This sample Web plan has been made available to users of Web Strategy
Pro, website planning software published by Palo Alto Software. Our
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You are welcome to use this plan as a starting point to create your own,
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Copyright Palo Alto Software, Inc., 2000
Confidentiality Agreement
___________________
Signature
___________________
Date
___________________
Name (typed or printed)
This is a website business plan. It does not imply an offering of securities.
Table Of Contents
1.0
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2
Keys to Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2.0
3.0
Website
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Business Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Site Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Traffic Forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Development Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.4.1 Front End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.4.2 Back End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.4.3 Resource Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.4.4 Future Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.4.5 Milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.0
Strategy
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
5.0
Financial Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.1
Break-even Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.2
Expense and Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.0
Controls
6.1
6.2
6.3
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Organizational Implications .
Risks and Assumptions . . .
Contingency Plan . . . . .
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.2
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.4
.4
.4
.5
.5
. 11
. 11
. 11
. 11
. 12
. 13
. 16
. 16
. 16
. 16
Zenith Consulting
1.0 Executive Summary
Zenith Consulting will be formed as a consulting company that specializes in online marketing,
focusing on helping Internet companies set up online distribution programs. Its founders are
former Internet producers and online marketers who worked at well-known brand-name Internet
companies, launching and promoting successful online distribution programs. They are founding
Zenith to formalize the consulting services they offer.
Highlights
$1,400,000
$1,200,000
$1,000,000
Sales
$800,000
Gross
$600,000
Contribution
$400,000
$200,000
$0
2001
2002
2003
1.1 Objectives
1.
2.
3.
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 1
Zenith Consulting
2.0 Market Analysis Summary
Zenith Consulting will cater to start-up and established dot-coms that are trying to expand their
online distribution. Dot-coms have come to terms with the fact that marketing and online
distribution needs to happen with strong, well-implemented online marketing programs, and not
just by throwing millions of Venture Capital (VC) money to traditional offline campaigns like TV
advertising.
Well funded dot-coms: our most important market segment is the privately held start-up
dot-com, such as the thousands found in the Silicon Valley. These companies will be calling
on Zenith for development of their online distribution plans, as well as for help in
determining the best online-affinity-marketing program for their business.
2.
Medium-sized growth public dot-coms: particularly in community and commerce, and some
content sites, Zenith will offer expertise in developing targeted affiliate and viral online
marketing programs to more established dot-coms that are looking to take advantage of
the power of the Web, and not spend as much money in traditional offline marketing.
Well-funded local
Public local
All other
Growth
25%
15%
20%
20.65%
2001
1,500
1,000
2,500
5,000
2002
1,875
1,150
3,000
6,025
2003
2,344
1,323
3,600
7,267
2004
2,930
1,521
4,320
8,771
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
2005
3,663
1,749
5,184
10,596
CAGR
25.01%
15.00%
20.00%
20.65%
Page 2
Zenith Consulting
2.2 Website Demographics Strategy
Zenith Consulting is focused on dot-coms with good private funding (VC and Angel funding) as well
as established public dot-coms.
Private start-up dot-coms, and public dot-coms who want to stay above the rest of their crowded
space, have realized that the best way to succeed in marketing online is to have targeted affiliate
programs with good customer follow-up, and perks for being a customer/user. Start-ups in todays
marketplace can no longer afford to blow millions of dollars in offline marketing campaigns, and
instead have realized that the best way to succeed online is to do it by harnessing the word-ofmouth power of the Web.
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 3
Zenith Consulting
2.2.3 Market Growth
The market for dot-coms in the community, content and commerce area has been growing at
approximately 200% per year during the last three years, according to a study by Online Research
published earlier this year.
It is harder to gauge the more important growth rate, which would be the growth in Internet
marketing consulting. John Doe, an expert in online marketing-related consulting, estimated the
growth in focused online marketing consulting at 75% per year, according to a report published in
the San Jose Chronicle.
