Your excited. You have a great idea for a profitable online

business. Maybe it is an original idea that has not been

marketed online before. Maybe you have come up with a new

spin on the ordinary. Whatever it is that has influenced

you to start your online business, be sure that you have a

plan before you begin. This is not the time to “pick it up

as you go”. Here are some basic principles that should be

included in your business plan.

The business summary should give a brief description of the

entire business and is an integral part of the overall

business plan. After you have completed the business

summary you should begin to list the objectives or the

goals that you want to accomplish through the business.

Next and possibly most importantly, you should develop your

marketing plan. The marketing plan will address all the

specifics of the business. When developing the marketing

strategy you should consider the following:

The target market. The target market is the customer that

you expect to see visiting your site. For example will your

product be more appealing to a college student or those who

are in retirement?

Consider the competition for your product when determining

the marketing strategy. Choose a product that will be seen

as unique and useful. Visit sites that are offering the

same or similar products. Find out the cost, and how they

are marketing their product. Finds out the pros and cons of

their business and try to improve your product based on

their flaws.

Research the various methods for advertising online. You

should become educated about search engines and how they

work since each one is different. Also be sure that you

know how to submit your site to search engines. You should

be prepared to spend a small amount of money on

advertising, but the profits that you will gain from the

advertisements will prove to be money well spent.

Think about pricing. Again, look at the competition and see

what similar products are selling for. Pricing can play a

big role in the success of your product since selling a

product well below the average price may lead customer to

think that there is a problem with the product or that it

is not of the best quality. However, pricing items too high

could also detour customers.

Determine the shipping method. Be sure that you know how

products will be shipped so that you can have shipping

details clearly posted on your site. If you are shipping

things of great value, you should consider providing

shipping insurance. Also think about shipping outside the

country that you live in.

Think about the different methods of payment that you will

accept. If your business does not accept credit cards, you

should be ready to give up half if not more of your sales.

If you decide to accept credit cards will you use a

merchant account or will you use a third party credit card

processing center? Both will help you get started and the

third party processing center will handle all of the

business so you don’’t have to. You should decide which you

will use and also if you will accept checks or money

orders. It is essential to have a secure server when taking

credit cards.

These few things will help your online business to become a

great success and also provide you with peace of mind

knowing that you have thoroughly thought about and planned

for the opening of your online business.