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Writing A Business Plan

Writing a business plan is a sure way of increasing your chances of obtaining a loan. Before you begin writing your business plan, consider the following questions:

  • What service or product does the business provide and what need does it fill?
  • Who are the potential customers for your goods or service and why will they purchase from you?
  • How will you reach your potential customers?
  • Where will you get the financial resources to start your business?

Answering these questions will be the basis for writing your business plan. A good plan should have the following sections:

  • Overview
  • Business Description
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Critical Risk

Companies that will be manufacturing goods would need a manufacturing section.

Overview

– A summary of what is in your plan
– Purpose of the loan – clearly explain what you require the loan for
– Amount needed – how much do you need to achieve your goals? Do not use estimates, choose an exact figure based on the projections of your income accounts statements

Business Description

– Supply the business name, business address, investors names and the insurance number of each investor
– Business background or history
– What product will you be offering the market
– The nature of the business

Motivational Business Quote

Management Profile

– Profile of management, especially key personnel, their experience, background and skills; tell what they bring to the business
– Board of directors and other important personnel such as consultants (if any)
– Legal structure of the business – e.g., sole trader or limited liability company

Marketing

– Identify your target market
– Identify your competition and say how you will compete
– What can you offer your customers that will make you unique or shine above the competition
– The size of the market
– Market trends
– Promotional plan
– Pricing information
Market research information you have gathered from your potential market should aid you with most of this.

Finance

– A projected financial statement – this will include your income statement and balance sheet
– The financial statements of all the investors, including yourself
– Collateral – What assets are you willing to put up in order to get the loan

Critical Risk

Potential obstacles or problems
– Estimated cost of risk
– Alternatives to dealing with potential competitor retaliation

Pointers

  • You should show that the business can at least meet its everyday expenses or current liabilities
  • You should show that your team has the necessary experience, qualification and training to make the business successful
  • You and other principals should be credit worthy
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So… what makes a good website?

Google SEO

The aim of operating online is to create a good website that will help us to get noticed by the major search engine, Google, and thus improve our site rankings. With higher ranging comes higher visibility and a greater possibility of increased sales, coupled with a larger customer base. But of course, the first thing is to create a good website. So… what makes a good website? Google’s Matt Cutts gives us some great points in this video.

Here are the points in a nutshell:

  • Crawlability – make your website crawlable, view it in text browser. How does it look? Is it readable and well organised?
  • Sitemap – create a sitemap. A sitemap is a list of pages of a website that are accessible by web crawlers and users. It gives a comprehensive view of the structure of the website.
  • Content – good, properly written content. Don’t pad articles with unrelated content. The content should be relevant to your website in general and specifically to the particular article.
  • Marketing, promoting, optimising – target your niche. Make them aware of what you have to offer.
  • Hooks – create newsletter, tutorial, specials…give people a reason to subscribe to your newsletter and return to your website.
  • Social Networking – use social networks such as Facebook, Google +, Twitter, LinkedIn etc, to tell others about your website and what you do.
  • Offer something interesting – in as much as it is possible, try to create a unique experience for your users.

Implementing these could improve your website’s ranking. It will take a bit of time and dedication, but if you are consistent you will see benefits. If you are unable to start or be consistent in getting these done, consider outsourcing this role, then if you so desire, take on the responsibility once your online presence is established.