How to Net a Million

With this book you can turn a good idea into a profitable e-business. It can help you not dread a letter from the Inland Revenue and give you the basics in running a small business from book keeping to registering a limited company. 1) THE IDEA How to work out if your idea is any good. How to assess its likelihood to produce an income - can you charge people for it, will anyone advertise. Is anyone else doing it? Are you the right person to do it (ie do you have personal contacts that can make it happen)? Can you afford the costs in producing the site? 2) BUILDING THE SITE Can you do it yourself? How do you find a designer/programmer? How much should you expect to pay? Does your site need specialist technical support? How to decipher the jargon. 3) MARKET RESEARCH How to research the market, assess how much ad revenue/sponsorship your site is likely to produce, find out how many of your target audience in online, suss out the competition. 4) PROFIT DRIVERS/GET TO KNOW YOUR SITE This is what makes the difference between success and riches. How to find out where big revenues are really going to come from, how to analyse your service to expose the opportunities for making money. 5) PREPARING YOUR BUSINESS PLAN This is the essential document that will either help to raise funds or simply guide you through the coming months. From sensitivity analysis to expansion plans to appointing a board of advisers this will help readers plan a blueprint for success. 6) RAISING FINANCE This is probably why people will buy the book and this chapter will run through all the ways of supporting a new internet venture. Is it possible to grow organically as money comes in. Can you raise money from friends and family - if so how much equity should you give away? Bank loans. Mostly this chapter will concentrate on business angels, incubators and venture capitalists. It will explain how they differ, what they are looking for, how to impress them and what to expect from them. It will also look at options like AIM as well as flotation. 7) MARKETING How to get people to your site (traffic generators, advertising, email-this-to-a-friend, other email techniques) and how to tell people about your site (publicity stunts, PR companies, offline advertising, online advertising) 8) RUNNING A BUSINESS The basics of tax, running an office, employing staff, spotting the freeloaders, trusting your judgement, accountancy. This won't go into great detail, but it will provide the basics on incorporating a company, keeping books etc and should save readers hundreds of pounds in professional fees. 9) CONVERTING PAPER MILLIONS INTO COLD HARD CASH Trade sales and floatation: when to do it and how to do it, plus how to work out what paper money is really worth.