Continued from Part 1

Planning and forecasting
It’s absolutely imperative to have a carefully thought out, researched and professional master business plan for your website.  Equally important is a marketing plan.   It’s also very important that financial projections and monetization strategy is incorporated into your business plan.  Investors want to see your concept fleshed out, stacked against the competitive marketplace and thoroughly analyzed.  The more information and context you can provide them, the more likely you are to ease any concerns they may have and preempt their otherwise imminent questions.  If you don’t have a master business plan, marketing plan and/or financial projections you can hit the ground running by using one of these tools:

• Mac Users: JIAN Business Plan Builder
• Windows Users: Business Plan Pro

Make sure your plans incorporate extensive and credible research, are carefully constructed and organized and give investors the information they need to make an educated and comfortable decision.

Blueprinting & showcasing your website concept
Just as important as a business plan is a thorough Project Blueprint for your website.  A project blueprint is the road map to building your website and should detail every aspect of every module within the site.  A project blueprint is most effective when produced by a qualified web design/development company or consultant in conjunction with your vision for the site.  This creates synergy ensuring that the planned website is thoroughly researched, discussed and documented based on different expert opinions.  Let no stones go unturned! A project blueprint consists of your website broken down into modules with each module thoroughly discussed and planned as well as wireframes created for layout purposes.

Beyond the project blueprint, the further you can progress into your website project before engaging investors, the better.  The more you can provide, the better as it will build investor context and confidence.  If you can design half of the pages without investors, do it!  The more you have to show to them as “proof of concept” the better.  Ideally you will at least have the project blueprint, logo and web page designs ready so the only thing left would be coding, development and launch of the beta version.  Of course, if you can advance further into the project without their help, do it!

I do want to note that many people can only finance so much on their own so they may go with a lower quality firm for the work in order to have more proof of concept for investors.  Though sometimes building a lower quality, cheaper website to show its potential can work, it oftentimes backfires.  You know what they say, “put your best foot forward.”  If you have analyzed the market opportunity and are confident in your website, you should make every effort possible to ensure you can make a high quality site and afford to market it properly.  Otherwise, it could all be for moot. Additionally, if you go with a cheaper website build-out initially, it can backfire and cost you time and money later when it has to be rebuilt to scale.

Building your bench
Just a brief note here that every business person knows the importance of a CPA and lawyer.  Even if you can’t afford to use them that much, do some research and find a good CPA and a strong lawyer.  This can also make you look more prepared to investors, though they may end up requesting a new CPA or lawyer!

If you’re building a website, it’s also imperative to thoroughly research and find a solid web development company, Internet marketing company and hosting company.  These three vendors will become your allies in building out your dreams.  Keep this in mind when choosing them.

Finally, it’s a good idea to recruit a few advisors, even if you’re not forming a formal board for your company.  Find some solid and credible advisors to add credibility to your project and give you every shot at being successful.