Website Writing - Assess Your Web Site Services and Programs Page, and Create a Rewrite Action Plan

This is a website assessment for the content you should include on your Services and Programs page of your business website. Every web site built by a service provider inevitably includes at least one page describing a service or program. Make sure that this page "does the job" for you since it is likely a primary reason that you have a web site.

1. Does your Services and Programs page completely describe a service or program so that a prospect understands everything about it? Often, we don't want to "take the trouble" to completely describe our service or program in writing. This could either be from laziness or failure to understand the necessity. Don't expect a prospect to buy from you without having full information.

2. Does your Services and Programs page answer all the questions a prospect might have? Your objective is to leave your prospects with all the answers they need to know in order to decide to buy. As prospects ask you questions, incorporate those answers into your web copy.

3. Does your Services and Programs page leave the prospect crystal clear on what they would be buying -- without confusion? If your services or program page leaves a prospect confused about any aspect of what you offer, it's very likely they will decide "no", and move on, looking for the solutions to their problem elsewhere. Be sure you clear up anything potentially confusing.

4. Does your Services and Programs page take the prospect "by the hand" and guide them through every detail of your service or program? Make a prospect feel "safe" by giving them a personal guided tour of your service or program. Pretend you're showing a friend around. How would you demonstrate all the details and in what sequence would you describe the process?

5. Does your Services and Programs page create a feeling of trust and trustworthiness? Give enough information that there is no feeling of mystery or ambiguity. Don't do anything "tricky", or imagine that being less than straightforward is smart business. Take the approach that your prospects are smart and be trustworthy with them.

6. Is your Services and Programs page free of "secretiveness" or opaqueness? Don't make the mistake of using too much "salesmanship" or hype or hiding facts of your services or program. Take the approach that hiding or equivocating will only trigger suspicion and avoidance among your prospects. Don't allow that to happen.

7. Does your Services and Programs page have an open, honest, clear and unexaggerated tone? If you truly want to connect with your prospects, be sincere, open, and honest. There are plenty of "hypesters" and con artists in the business world. Don't even take the chance of getting lumped in with them.

8. Does your Services and Programs page take a friendly, buddy-over-coffee approach? If you were talking to a friend over coffee and describing your services or programs, what would you say? How would you communicate? What would you say differently and how would you say it?

9. Does your Services and Programs page detail the process of your service or program step by step? You need to describe each step of your service or program. Tell what happens when and the sequence of steps. "Connect the dots" for them so that the process is totally clear.

10. Does your Services and Programs page take the time to detail everything about that service or program so that the prospect is fully informed? Be sure that you do not leave out any information and that you explain everything a prospect needs to know. Often we become so entrenched that we fail to realize prospects don't know all that we know. Be complete. Ask others to review the page to see that they understand -- and more importantly, don't understand. Incorporate any missing information.

11. Does your Services and Programs page take the attitude that you are helping the prospect to make a buying decision? Rather than doing a sales "number", give them the information they need to know to buy. Don't make it hard for them to decide "yes".

12. Does your Services and Programs page stay focused on the client's perspective -- not yours? What's in it for them? Don't waste this page telling them how great you are. Describe what they can get out of your service or program. Tell them how their life will be improved.

13. Is your Services and Programs page free of technical jargon only understood by others in your profession? Don't use the language you learned when gaining your technical skills. If you need to explain a word or concept, it is probably too complicated for this web page. If the terminology concept or verbiage is only understood by your professional peers, don't use it.

14. Do your Services and Programs have memorable names? It's like naming a sports car. You want the name to be memorable, meaningful, and sound attractive and appealing -- and make prospects want it.

15. Does your Services and Programs page tell the prospect what they need to do during the process? If the prospect has to do certain actions or perform in certain ways to succeed, make that clear. Let them know what your successful clients have contributed to their own success and how they've helped produce their great results.

16. Does your Services and Programs page clearly detail all the benefits prospects can expect to receive? What benefits can prospects expect to get from your services or program? Make these very real world and compelling. Describe as if from the viewpoint of your clients who have already benefited.

17. Does your Services and Programs page describe all the deliverables included, both tangible (books, CD's, MP3's) and non-tangible (seminars, sessions, coaching)? What will they get when they sign up for your services or program? When will they get it? How will they get it? What are the details of the deliverables?

18. Does your Services and Programs page give complete details about the kinds of results they can expect to get? People buy results. What results have your clients commonly gotten? What results can your prospects expect? Are there qualifiers on those results? Give the full picture of results and don't hold back.

19. Does your Services and Programs page include a Call to Action, suggesting what you want prospects to do next? Let them know how to sign up or call you to get started. Give them specific actions to take and make it clear what you want them to do.

When you've finished this assessment, you should have a detailed list to guide you in writing or rewriting your Services and Programs page. Get to work!

