Business Plan for IM

The best way to configure a plan is to start with the end in mind, and work it backwards to the beginning.

Your end result you'd like is a bookstore, correct?

Imagine the bookstore on the web. Imagine what it looks like, and how it is organized. Do you cover just specific kinds of books ie: building and carpentry or is this an everything goes bookstore?

You have to picture this the same as if you were creating an offline bookstore.

It really isn't much different - with the exception that your inventory does not need to be replaced.

Building the site is like building the location of your store. You can find one already built sometimes. Sometimes there is not the right one for sale and you have to have builders make one for you. Your programmers are builders, and web designers are going to paint your walls and make things pretty.

You might wind up doing the building yourself even.

If you were looking to do this offline, would you not spend some time looking at how other bookstore owners have set up their shop?

So, this is what you will do. Look for all the other bookstores on the web and find one similar to what you think you'd like to set up.

Next, go out and look for answers to see if some are created on ready made scripts. Check the source codes, have others check if you don't know what you are supposed to be looking for.

So, the step before the final vision is "your store"
the step before that is "inventory in your store"
the step before that is "building the site"

Before you can build your site, you need to know what plot of land it is going on. So, you need to figure out what hosting you'd like to use. You know already it will need have the ability to handle what ever script it is that you found, so that is a question you will know to get answered when you go looking for your host.

You need to know what you are going to call your store - and for this you can either brand yourself or go for a KW rich name that has library or something like that in it. Even better, if your bookstore was specialized (like childrens books) then it will be a good idea to include the best KW in the domain for that as well. Tjmbas childrens library or bookstore.

Your IM plan will be part of your business plan. You are selling your books through the internet - thus doing internet marketing.

Your first goals will be to get something built, get it stocked, and then you will be dealing with promoting the location and driving traffic.


That is some very general information - but a way for you to start.

Write it down on paper. Take notes, and don't spend a dime until you've figured out the bulk of it.

You may decide to actually start with something smaller - as I mentioned before a tighter niche that only focuses on specific books, and then build up from there.

This could be done very simply by selecting the niche, checking to see if there are maybe 40-50 books, creating a blog on the niche and taking parts of the books for content or to use as reviews of the materials in the books. Then you could load them up for download from your own site and set up something as simple as paypal to get payments. Blogging and adding a new book every 2 weeks to the collection - and even a free sign up to get one book, but the rest are marketed to a list you create around those interested in the niche.

Hmm. That doesn't sound half bad, and quite easily implemented.