Creating a Business Plan for Your Website
Website Business Plan–If you plan to make money from your website, you should treat it like a business from day 1. This means making a business plan to estimate potential revenues, expenses, and more. This doesn’t have to be anything extravagant. You can scribble figures on a notepad. But planning this will help you get an idea of what expenses you will face, and the revenue sources you need to find. Be realistic. Don’t assume you will make a lot of money your first few months (unless you are investing heavily in marketing).
Building a successful website is a 1-3 year plan. It is not an overnight thing. Once you have done the necessary research and decided on a niche, you should create your battle plan.
Business Plan for Website Business
You want your business plan to state the following:
- A Mission Statement–This should state your main objectives. What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to create a content site and sell advertising and promote affiliate products? Do you want to create an eCommerce store? Decide that here and make your mission statement. An example would be: The objective is to create a content-rich site offering tips or help to people online. The site will be monetized with Google Adsense and Affiliate programs promoting X product. I plan to have a blog only (or a blog and website and forum), etc. Try to be as specific as possible with your vision.
- Expected Revenues–Calculate the revenues you may be able to acquire. For example, what is the ad rates for your niche? What about traffic? You can multiply estimated traffic by estimated ad rates per 1000 views (and consider the CTR) to estimate revenues. This will give you an idea of what your site could earn when optimized.
- Expected Expenses–Some of the fixed expenses you will face are things such as web hosting (typically no more than $10 for a shared hosting account), and a domain name (usually only $12 or so per year). Some variable costs are your marketing budget. You may even pay others to write content for you, help you design a custom site design, and so forth. These are optional, but you should decide about things like this when creating your business plan. My main expenses are marketing, domain names, and hosting. I do most of my own bookkeeping and write most all of my articles.
- Details of Operations–It can be very time consuming and difficult doing a website yourself. At some point, you will need help with something. You may want to write out all of the things you will face (accounting & taxes, marketing, writing content, managing the website code, backing up the site, etc.). Write out what you feel you can do yourself. For the other things, you can pay a company or individual to help you. Try to itemize every duty you will need to accomplish. If you have a spouse or partner working with you, you can delegate tasks.
That is about it. Your business plan can be as simple or as detailed as you want to make it. However, getting numbers and operational objectives down on paper can help tremendously. This way, you will have a focus and plan. Again, I always feel like having a solid plan in place will help you reach your objectives.
I sometimes create a “Grand business plan” and also a mini business plan for each website. I will sometimes develop a budget and marketing plan for each website, a content plan, and so forth. I try to visualize what each site can potentially be, and then I go to work to try and make that site match my visual image in my mind.
I also create a lot of ‘to do’ lists. I usually do this daily, and I have heard of a lot of entrepreneurs doing this. It helps tremendously. I jot down things like articles I want to write, bookkeeping, linking/seo, and more that I need to do for the day. You can use any method you need to keep things moving along, but lists and plans can be very helpful.
How to Create a Website: A Brief Introduction to This Tutorial
Planning Your Website, Blog, or Forum: How to Plan Your Website Project
Niche Websites: How to Find a Niche Topic to Build Your Site Around
Website Business Plan: How to Develop a Business Plan for Your Website Project
Registering a Domain Name: Choosing a Domain Name for Your Website or Blog
Website Design Software | Best Software for Websites, Blogs, and Forums
Web Hosting: Finding Hosting Company for Websites and Blogs
How to Upload a Website or Blog on Godaddy | Prepare Your Hosting for Your Website
WordPress Setup | Preparing WordPress For Use in Websites or Blogging
Writing Articles for Your Website or Blog | How to Arrange Content for SEO
Creating Hyperlinks on a Website: How to Create Internal Links for Good SEO in WordPress
Make Money With Websites: How to Make Money With Your Blog or Website
Marketing Websites | How to Market Your Blog or Website Online & Offline
Website SEO | Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogs & Websites Introduction
Internal On Site SEO Tips | How to SEO Your Website or Blog Internally
External Off Site SEO Tips | How to SEO & Build Links for Your Website or Blog Externally