Suzi Elton provides business writing that attracts targeted prospects to your service business and converts them into clients for you. She is a Robert Middleton Certified Action Plan Marketing Coach, as well as a professional writer. Her website offers a free series of 8 assessments you can use to analyze your own site.

To learn about her Robert Middleton style Web Site Tool Kit Writing Package, go to http://www.wowfactorwriting.com/services/web-site-tool-kit-package/

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Writing a Business Plan - The Only Guide You Will Ever Need

Do you want your business to succeed? Of course you do. Every business looking to succeed would be wise to take a little time to create a business plan. This important document will help you in any stage of business from start up to expansion to financing a new product or idea. Writing a business plan can help your business to increase its chances of success which is especially helpful during these difficult financial times.

Writing a business plan will be a lot of work. However, you will find that the process is not that difficult once you get started. One of the most difficult parts of writing a business plan is just getting started. Of course, having some tips and guidelines to follow can be especially useful. Here are some ideas to help you as you write your business plan.

What Do I Need To Include?

Your business plan needs to demonstrate that you know what you are doing and that you understand your business. Generally this knowledge and information is broken into distinct sections. This helps you to keep your business plan organized and easy to write. Lets look at each of the nine sections in a little more depth.

Executive Summary

Since your executive summary leads your business plan, it is important that you carefully construct this first section. In fact, the executive summary is so important that it is placed directly after the title page, even before the table of contents. Many find that writing this key section works best when completed last. The executive summary serves as a synopsis of all the sections of the business plan. If you wait until the end, you will be better able to write a cohesive and complete executive summary.

Within the executive summary, you will include your company mission statement. This mission statement should not be long, probably about four sentences in length, but should be carefully instructed. Many say that the mission statement is the most important part of the overall business plan.

Since your mission statement is only a few pages long, your executive summary will allow you to further expand upon key points mentioned in the mission statement. Consider including your business history, biographies of key players, an overview of the business including locations, employees and available products and services. You can also discuss goals and future plans. Use this section to really draw in the readers.

Many find that a bulleted format is ideal for this section. This section should be easy to read and scan so that potential investors can easily get an overview of your business. The biggest mistake that many make is including too much information. Make sure that your information only encompasses one or two pages.

Market Analysis

In the second section of your business plan, you will cover the analysis of your specific market. During this section you will showcase your business' ability to succeed. Success is dependent upon accurate and complete market analysis. This section will show that you have done your research. Use this section to sell your business to potential investors. Show them how your business can succeed.

Thoroughly cover your business' market. Talk about your industry and use specific details to support your statements. Details like industry size, growth rate and customer group will help you showcase your business. Include as many details as possible. Do not fill this section with generalized information. Make sure it is industry and business specific.

In this section you should also include the results of any market research studied that your company has completed. Also briefly discuss your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses. You may want to cover how your services will appeal to customers more than your competitors.

Detailed Description of the Company

After showcasing how your business can succeed in your specific market, it is time to illustrate a comprehensive picture of your business. Cover in detail your business including information regarding the type of business, the target market and how you can meet their needs and distinguishing factors that make your business unique.

Remember that each section in your business plan will overlap. This means that you may cover information more than once as you move from section to section. This is okay. Your business plan may be considered as a whole or may be viewed as individual sections. This means that each section must include all key information. Don't neglect including important information simply because you feel it has been covered in other sections.

Organization Structure/Management

This section will detail specific information regarding your staff and executive positions. Cover how your company will divide work. Who will do what jobs? How does your business management structure work? Include biographies of key business personnel including owners, board of directors, management and other company executives. You should also discuss employee compensation and benefits.

In this section you will demonstrate your company's ability to succeed through your management plan. Additionally you will help investors to realize your company's potential as far as an employer is concerned. Investors know that good, long lasting employees can help your business to succeed. Therefore they are looking for strong and effective management as well as the ability to retain and inspire employees.

Marketing

How are you going to get the word out about your business? In this section, you will detail your plan. You can also discuss how your marketing strategy will lead to growth. Be complete and detailed in your plan.

Product and Service Offerings

This section may sound like a simple list of your available products or services. While this is one aspect, there is other information that needs to be included in this section. For each service detail the specific benefits of the products and services you offer. Discuss the advantages you have over your competitors with a specific focus on products and services. Also discuss how you can expand your product and services offering as time goes on.

Funding Request/Requirements

A business plan is often a tool used to help your business secure needed funding. If this is the case, make sure you include a funding request in your business plan. Be specific. Remember that potential investors need a thorough understanding of your requests so that they can make a decision about whether or not to approve your request. Be sure that you include the following information:

• What you need immediately in terms of funding

• Funding needs over the next several years

• How the money will be spent (be specific)

• Do you want loans, investors, partners, etc?

• How you plan to repay the loan

Financial Statement

This section is often carefully considered by potential investors. It helps investors to determine the financial solvency of your company. You will not just discuss your current financial state. In this section you will cover your financial past, your current state and your goals for the future. Include income statements over the last several years, balance sheets (both prior and projected), projections and available collateral.