In our market analysis, we suggest growth in the number of potential customers between 6% and
7% per year.
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 4
Zenith Consulting
2.3.2 Internet Presence
In the online marketing, and online program implementation space, having an Internet presence is
a MUST.
All other competitor firms have online sites, trying to sell their services and expertise to all the dotcoms in their area.
It is very important for Zenith Consulting to develop a website that immediately shows expertise in
the online distribution area. The main selling point for Zenith Consulting is experienced and
seasoned dot-com experts. The Zenith website must relay all of these ideas and experience to the
potential dot-com client.
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 5
Zenith Consulting
The key to the website strategy will be combining a well designed front end (what you see
onscreen (the part of the software you interact with)), with a back end (software that runs on a
network server (behind the scenes)) capable of recording leads and proposal requests, as well as
running Zeniths own viral online marketing program.
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 6
Zenith Consulting
300,000
250,000
User Sessions
200,000
Page Views
Leads/calls per page view
150,000
Leads/calls generated
100,000
50,000
0
2001
2002
2003
2001
23,823
95,292
0
95
4
30
119,244
2002
45,000
180,000
0
180
0
54
225,234
2003
65,000
260,000
0
260
0
78
325,338
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 7
Zenith Consulting
3.4.1 Front End
For Zenith Consulting the user interface (UI) design of the website is a key to the success of the
company. The UI needs to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
4.
Web hosting with 99.99% uptime. Will be provided by Yahoo! Web Services.
Statistics to determine page views, users, and number of people who have accessed the
Request for Proposal Form. Will initially be provided by Yahoo! Web Services.
Request for Proposal Form linked to an access database to track potential clients. This will
be provided by an outsourced programmer. Form needs to track:
ISP where user is submitting form.
Users vital information (email, company name, type of business).
Type of project, timeframe for project.
Whether project can be done off-site or needs to be done on-site.
Ability to easily FTP (File Transfer Protocol) new documents to website from anywhere.
Yahoo! Web Services provides FTP access from anywhere.
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Page 8
Zenith Consulting
Start-up
$35,000
$30,000
$25,000
$20,000
$15,000
$10,000
$5,000
$0
Expenses
Assets
$8,000
$8,000
$2,400
$2,500
$9,000
$1,000
$30,900
$1,000
$500
$1,000
$2,500
Online viral program to show the power online programs have in action on the Zenith
website.
An online marketing forum.
A weekly online marketing newsletter to all clients.
Downloadable market research reports available online for purchase.
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 9
Zenith Consulting
3.4.5 Milestones
The accompanying table lists important project milestones, with dates and people in charge, and
budgets for each. The milestone schedule indicates our emphasis on planning for implementation.
What the table doesn't show is the commitment behind it. Our Web plan includes complete
provisions for plan-vs.-actual analysis, and we will hold monthly follow-up meetings to discuss the
variance and course corrections.
Milestones
Initial market analysis
Interface Design
HTML programming
CGI/Perl programming
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Plan
Start Date
6/15/00
7/15/00
8/1/00
8/31/00
8/1/00
10/1/00
10/16/00
End Date
7/15/00
8/1/00
8/31/00
9/30/00
10/15/00
10/15/00
1/15/01
Budget
$2,000
$1,000
$8,000
$8,000
$2,400
$2,500
$5,000
$28,900
Manager
Leslie
Terry
Vendor
Vendor
Vendor
Vendor
Leslie
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Department
Marketing
Websites
Websites
Websites
Marketing
Marketing
Marketing
Page 10
Zenith Consulting
4.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary
Zenith will focus on three Internet markets, community, content, and commerce dot-coms.
Services will focus on online distribution and the creation of online affiliate and affinity programs.
The target customer is usually a CEO, VP of Online Marketing, or VP/ Director of Production in a
private well-funded dot-com, or a publicly traded dot-com.
