Advice needed on new web business

Hi there,

Let me try and help, as far as the finances go, you need to try and break down what is going to come in, and what is going to be spent, a profit and loss (or P&L) sheet would probably be a good idea, with all your expenditure and outgoings, and the incoming revenue you expect from advertising.

Traffic will be key when advertising on your site, advertisers expect a lot these days, with full tracking, along with pay per performance, and PPC options being more and more popular over straight tennancy advertising. It's also important that the target audience is perfect for the advertiser.

In my experience, other revenue streams which can be successful, are things like paid email shots, site sponsorships etc.

I guess if you are able to give more information about the demographics of your user base, I can maybe help a little more. I know starting a site from scratch and getting immediate traffic to kind of levels you need for an advertiser to generate an income might be tricky, unless I understand your plans a bit better.

Sorry to be a little negative - but with more info, I think I can be a bit more positive.

Tom

www.behigher.co.uk
http://www.behigher.co.uk
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Hi
I would have to agree with Tom, and perhaps go a step further, and say that the traffic you would need to generate to interest advertisers is something that is not going to happen immediately, unless you truly have a PR company working for you and you are spending huge amounts on marketing. As your website hasnt even gone live yet, you can not say who your audience are, so your advertisers will not want to part with their money on an unknown entity.
What wories me also is in my experience, is that you say you are ready to go to the bank but you are unsure of how you are going to pay them back!.Banks hate taking risks.
My advice, is to producr a business plan and P & L, If you have alreadydone this, feel free togive me a call or email and i will be happy to take a look.
Greg@theretaildoctor.co.uk
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www.wickedtickles.co.uk

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www.itsmydesign.co.uk

www.theSEOdoctor.co.uk

Hi

I agree, if you are going to the bank they will need a full p&l sheet for at least 3 years. I'm also worried to hear that you've not 100% figured out how to make your money on the site.

You need to research what your advertisers want to see in terms of stats and members/users and then try and get the traffic. I would suggest you have everything written down. Then really take a look at it and see whether you are ready take this project on and make a success of it.

Good luck!

Banks are extremely reluctant to lend out money at the moment so if possible it might be best to scale down your plans and initially launch a more basic version of the site. You can use this time to eradicate any problems, work on the content, and optimise the site for search engines which is extremely important if you have a content-based site, and even try social networking - see the following article:

http://www.doshdosh.com/the-importance-of-social-media-marketing/

And remember there are other ways to generate money as opposed to direct advertising sales, such as:

- Google Adsense
- Affiliates
- Email Marketing

In general advertisers will only be interested in advertising once you have a significant amount of traffic.
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Marketing Minefield | Internet Marketing | Public Relations Techniques | Unusual Advertising Ideas

Just a quick note to thank you guys who have posted a reply. I have today gone to the bank and applied for the relevant loan etc so hopefully you'll be seeing my site very soon.

Thanks again