It can be especially effective to include charts and graphs to better illustrate your financial plan. Including graphs and charts will help investors see the growth potential for your business and will make them more likely to approve your loan. Remember that the amount of funding desired must be in accordance with your financial projections. Investors want a return on their investment and will not invest more that they will get back.

Other Information

At this point you may feel that you have covered everything. However, there is probably other information that you want to include that couldn't fit into one of the previous sections. This is the place where you will include it. You may want to list specific details in this section and then reference them in the other sections. This will keep your business plan from being cluttered with extensive details and information. Many business plans include items such as: credit reports, letters of recommendation, licensing and patent information, legal documentation, executive resumes and a list of business associates including your lawyer, accountant and business consultant.

Getting Started

You may be feeling overwhelmed at this point by the wealth of information you need to include in your business plan. Make sure you use an easy to read format. This means that you should definitely utilize headings, bullets and lists. Focus your writing to your audience. If the purpose of the business plan is getting a business loan, make sure your writing conveys this message.

How Long Should My Business Plan Be?

Try to keep your business plan between 20 and 40 pages. This may sound like an unachievable task. However, much of the finished length will be encompassed by formatting. Using bullet points, lists, charts and pictures will not only make your business plan more effective, they will help your business plan to be longer as well.

As you create your business plan, tailor your presentation to a busy professional. Assume that they will only spend 10-20 minutes perusing your plan. Make sure that you thoroughly sell your idea, needs and business during this brief time period. Further attract your audience using clear formatting, easy to read content, well thought out wording and correct spelling and grammar.

Jason Kay recommends using business plan software to assist in writing your business plan. You can read business plan software reviews to compare features and cost of the top packages to find the best one for you.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Writing a Business Plan - A How-To Guide

Lots of people want to start their own business. One of the first things that stops these would-be entrepreneurs from realizing their ambitions is the seemingly daunting task of writing a business plan. Writing a business plan, though, is a rather easy task if you understand your business, so let's take a look at what a business plan entails.

Before we jump into drafting our business plan, we should think about why we are writing a business plan in the first place. Most business plans are used to secure financing for a business - whether it be a start-up or an existing company looking for additional capital. This financing could come from a bank, an equity or venture capital fund, friends, family or just about any other potential investor you could think of.

Another reason to write a business plan is to organize yourself, make sure you have thought through all the components of your business and make sure that it makes sense. A great idea for a product or service may not amount to a great business unless you can turn a profit through effective marketing, management of expenses, management of accounting and information systems, etc.

Things to Keep in Mind

As you write your business plan, keep in mind that your audience - whether you're currently looking for financing or not - is likely to be a potential investor. You need to communicate to investors that your company understands its business and has thought through all the risks, challenges and opportunities involved in its industry.

To communicate this understanding to investors, you should try to provide sufficient detail about your business to demonstrate your knowledge. For example, you could write something like this: "According to the ABC Trade Association, profit margins for our industry average around 25%. With the procedures we have put in place, our business can achieve 30% margins due to the increase in our operational efficiency."

There is no hard and fast rule for where or how you should add these kind of details, but using them will improve your credibility as a company.

You should also pay attention to your writing style. There is nothing to be gained by using fancy vocabulary or flowery language. In fact, such writing may cause your audience to lose sight of your business. Instead, you should write clearly and to the point so potential investors have a clear understanding of how you run your business.

The Outline

So with these ideas in mind, how should we structure our business plan? Below is one example of how a business plan can be structured. This outline contains the most commonly-used sections of a business plan but is by no means exhaustive of the areas that a particular business might need to cover.

Executive Summary

Business Highlights

Operational Overview

Market Overview

Management & Personnel

Financials

Appendix

The executive summary of your business plan should be a two to four page summary of your business plan. It should touch briefly on each area that is contained in the rest of plan and give the reader a good sense of your business even if they don't have time to read the rest of the document. You may also want to touch briefly on the history of your company and its mission and values in this section.

Hitting the Highlights

Next it's good to jump into the business highlights section. This section discusses what sets your business apart and what will lead to its success. You may want to highlight the experience of your management team, discuss the strength of your position in the market or any other factors that make your business competitive.

You may want to follow this section with a discussion of risk factors coupled with how your business mitigates or addresses these risks. Discussing risks is another opportunity to demonstrate that you understand the business and industry that you're in.

Getting Down to Business

The next section is a discussion of the operations of your company. The operational overview is usually the longest section of a business plan and usually covers the business strategy, marketing strategy, the product or service offering, management and information systems and any other components that are important to the operations of the business.

An industry or market overview is also a helpful section to have. It will give potential investors who are not familiar with your particular industry or market a better sense of the environment in which you operate.

