2.4. Outline a Business Concept for Your Online Business Idea

“Ideas are worth nothing unless executed.” Steve Jobs

Whether you have used common sense, trusted your instincts, or have tested your idea’s viability, at this point, you should have selected a single promising idea that best fits your goals and expectations. Besides that, you should also be willing and eager to take your idea into the implementation phase. Having the right online business idea is just the beginning of your long to go online business journey.

Developing a business concept should be the first step towards the execution of your business idea. Having a business concept in your mind only, is not such a bad thing, but putting it in writing will give you better perspective and a solid strategic guide to follow into the implementation process.

We can view the business concept as a bridge between an idea and a business plan. Since writing a business plan is not an easy task, and could take long time, you could leave it for the later stages of your business (if necessary). On the other hand, the business concept is representing the same reasoning, but is much simpler and will take less time and less effort to create. Anyway, if you want to attract investors or get a loan from a bank, you will certainly need a well-written business plan, and in such case, the written business concept will help you prepare the business plan too.

A Business Concept for your online venture should be no longer than one page and could include the following elements:

• Name of your business (prospective one)
• Domain name (registered or desired variations)
• Unique selling proposition (A slogan on what distinguishes you from the competitors)
• Mission statement (Reason of existence, target market, problem you solve or need you satisfy and how.)
• Brief description of your products and services
• Online business model and revenue source(s)
• Web content strategy (Product and services only, Blog posts, Video content, Customer generated content,  etc)
• Internet marketing strategy (Where and how you will rich your target market.)

In order to write down your business concept use our form or simply use the Online Business Checklist, where you can also mark your progress (The Business Concept is also embedded in the Checklist). If you are not able or you are unwilling to fill out everything in the form right away, read some examples or leave it for later, but continue to read and to implement the instructions in the Guide. (As a real online entrepreneur you shouldn’t allow small obstacle stop you at your journey.)

***

Now that you have outlined the business concept, completed or not, written or in your mind, you are ready to make your biggest step, to actually start your online business.

.

In-depth readings:

How to Write a Business Concept Paper

Examples of a Business Concept

Examples of Unique Selling Propositions

Techniques for Crafting a Mission Statement