Zeniths value proposition is consultants with real world dot-com experience. We are people who
have been there.
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 11
Zenith Consulting
4.4 Online Sales Forecast
The following table and chart give a run-down on forecasted sales. We expect sales to increase at
a rate of 1% per month for the first few months.
Early on there will be a lot of sales time devoted to gaining new customers. The first six months of
the Zenith business will be spent mainly getting proposals to clients, and building awareness to
bring in future clients.
At the end of the first year we expect to be billing an average of four projects per month at
$10,000 per project.
Sales by Year
$1,400,000
$1,200,000
$1,000,000
$800,000
Engagements
Other
$600,000
$400,000
$200,000
$0
2001
2002
2003
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 12
Zenith Consulting
2001
30
31
61
2002
54
35
89
2003
78
40
118
Unit Prices
Engagements
Other
2001
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
2002
$12,000.00
$1,250.00
2003
$15,000.00
$1,500.00
Sales
Engagements
Other
Total Sales
$300,000
$31,000
$331,000
$648,000
$43,750
$691,750
$1,170,000
$60,000
$1,230,000
2001
$0.00
$0.00
2002
$0.00
$0.00
2003
$0.00
$0.00
2001
$0
$0
$0
2002
$0
$0
$0
2003
$0
$0
$0
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 13
Zenith Consulting
Break-even Analysis
$3,000
$2,000
$1,000
$0
($1,000)
($2,000)
($3,000)
0
1200
2400
3600
4800
6000
3,571
$3,571
Assumptions:
Average Per-Unit Revenue
Average Per-Unit Variable Cost
Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost
$1.00
$0.30
$2,500
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Page 14
Zenith Consulting
$1,400,000
$1,200,000
$1,000,000
$800,000
Sales
Expenses
$600,000
$400,000
$200,000
$0
2001
2002
2003
2001
$331,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$331,000
100.00%
2002
$691,750
$0
$0
-----------$0
$691,750
100.00%
2003
$1,230,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$1,230,000
100.00%
$30,000
$6,100
$5,200
$6,000
$7,000
$4,800
$6,000
-----------$65,100
19.67%
$265,900
80.33%
$45,000
$10,000
$7,000
$12,000
$10,000
$9,600
$10,000
-----------$103,600
14.98%
$588,150
85.02%
$60,000
$15,000
$8,500
$17,000
$15,000
$20,000
$20,000
-----------$155,500
12.64%
$1,074,500
87.36%
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 15
Zenith Consulting
6.0 Controls
Tracking and follow-up is critical to making this plan work. We will have monthly meetings to
review schedules, particularly the milestones, and establish ongoing budgets and additional
programs. The key is not to create an inflexible plan, written in stone and ignoring new
development, but to keep a live plan for which we can make course corrections as needed.
Word-of-mouth does not get enough clients to get the business going.
The Internet industry takes a big dip in the stock market, sending many dot-coms out of
business, and reducing the need for outside consultants.
There are two clients that are ready to take on Zenith consulting services, and get the
Zenith business started.
Zenith will be able to hire the necessary resources to get the website off the ground
quickly.
Zenith has two full-time Internet veterans on board. These consultants have real world dotcom experience.