This section may include demographic information for the market where you sell your products or services. It may include a discussion of the regulatory or legal environment for your industry. You can also include some general statistics on the industry from a credible source such as a trade association. This will lend credibility to some of the assumptions in your financial projections in the next section.

The Bottom Line

One of the last sections in a business plan is usually the financial projections. Ironically, this section might be the section you want to start with when writing your business plan. Building a financial model for your business is one of the best ways to make sure that you've thought through all the basic components of your business and that it will eventually make money.

You'll have to ask yourself several questions in the process: What are my start-up costs? How will my marketing strategy translate into revenue growth? What are my gross margins? What are my fixed costs and overhead? When will I break even? How much money will I need to raise to get started? What will my interest expenses be?

Your financial projects should consist of income statements and balance sheets. A good rule of thumb for a start-up is to show monthly income statements and balance sheets for the first two years of operations and then full-year projections for at least the first five years of operations. Depending on how long it takes your business to reach a break-even point, you may want to go out to ten years.

In addition to these financial projections, your financial section should include a discussion of your assumptions, an estimate of when your business will begin to turn a profit, key margins that you believe your business will achieve, etc. If your business is already up and running, you should include the past three years of financials instead of projections. If you have less than three years of data, you may want to forecast a few years out as well.

Finally, you may want to include an appendix where you can share additional data. You may want to add a few news articles here that highlight how quickly the economy in your market is growing. You may have some news articles on your business itself. Perhaps you have financial statements for multiple business locations that would provide more detail about your business.

How Long Should It Be?

The length of a business plan may vary depending on the type of business that it is, whether or not the business is already operating and what the business plan is to be used for. Some businesses may need a lot of technical description in order to effectively communicate how they will operate - and others are more simple.

Businesses that are already operating will be expected to provide a lot more details about their business such as the kind of accounting software they use, where their company is physically located, pictures of products or facilities, actual financial results, etc.

If a company is simply trying to organize its business and is not looking for investors, they may be able to get away with less details in their plan - although they may seek to dive into greater detail than investors might need.

A typical start-up business plan should probably run about 15-20 pages, though depending on the circumstances mentioned above, it could run a little shorter or quite a bit longer.

Setting Yourself Apart

On a final note, if you're going to start your own business, you are going pro - and you should act like it. By all means, make your business plan looks professional. It should go without saying, but carefully read and edit your plan several times before sharing it with outside parties.

You may want to consider developing a logo for your company if you don't have one already. Use pictures of your company or the products that it sells to break up the text of the document and engage the reader.

Again, these may seem like minor details, but sometimes a business plan may be the primary document a bank underwriter might have to go on as he or she is evaluating the credit quality of a loan application.

Having these details in place helps to communicate that you are serious about your business and that your business plan was not just something that you threw together a few days before because you needed it for a loan application. Know your business (or research it well), be as detailed as possible and present your company professionally, and you will have a solid business plan.

For a business plan template, visit Finance Ocean.

Or try taking a finance quiz!

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Ten Important Things to Think About When Writing a Business Plan

1. Whether you are raising money, borrowing it, or financing a new business yourself, you should force yourself to put into writing a detailed business plan for what you have in mind. Without one, you most likely will be unsuccessful at obtaining money. With one you can guide yourself and your management team through the entire start-up process in an organized and successful manner. That being said, having a written business plan is a must.

2. If you are raising money for your business, you should first carefully think about who potentially will be providing the funds to start the business. For example, if you are hoping to borrow from a bank, your plan should clearly address the risks involved in the business with emphasis on the new business's ability to pay back any loans obtained. If you are soliciting funds from investors or venture capitalists, your plan should emphasize the business's growth potential and it's subsequent return on invested capital. At every step of the way, you should be conscious of writing FOR and TO the targeted reader of your business plan.

3. Making a detailed outline of what you have in mind is probably the most important thing you can do before you actually start writing your plan. Take your time and give your outline a lot of thought. Organize your thoughts in simple phrases or sentences and number and letter each phrase or sentence. Break down big topics into smaller, detailed lists of specific things that must be researched or said. Composing a detailed outline can be tedious, but don't slack off on this crucial part of the process. Writing from a carefully written outline will give your business plan a definite beginning, middle, and end.

4. A business plan will achieve its objectives only if it is credible. Credibility is established by the people who will be involved in the venture and how various verifiable facts and statistics are used to support the proposed business idea. The industry or market niche in which the business will compete must be extensively researched. So too must the targeted customers of the business be analyzed and discussed. Much effort should be expended to thoroughly research these subjects by using information found in libraries, on the Internet, and from companies with pertinent databases for sale.

Another source of credible information can be obtained by interviewing industry experts, suppliers, competitors, and even potential customers themselves. The depth of knowledge and insight that can be conveyed in the business plan as a result of thorough research will go far to solidify the needed aura of credibility. Remember to keep track of where you sourced your information so that it can be properly footnoted in your business plan. Footnotes add to credibility.

