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Guide 4. Is the Internet for my business?
The business plan (screen 3 of 10)
Include your website development in your business plan
Does your organisation have a business plan? If it doesn't it should have.
If it does, you will need to redevelop it if you intend to establish a presence on the Internet.
If you don't have one, you will need to develop one.
If you want help to develop a business plan, have a look at the 'Thinking of starting a business' section of the business.gov.au(1) site.
There are courses in business management which you could find out about
by contacting your local 
educational
institutions(2) or small business organisations.
The AusIndustry(3) site links Australia's government with business and has links on how to grow your small business(4).
Identify mission statement, objectives, goals, strategies
Your business plan should start with a mission statement which sets the broad objectives of your organisation.
Next, the specific goals of your organisation should be identified. They might include increasing the number of members of the public visiting on weekends, or reducing power consumption. But whatever goals you set, the specific strategies required to achieve them need to be identified.
Also, staff within the organisation should be aware of these goals and strategies.
You may find the checklist below a useful starting point. You may need to modify it to suit your particular needs.
Checklist for business plans
Most business plans suggest you do a SWOT analysis of your organisation - that is, evaluate your organisation's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In your SWOT analysis ask yourself the following:
Mission statement
- Do we have a mission statement?
Objectives
- Have we identified our specific objectives?
- Are all staff aware of these objectives?
- Are our current objectives being achieved?
- Has there been internal consultation about our objectives?
- Has there been external consultation about our objectives?
Strengths
- Have our strengths been identified?
- What are our strengths?
Weaknesses
- Have our weaknesses been identified?
- What are our weaknesses?
- Are we doing things we should not be doing?
- What are they?
- Are we not doing things we should be doing?
- What are they?
Opportunities
- What opportunities have not been exploited?
- Have our services and products been assessed for quality?
- What were the results of this assessment?
- Has an efficiency audit been completed?
Competitors
- Who are our main competitors?
- How does the competition differ from our organisation?
- Do we have something unique which gives us a competitive edge?
- Are there any threats to the organisation?
- What are these threats?
Assess the results of your analysis against the objectives in your business plan.
Quality assessment of your organisation
Step back from your organisation and look at it through the eyes of the public. Are the products and services you offer of the highest quality? Are they presented to the public in the most attractive manner? Be critical, even if you did prepare those displays yourself!
It is not only quality, but also efficiency that has to be addressed. You should be able to look at all aspects of your organisation and determine if there are ways you could achieve the same or better outcomes more effectively or efficiently.
Think about how the Internet could help you here in light of what you have discovered in earlier Guides. For example, could you use discussion lists and email as a way of keeping up with your specialist area rather than the way you do at present? Or could the Internet complement your present methods?
Checking your competition online
Who is your main competitor online? What are your other competitors doing? How does your competition differ from you? Do you have any competitive edge? Or do they? Remember, too, that the online community is a global one.
Checking out your market
An important aspect of deciding who is the competition lies in determining where your market is. Who are they? What are their characteristics? Are they changing?
From time to time you need to factor in an assessment of your market or audience. You may be able to utilise your website for online surveys and publicise it through your email newsletter.
Whatever you do, your website planning process is a part of your organisation's general business development process.
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References
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