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 16
Jan
473
1,892
0
2
0
1
2,368
Feb
503
2,012
0
2
0
1
2,518
Mar
772
3,088
0
3
0
1
3,864
Apr
1,091
4,364
0
4
0
1
5,461
May
1,753
7,012
0
7
0
2
8,774
Jun
2,489
9,956
0
10
0
3
12,458
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Jul
2,268
9,072
0
9
0
3
11,352
Aug
2,146
8,584
0
9
0
3
10,742
Sep
2,580
10,320
0
10
0
3
12,914
Oct
2,955
11,820
0
12
0
4
14,791
Nov
3,176
12,704
0
13
0
4
15,897
Dec
3,617
14,468
0
14
0
4
18,104
Page 1
Jan
1
1
2
Feb
1
2
3
Mar
1
2
3
Apr
1
3
4
May
2
3
5
Jun
3
2
5
Jul
3
2
5
Aug
3
2
5
Sep
3
3
6
Oct
4
3
7
Nov
4
4
8
Dec
4
4
8
Unit Prices
Engagements
Other
Jan
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Feb
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Mar
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Apr
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
May
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Jun
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Jul
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Aug
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Sep
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Oct
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Nov
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Dec
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
Sales
Engagements
Other
Total Sales
$10,000
$1,000
$11,000
$10,000
$2,000
$12,000
$10,000
$2,000
$12,000
$10,000
$3,000
$13,000
$20,000
$3,000
$23,000
$30,000
$2,000
$32,000
$30,000
$2,000
$32,000
$30,000
$2,000
$32,000
$30,000
$3,000
$33,000
$40,000
$3,000
$43,000
$40,000
$4,000
$44,000
$40,000
$4,000
$44,000
Jan
$0.00
$0.00
Feb
$0.00
$0.00
Mar
$0.00
$0.00
Apr
$0.00
$0.00
May
$0.00
$0.00
Jun
$0.00
$0.00
Jul
$0.00
$0.00
Aug
$0.00
$0.00
Sep
$0.00
$0.00
Oct
$0.00
$0.00
Nov
$0.00
$0.00
Dec
$0.00
$0.00
Jan
$0
$0
$0
Feb
$0
$0
$0
Mar
$0
$0
$0
Apr
$0
$0
$0
May
$0
$0
$0
Jun
$0
$0
$0
Jul
$0
$0
$0
Aug
$0
$0
$0
Sep
$0
$0
$0
Oct
$0
$0
$0
Nov
$0
$0
$0
Dec
$0
$0
$0
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
Page 2
Jan
$11,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$11,000
100.00%
Feb
$12,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$12,000
100.00%
Mar
$12,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$12,000
100.00%
Apr
$13,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$13,000
100.00%
May
$23,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$23,000
100.00%
Jun
$32,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$32,000
100.00%
Jul
$32,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$32,000
100.00%
Aug
$32,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$32,000
100.00%
Sep
$33,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$33,000
100.00%
Oct
$43,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$43,000
100.00%
Nov
$44,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$44,000
100.00%
Dec
$44,000
$0
$0
-----------$0
$44,000
100.00%
$2,500
$600
$3,000
$1,500
$3,000
$400
$500
-----------$11,500
104.55%
($500)
-4.55%
$2,500
$500
$200
$1,500
$2,000
$400
$500
-----------$7,600
63.33%
$4,400
36.67%
$2,500
$500
$200
$0
$1,000
$400
$500
-----------$5,100
42.50%
$6,900
57.50%
$2,500
$500
$200
$0
$200
$400
$500
-----------$4,300
33.08%
$8,700
66.92%
$2,500
$500
$200
$3,000
$100
$400
$500
-----------$7,200
31.30%
$15,800
68.70%
$2,500
$500
$200
$0
$100
$400
$500
-----------$4,200
13.13%
$27,800
86.88%
$2,500
$500
$200
$0
$100
$400
$500
-----------$4,200
13.13%
$27,800
86.88%
$2,500
$500
$200
$0
$100
$400
$500
-----------$4,200
13.13%
$27,800
86.88%
$2,500
$500
$200
$0
$100
$400
$500
-----------$4,200
12.73%
$28,800
87.27%
$2,500
$500
$200
$0
$100
$400
$500
-----------$4,200
9.77%
$38,800
90.23%
$2,500
$500
$200
$0
$100
$400
$500
-----------$4,200
9.55%
$39,800
90.45%
$2,500
$500
$200
$0
$100
$400
$500
-----------$4,200
9.55%
$39,800
90.45%
This sample plan produced in Web Strategy Pro software. www.paloalto.com 1-800-229-7526
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