5. Be organized from the start. You will be surprised at how much information you can collect in a very short period of time. It is imperative that you collect and organize your information in a manner that conforms with your outline. Set up labeled files at the onset. Have a separate, secure place to store them. Plan up front how you will collect and organize information gathered from the Internet on your computer. And don't just copy information from the Internet.

Keep track of the addresses from where the information came, in the likely event that you may want to revisit some sites for clarification or additional information. It sounds old fashioned, but keep paper and pen on your person and on your nightstand at all times. Write down every fleeting thought that comes into your head. In the busy pursuit of information, it's easy to forget an idea that popped into your head the day before or in the middle of the night.

6. The body of the business plan must contain the usual descriptive elements such as a clear statement of the business, the planned marketing strategies, a thorough analysis of the competition, a description of operational procedures, an honest list of perceived risks, and other written sections pertinent to the business idea. But what will set your business plan apart from others will be the insertion of a "compelling reason" why your business idea is unique. To just say "this business is different and therefore it will be successful" probably will be ignored or discounted by a sophisticated reader.

But if you build a story through the presentation of your researched facts and take the reader to a logical point where the uniqueness or cleverness of you business idea becomes apparent, he will be more than receptive to your idea when you state the "compelling reason" why your business idea is truly unique and will work. You will have drawn him in and captured his imagination. The "compelling reason" will make him receptive to all the other positive attributes your business idea represents.

7. The financial statements you include in your business plan should span three years with Year 1 broken down into 12 months and Years 2 & 3 broken down into quarters. They should contain both profit and loss and cash flow statements. Two important elements you should include in the financial section of your business plan is a clear statement of the assumptions that underlay your projected numbers and the obvious use of a conservative approach in projecting those numbers. Be thoughtful in your assumptions. Make them easy for your reader to understand. Base them on facts gleaned from your research that appear elsewhere in your business plan. Always take the lower side of any range of figures.

The important thing is for the numbers to work ie payoff the loans or give a reasonable return on investment. Bankers and investors are not impressed by big, optimistic numbers. They see them all the time. They are usually persuaded by that "compelling reason" why the business has a good chance of succeeding and reassured that the projected numbers are achievable because they are obviously conservative. Let their imaginations take your financial projections to higher, exciting levels on their own time.

8. Your business plan should contain detailed resumes of the principal people who will be involved in and/or running the new business. The resume section is often the second place venture capitalists go when they pick up a business plan. They first read the executive summary to get a general idea of what the business is all about, and then they go to the resume section to see who the players are. If they don't see competent, proven people with direct, related industry experience, they often discard the business plan right then and there. So be thoughtful on who you bring into the business and carefully design their resumes to highlight past experience and accomplishments that directly relate to your proposed business idea.

9. The Executive Summary should appear as the first section of your business plan and should be the last section you write. It is a synopsis of the business idea you have already carefully organized and written. It should give a broad overview of what the idea is, and should, in a page or two, give the reader a clear understanding of what the proposed business specifically does, into what industry it falls, what broad economic climate and competitive conditions exist within that industry, and what general elements of the business idea give the proposed business a chance of being successful.

It should contain summary figures on the return on investment or the loan payback. The Executive Summary is the first section the reader will examine so take your time with it, be concise and comprehensive, and consider it to be almost like an advertisement for your business idea. It should have a ton of optimism as opposed to the factual and objective tone you want the rest of your business plan sections to have. The Executive Summary is often the only shot you have at capturing the reader's attention, so be thoughtful when writing it.

Remember, most venture capitalists and bankers have stacks of business plans filling their offices waiting to be read. Often junior members of the firm are given the task of doing the initial sort before a plan will reach the eyes of a decision making partner or officer. The person who first reads your Executive Summary thus has the power to reject your proposal but usually not the power to approve it. He only passes it on, and if the Executive Summary can catch his eye and make him read further, it's done its job.

10. Subconscious impressions are very important to the success of a business plan document. How the document is organized, what type style is selected, the sparing use of italics or bold type, how varying paragraph indentations are used all make for either a positive or negative impression. Misspelled words are death as are serious violations of the proper use of grammar. Short concise sentences will communicate better than long rambling ones. Your objective is produce a professional looking and reading document that clearly communicates that you and your team are professionals and thus know what you are talking about.

Pass your draft business plan by people you respect and have them proof read it and critique it. Determine if they clearly understand the points described in it. If they don't, go back to the drawing board and rewrite the sections in question. Take a lot of time on this final review and edit process. It is the last and probably most important step you can take for creating a successful business plan.

John Seiferth
http://johnseiferth.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Serious About Writing A Business Plan... Start A Business Plan Library

Tap these treasures of ideas. The best money you can spend

is money invested in your business plan education. Don't

shortchange yourself when it comes to investing in your

dream. Start gathering samples of business plans and collect

business plan books and get a business plan library started,

it can change your future. Here's what your library needs to

show: that you're a serious student of business strategy and

planning, finance and economics, selling, and writing.

