How to fail with a web site!
How to fail with a web site!
Whether you are considering a web site for reselling other peoples products, starting a work at home business, selling your own products, or any other business for that matter you need a written business plan before you spend your first dollar on a web site.
There are over 162 million web sites on the Internet. Getting recognized, building an opt-in email list you can sell to, gaining customer confidence and then building a business on the Internet is not as easy or as inexpensive as some try to make you think it is. Typically you don't find this out until you leap into it, find out it isn't easy, it does cost money, your' re not getting ranked on search engines, and you have few, if any, visitors to your site and no sales.
You then start going in a circle trying to figure out what your doing wrong. You spend money buying products that are supposed to help you make it happen, hiring consultants that tell you "I can save you; just hire me or but my products," signing up for pay per click programs, doing keyword analysis and writing articles all to still find out it's just not working. After spending months and hundreds of dollars most people get frustrated and quit. There are literally millions of dead web sites out there, representing lost dreams of people just like you.
How can you avoid losing your dream? Just like any brick and mortar business, in order to have any chance of succeeding on the Internet you first must develop a well thought out, written business plan. To put a business plan together you have to research your market, your competition and where your sales opportunities might be (your niche in a market), evaluate your strength and weaknesses, and get a better understanding of what you are getting yourself into.
A business plan will help you determine the potential for success, how long it's going to take to make money and how much it's going to cost you. If your' re not willing to take the time to research the business you want to pursue and write a business plan, the odds are greater than 1,000 to 1 you will not make it. You'll get better odds in the stock market or while having fun in Las Vegas or Monte Carlo.
Trust me most people cannot develop and run an Internet business all by themselves. You have strengths and weaknesses, but no one, not even you, can learn everything needed to build a successful business on the Internet. It's not as easy as putting up a web site and presto, your' re in business. It's the ongoing care and feeding of the web site that's going to make you successful.
Your plan does not have to be in a lot of detail unless you also look to using it for your business funding requirements or setting up a strategic alliance of some kind. Typically a good 8-10 page business operating plan will suffice. For this article we will stick with a simple business operating plan.
An operating plan deals with:
- How much it's going to cost you
- What your revenue goals are
- Defining your market niche
- Your strategies and tactics
- How you're going to operate on a day to day basis.
This plan should be written then reviewed regularly (weekly at a minimum to start.)
An outline for developing a typical business operating plan is:
- Define your current status and what you personally want to accomplish.
- Define yours and the business' Vision, Mission, Values
- Put together a SWOT Analysis, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
- Marketing plan. This should include at a minimum:
- Product or service offering
- Market Niche
- Competition
- Keyword definition and analysis
- Strategies and Tactics
- Revenue goals
- Budget
Once the operating plan is in place you are ready to develop your web site with a higher probability of success.
How to fail with a web site - To learn more about this author, visit Andrew Nester's Website.
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Developing a web site without a written business plan is asking for failure.
Whether you are considering a web site for reselling other peoples products, starting a work at home business, selling your own products, or any other business for that matter you need a written business plan before you spend your first dollar on a web site.
There are over 162 million web sites on the Internet. Getting recognized, building an opt-in email list you can sell to, gaining customer confidence and then building a business on the Internet is not as easy or as inexpensive as some try to make you think it is. Typically you don't find this out until you leap into it, find out it isn't easy, it does cost money, your' re not getting ranked on search engines, and you have few, if any, visitors to your site and no sales.
You then start going in a circle trying to figure out what your doing wrong. You spend money buying products that are supposed to help you make it happen, hiring consultants that tell you "I can save you; just hire me or but my products," signing up for pay per click programs, doing keyword analysis and writing articles all to still find out it's just not working. After spending months and hundreds of dollars most people get frustrated and quit. There are literally millions of dead web sites out there, representing lost dreams of people just like you.
How can you avoid losing your dream? Just like any brick and mortar business, in order to have any chance of succeeding on the Internet you first must develop a well thought out, written business plan. To put a business plan together you have to research your market, your competition and where your sales opportunities might be (your niche in a market), evaluate your strength and weaknesses, and get a better understanding of what you are getting yourself into.
A business plan will help you determine the potential for success, how long it's going to take to make money and how much it's going to cost you. If your' re not willing to take the time to research the business you want to pursue and write a business plan, the odds are greater than 1,000 to 1 you will not make it. You'll get better odds in the stock market or while having fun in Las Vegas or Monte Carlo.
Trust me most people cannot develop and run an Internet business all by themselves. You have strengths and weaknesses, but no one, not even you, can learn everything needed to build a successful business on the Internet. It's not as easy as putting up a web site and presto, your' re in business. It's the ongoing care and feeding of the web site that's going to make you successful.
Your plan does not have to be in a lot of detail unless you also look to using it for your business funding requirements or setting up a strategic alliance of some kind. Typically a good 8-10 page business operating plan will suffice. For this article we will stick with a simple business operating plan.
An operating plan deals with:
- How much it's going to cost you
- What your revenue goals are
- Defining your market niche
- Your strategies and tactics
- How you're going to operate on a day to day basis.
This plan should be written then reviewed regularly (weekly at a minimum to start.)
An outline for developing a typical business operating plan is:
- Define your current status and what you personally want to accomplish.
- Define yours and the business' Vision, Mission, Values
- Put together a SWOT Analysis, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
- Marketing plan. This should include at a minimum:
- Product or service offering
- Market Niche
- Competition
- Keyword definition and analysis
- Strategies and Tactics
- Revenue goals
- Budget
Once the operating plan is in place you are ready to develop your web site with a higher probability of success.
How to fail with a web site - To learn more about this author, visit Andrew Nester's Website.
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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