Identify your mission statement, specific objectives & strategies
Your business plan should start with a mission statement which sets the broad objectives of your organisation.

Next, the specific goals of your organisation should be identified.
Whatever goals you set, the specific strategies required to achieve them need to be identified.

Also, staff within the organisation should be aware of these goals and strategies.

Checklist for business plans
Most business plans suggest you do a SWOT analysis of your organisation - that is, evaluate your organisation's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

In your SWOT analysis ask yourself the following:

Mission statement
Do you have a mission statement?

• Have you identified your specific objectives?
  
• Are all staff aware of these objectives?
  
• Are your current objectives being achieved?
  
• Has there been internal consultation about your objectives?
  
• Has there been external consultation about your objectives?

Strengths

• Have your strengths been identified?
  
• What are your strengths?

Weaknesses

• Have your weaknesses been identified?
  
• What are your weaknesses?
  
• Are you doing things you should not be doing?
  
• What are they?
  
• Are you not doing things you should be doing?
  
• What are they?

Opportunities

• What opportunities have not been exploited?
  
• Have your services and products been assessed for quality?
  
• What were the results of this assessment?
  
• Has an efficiency audit been completed?

Competitors

• Who are your main competitors?
  
• How does the competition differ from your organisation?
  
• Do you have something unique which gives you a competitive edge?
  
• Are there any threats to the organisation?
  
• What are these threats?
  
• Assess the results of your analysis against the objectives in your business plan.

Quality assessment of your organisation

• Step back from your organisation and look at it through the eyes of the public.
  
• Are the products and services you offer of the highest quality?
  
• Are they presented to the public in the most attractive manner?
  

It is not only quality, but also efficiency that has to be addressed.
You should be able to look at all aspects of your organisation and determine if there are ways you could achieve the same or better outcomes more effectively or efficiently.

Think about how the Internet could help you.
For example, could you use discussion lists and email as a way of keeping up with your specialist area rather than the way you do at present?
Or could the Internet complement your present methods?

Checking your competition online

• Who is your main competitor online?
  
• What are your other competitors doing?
  
• How does your competition differ from you?
  
• Do you have any competitive edge? Or do they? Remember, too, that the online community is a global one.

Checking out your market

• An important aspect of deciding who is the competition lies in determining where your market is.
  
• Who are they?
  
• What are their characteristics?
  
• Are they changing?

From time to time you need to factor in an assessment of your market or audience.
You may be able to utilise your website for online surveys and publicise it through your email newsletter.

Whatever you do, your website planning process is a part of your organisation's general business development process. B&BD

See: Before & After Website Designs