Sample Business Plans

Start by gathering sample business plans. Look at the annual

reports and S-1s, S-4s, 10ks, or 10Qs filed with the

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of companies in

your industry. See how they present their case, explain

their business, and discuss their industry and competition.

What exactly are these forms and how do you get them? Good

question.

These are forms that public companies must file with the SEC

in order to register their securities or to maintain the registration

of previously registered securities with the SEC. You can find

these forms by going to http://www.sec.gov, clicking on the Edgar

database, and searching for a public company in your industry.

The key is to find the most helpful filings. These are the ones

labeled S-1, S-4, 10K, and 10Q. They usually contain

descriptions of the business, its products, industry, competitors

and strategies. Sections that should sound familiar to you if you

are planning to write a business plan.

Go to these sections and read how the company presents their

business and its products. Look at how they describe the industry

and their competitors. I encourage you to read as many filings in

your industry as possible. See what the "big guys" are saying, the

issues, challenges, and trends they see in the industry and how

they're attacking them.

Be careful though about mimicking what they write. Many of these

documents are written in legalese despite the SEC's protestations

and push for plain English. Just remember, you're doing this

exercise to see how other companies have built their case to

business investors.

Another approach is to gather and read professionally

written business plans of companies in your industry and use

them as guides to prepare your plan. Try to avoid generic

business plan templates. They're too general and often not

worth the investment. Either way. Start filling your

business plan library with business plans and registration

statements. Keep them close by and refer to them often as

you write your business plan.

Strategy

Now, here's a good book to start your business plan library

with. It's called: Competitive Strategy by Michael Porter.

In this landmark book, Competitive Strategy, Porter shows

you how to identify the forces that drive competition in

your industry. Learn what moves your competitors are likely

to make within it. Competitive Strategy provides a framework

for evaluating the competitive alternatives you must

consider and for thinking about how to change the rules of

the marketplace in your favor. Competitive Strategy is the

bible venture capitalist, investment bankers, and business

development executives use when analyzing an industry or

business venture. I use this book as the centerpiece of my

business plan library. So I'm just asking you to take a look

at Competitive Strategy by Michael Porter. If it suits you

fine, if it doesn't suit you, keep looking till you find

something that helps you understand strategy.

Opening your mind to strategic alternatives is a creative

process. You can never have too many books on strategy in

your business plan library. Read as much as you can to learn

why some companies can sell their products more cheaply than

others. Why others provide the best products...products that

are just far superior to their competition. And, why some

companies just always seem to provide unmatched service.

Fill your business plan library with business books that

inspire, challenge and answer these questions. Read. Read.

Read. And, study too. Find out how some companies are

reinventing competition in their markets and obtaining

funding while others are seemingly oblivious to the changing

world around them.

Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema set out to find answers to

these types of questions in their book The Discipline of

Market Leaders. Although the authors won't appreciate this

comment, I found the underlying fundamentals in The

Discipline of Market Leaders to closely parallel those laid

out by Porter in Competitive Strategy. Perhaps that's why I

like it so much. The difference, however, is that they

present their material in a less academic, more engaging

way. And, they provide excellent case studies that are sure

to generate many aha's! The Discipline of Market Leaders

will make you think about what it is your company or new

venture does better than anyone else; what unique value do

you provide to your customers? How will you continually

increase that value? If you can't easily answer these

questions about your business, The Discipline of Market

Leaders is required reading and a must for your business

plan library. The business owners and entrepreneurs that can

answer these questions are not only raising the value bar in

their industries, they're raising capital for their

businesses!

Finance and Economics

Be sure to keep your business plan library well balanced...

Let me give you a sense of that balance. First is finance

and economics. We all have got to have a sense of how to

make money...the universal laws of business success, no

matter whether you are selling fruit from a stand or running

a Fortune 500 company. Finance and economics are the basic

building blocks of business. Your business plan library

needs a few books on the numbers. When you understand the

basics of finance and economics its possible to bringing the

most complex business down to the fundamentals. You become

empowered to focus on the basics and make money from your

venture.

Here's a good book to help you in this area: What the CEO

Wants You to Know by Ram Charan. What the CEO Wants You to

Know captures the basics of finance and economics and

explains in clear, simple language how to do what great

business owners and entrepreneurs do instinctively and

persistently. Charan explains the basic building blocks of

business and how to use them to figure out how your company

can, does, or will make money and operate as a total

business. Learn how to use these building blocks to cut

through the clutter of day-to-day business and the

complexity of the real world. What the CEO Wants You to Know

by Ram Charan. This little book is only a 137 pages: but I'm

telling you, it's so well written you'll be as intrigued as

I was. What the CEO Wants You to Know by Ram Charan. Get it

for your business plan library.

