How to Plan and Prepare to
Build Your Online Business
An online business, like an offline business, works
best when you plan what you'd like to accomplish and follow through on your
plan. A little forethought and preparation can streamline your
business-building experience. Here's a step-by-step guide that will set you up
for success.
1. Plan Your Business Goals
What would you
like to accomplish with your online business? First decide the underlying goals
of your business. This might seem silly, but going through the exercise will
give you great focus as you build your site.
Try to boil your goals down to a single mission
sentence. Here are some examples:
"I want my web business to increase people's
awareness of cancer and raise funds to contribute to cancer research."
"I want to use my web business to sell my wedding
accessories to a broader audience than I could reach in the town where I
live."
"My web business will help existing and potential
clients understand the range of services that I offer."
Your mission statement doesn't have to be perfect.
Just take a stab at it and remember that you'll hone in on your goal as your
business grows and evolves. A good web site is never "done"; it's a work in
progress.
2. Outline Your Information and Sketch Your
Site
Next consider the information and pictures you'd like to display on
your site. Also, think about how you'd like these elements to interact with
each other.
Make a list of all the information you'd like to show
on your site. If you'll be using content that exists already in a brochure or
other business materials, read through it and consider which information you'd
like to put on your site. For example:
- Welcome information
with picture
- Background
information about my business and my products
- Contact information
so web visitors can reach my company
- Questionnaire
- Links to related
sites
- A catalog
introduction page, about 15 items that I'd like to sell, and two pages that
show groups of these items
Then divide this information into a list of individual
pages. For example:
- Homepage: welcome
information and contact information
- Company page:
background information about my business
- Contact information
page
- Questionnaire
page
- Links
page
- Catalog welcome page
with information about my products
- Catalog group
pages
- Catalog item
pages
Sketch out a simple tree structure that shows the
relationship of each page of information to the next. You'll use this outline
to guide your work. |
