaster Tip:
Just Do It. You have all the information you need in this
program, including the products to sell. Start small, develop a Web Site, market
the site, then progress to include more products and info pages.
Part 2 coming soon:
Webmaster Programs.
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