Writing

Next is writing. You have to be able to get your thoughts

down on paper. Businessese, academese, legalese - all appear

too often in business plans. Often preventing a

knowledgeable writer with good intensions to fail at getting

the message across to an intelligent, interested reader. For

some reason, when people write business plans they are

compelled to write "commence" and "prior to" instead of

"begin" and "before." If you want to write an effective

business plan, your business plan library must have books on

how to be an effective writer.

Start with Edward Baily; he wrote a surprisingly

straightforward book called The Plain English Approach to

Business Writing. This book, The Plain English Approach to

Business Writing, is about writing as you would talk, which

not only makes your writing easier to read, it's also makes

it easier to write. In a brief, entertaining 124 pages Baily

clearly lays out the dos and don'ts of plan English,

illustrating them with examples drawn from business

documents, technical manuals, trade publications, and the

works of writers like Russell Baker and John D. MacDonald.

The Plain English Approach to Business Writing offers

practical advice on clarity, precision, organization,

layout, and many other topics. Best of all, you can read it

an hour...and use it for the rest of your life.

But writing well is only a part of writing. A good business

plan must be persuasive. Listen carefully to what I just

said: persuasive. Not misleading or untruthful, but

persuasive.

Here's a book you need to look at Persuading on Paper. How's

that for a title? Persuading on Paper by Marcia Yudkin.

Yudkin is a writing consultant who coaches small-business

owners and professionals on improving their marketing

materials. In a witty and vivid style, Persuading on Paper

shows you how to use the written word to convert strangers

to prospects to paying customers (or in our case,

investors). What I like about this book is that Yudkin takes

you step-by-step through the process of creating marketing

materials that sell. Don't underestimate the power of

marketing copy in your business plan. You'll be surprised

how her methods and strategies can help create a more

powerful business plan. Persuading on Paper is a must-have

for anyone who wants to attract more clients, customers, or

investors.

Raising Capital

Next is an understanding of the process of obtaining

capital. No business plan library would be complete without

a book on the process of raising capital. Without capital

your venture is destined for failure. You need to learn how

to select the right venture capital firm, make

presentations, and negotiate your deal.

Try this book: The Venture Capital Handbook by David

Gladstone. As an executive officer at Allied Capital

Corporation, a large publicly-owned, venture capital firm in

the United States, David has reviewed many proposals for

venture capital financing. The Venture Capital Handbook

takes you through the entire process from presentation

through negotiations, commitment letters, legal closings,

due diligence, the exit by the venture capital company, to

when the entrepreneur is left to own it all. As a result,

The Venture Capital Handbook provides anyone who wants to

spend the time and money with an insight into what venture

capitalists really want. Prepare for the process of raising

venture capital with The Venture Capital Handbook.

Selling

Finally, study the art of selling. Like it or not, when you

are trying to start a business venture or raise money for

your business you have to sell investors on why they should

invest with you. It's like a rite of passage. But fast

talking salesmanship won't raise the money you need for your

business. You need an approach that respects the power of

the investor...one that builds a relationship with investors.

So, fill your business plan library with books on selling

and presenting.

Here's a book to try: Socratic Selling by Kevin Daley with

Emmett Wolfe. Socratic Selling as the title implies, uses

the Socratic Method: "A method of teaching or discussion, as

used by Socrates, in which one asks a series of easily

answered questions which inevitably lead the answerer to a

logical conclusion" (Webster's Unabridged). Dalely's

concise, easy-to-follow chapters explain how to open a sales

dialogue and go right to the heart of the matter. Socratic

Selling is a fun and informative 162 pages for those of us

who believe selling means talking with, not at, investors.

Study these techniques; they can make you more effective

with potential investors.

If you are serious about writing your business plan...show it.

Start a business plan library that shows you are a serious

student of business plans. Fill it with business plans,

public filings and annual reports of businesses in your

industry. Stay away from those generic business plan

templates. They are too general. And, Read, read, read and

study too about strategy, finance, economics, writing, selling,

and how to raise capital. Spend the money. Buy the books. The

reward can be great...a funded business plan.

Mike Elia is a chief financial officer and an advisor to venture capitalists and leverage buyout specialists. To learn more about writing business plans and raising capital or to tap into the world's largest business plan library with over 900 industry specific business plans, visit http://www.business-plan-secrets-revealed.com - Business Plan Secrets Revealed.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

7 Secrets For Writing Effective Website Content

Forget everything you’ve ever learned about writing when it comes to generating copy for your blog or website, kick punctuation and sentence structure out of your house and set fire to all of the pictures of you and it together in effigy, write a nasty bold typed and grammatically inferior e-mail to your high school English teacher and take a baseball bat to the grammar check on your word processor if it tries to give you any guff. Because the truth of the matter is, when it comes to writing effective Internet content…the rules have decidedly changed. I used to be a copywriter before I came to rest here in the hallowed halls of Wpromote. I’ve written more convincing blogs on topics that nobody cares about than I desire to remember. But over the course of my tenure as a professional wordsmith, I learned some essential tips on how to generate copy for websites, and today I would like to share my 7 secret tips for writing effective Internet marketing content.

