As a beginning entrepreneur you probably know that writing an internet business plan can greatly help your start up company.
In fact, a business plan is an excellent tool for planning and managing your online business. It helps you set goals and strategies as well as monitor your progress. It also guides you through the different phases of starting and running a business.
Before you create a web business plan, learn about the elements of a plan. Also, what goes into creating a proper one. Even if you aren’t seeking funds this will still be useful for you.
When you have a plan with set goals, it is easier to achieve those goals.
Elements Of A Good Internet Business Plan
There are a number of elements that you want to include within your online business plan. The first element is a cover sheet that includes the name of your company, your address and a table of contents. The next one is an executive summary containing the purpose of your plan and the purpose of your business.
The body of your plan will be separated into four different sections: a business description section, a marketing section, research and development and a finances section. Describe your product or service on your business description. Include information about your target audience and your competitions on the marketing section.
Your financial section consists of a balance sheet, profit and loss statements, break-even analysis, and many more. The financial projection is a forecast of profitability. It shows that you have researched the market properly and that you have a strategy for generating profit in the future.
Steps To Writing An Internet Business Plan
1. Every business plan needs a purpose and a set of goals. You want to ask yourself the purpose of your internet business plan.
Having written vision and mission statements are your next step. A vision statement is an overall goal towards which your company will strive and a mission statement is the means of achieving the vision.
2. The business description section describes services or products you will be offering. It will also include the information about your industry and reasons why you offer them through the internet.
Once done, follow it up with a description of your target market, your competitors, the price of your product and how to market it, in the marketing section.
3. In the marketing section, write about major competitors and compare your business to them. Find out what you have to offer that these companies do not.
Explain how you are going to differentiate your product or service over your competitions. Also, make sure to elaborate why potential customers would want to use your company over another.
4. In your financial section utilize a variety of tables to show the expected profits and losses of the business over time. Also, be sure to take into account seasonal fluctuations.
If you don’t have any background in finance get planning software to help you develop financial projections and have this section reviewed by your accountant.
Conclusion
Overall, an internet business plan can give you insight into your business and the target market you are aiming to serve. If you take your plan seriously it’ll be usable and workable. When making important decisions you can refer to the plan.
A good tool that can offer help in developing a plan is business plan software. The program allows you to create a workable plan for your start-up. This is especially true if you are just starting out and you don’t have the experiences in creating a good plan.