August 19, 2008
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Funding Your Online Business
If your online site is a component of your brick and
mortar business, that's one thing. When your online site IS your
business, that's something else entirely.
The hardest part about funding online businesses is that
there are really no "norms". There are so many millions of sites
on the web -- most of which have little or no financial reporting --
that it is impossible to create averages for the industry.
This wouldn't be a problem except that bankers like
averages. They like to know that your business will fit
comfortably within those averages. When you cannot provide those
averages, and the bank can't find them, it is unlikely that banking will
be your funding source.
While you still won't have any norms
to provide, you can provide them with other information, such as
- Total potential viewer pool;
- Keyword search results;
- Google payment for particular search terms; and
- Analysis of advertising from competing sites.
This is substantial information.
Get a copy of one of the
Unique Business
Plans, and study the financial section. You will find strong
guidance on what it will cost to start your business. Combine that
with the anticipated advertising revenue, and you will be well on your
way to creating a very strong financial presentation.
Also check out some of the sample business plans in that
package. There are a number of plans for online businesses.
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