1. KISS: Perhaps you are familiar with this acronym, or perhaps you are just a massive Gene Simmons fan, either way you know the value of the lowest common denominator (anyone who has every heard Paul Stanley sing can attest to that.) KISS stands for: keep it simple…stupid. As copywriters writing for a website, it is our job to craft a message that will be easily digestible for all visitors to a site regardless of their reading comprehension level. For example, if your website is about real estate, don’t expect to dazzle your readers by using a bunch of industry terms and insider acronyms…when you use that language, you’re much more likely to scare the customer off to the next real estate broker’s website. The one where the copy looks like it was written by a sixth grader without a lot of friends. But guess which one of you is going to be selling a house? Keep it simple, and I guarantee you will have a noticeable boost in your conversion almost overnight.

2. Keywords: We all know how valuable keywords are when it come to search engine optimization, but the majority of people who dive into writing their own website content aren’t really sure where start when using keywords to maximize both search index and general readability. The beginners guide to SEO recommends that the keyword density of a single term in a single blog be anywhere between 1% and 5%. Generally, this translates into using your keywords once in the title, once in the first paragraph, twice in the second and once in the last sentence. Any more than that and your page will start to read like a thesaurus barfed on it. If you are given a choice between writing content to attract a search engine and writing content that someone is actually going to want to read…pick the latter option. The whole function of copywriting is as a method for writing to attract customers…and search engines don’t have wallets.

3. Bold Type/Punctuation/Bullet Points: I call these little syntactic beauties the “the big three tools” of the Internet marketing copywriter’s toolbox, and I exploit them one and all with equal abandon. People will not “read” what is written on a website unless they came there specifically looking for that exact product. People will scan. Therefore, it is essential to make your keywords and call to action stand out! Embolden the main points and keywords that your article is about. Use punctuation…for emphasis!

• Bullet


• Points


• Are


• Your


• Best


• Friends

Fragment sentences are awesome. They get the job done. Like this one. And this one. And even this one!

• If you can use bold type, punctuation and bullet points together effectively…then you can officially consider yourself a qualified Internet marketing copy ninja!

4. Negative Space/Paragraphs: Let your copy breathe. What you don’t write on the page is sometimes almost as effective as what you do write. Less is very often more when it comes to website content. The best practice for balancing the copy on a page is to write out what you are going to say on your site, preview it, and then take five literal steps away from your monitor and look at your content holistically. If the paragraphs look lop-sided and the bold type is too concentrated and the margins are off from five paces away…then it’s going to look even worse when you actually challenge someone to read it while they are sitting at their computer. Balance your paragraphs with plenty of breathing room and allow your words the opportunity to look as nice as they read and you will get results.

5. Headers: Effective use of headings on your page and blog is another SEO 101 trick that every content writer must have down cold if they expect to show up in the SERPS. The HTML protocol for creating headers on a web page entails placing the phrase you want to use as a heading between the opening header tag and closing header tag . Headings are ranked in importance (essentially from most important header to least important) from

through

. Header usage is essential for SEO…but it is equally essential for the actual reader. Headers give the eye something big to rest upon.  Use keywords in your headers to snag those eyes before they click off your page, forever lost in the ether of the rest of the Internet.

6. Lists: Using lists to organize your ideas and attract readers is one of the dirtiest tricks in the book when it comes to generating web content. Think about it, how many times have you clicked on a link simply because it was purportedly to an article about “the Top Five Uses for Floor Wax in Rio De Janeiro” or “Eight Reasons You Should Poke a Beagle in the Face With a Spoon”…? You’ve done it…admit it…it’s no secret…I’ve done it too. Lists speak to a higher human desire to read structured content. Lists make people feel secure in clicking your link; they also effectively arouse our human curiosity. If you don’t believe me, honestly ask yourself whether or not you are now curious to know what the top five uses for floor wax in Rio De Janeiro actually are…see my point?

7. Style: If you’ve made it this far into my tirade on internet marketing copy, it is not because you think I possess some sort of sage wisdom that no one else possesses…I simply do not. I spent countless hours writing words and honing a distinct style of voice on the Internet so that I may effectively sell the products that I was being paid to write about. And over that time I discovered that the content that gets the most consistent conversion on a website is not that which is laden with facts or figures or written by some authority, but the content that would bring a customer into the room with me and let me show them the product myself. Personalize your website content so that you speak to your customer and not at them, and they will respond in kind.

For more copywriting and SEO tips, be sure to follow me at http://twitter.com/#!/CaptainSpaceman

Save this Post!

Generated by BlogIt

BlogIt - Auto Blogging Software for YOU!