Before launching a website or online business, it’s a good idea to create an Internet marketing plan, detailing your site’s target market, competitors, budget, and marketing strategies and tactics. You can increase your ROI on your marketing efforts by simply doing the market research and planning, as opposed to testing every Internet marketing method under the sun until you find something that works for you. Here is an outline you can use to draft an Internet marketing plan:

I. Executive Summary

An Internet marketing plan is very similar in format to a traditional marketing plan, including the executive summary. This section should summarize everything else in the Internet marketing plan, and despite being the first section of the marketing plan, it’s the last section you should write.

II. Situational Analysis / Market Analysis

Here you’ll need to do just what the title says: analyze the current situation (what are the opportunities, threats, etc.) and the market (who does the target market consist of, who is your biggest competitor, what are your basic strengths and weaknesses in the market, etc.).

III. Marketing Goals and Strategies

After analyzing your competition, target market, and current situation, it’s important to write down the general marketing goals you’d like to achieve for your website. Goals should be very broad, followed by more specific strategies or objectives, which should be specific and measurable. You can then continue to break it down further into specific marketing tactics.

IV. Financials

Your marketing budget is possibly the most important aspect of your Internet marketing plan, because it plays a big role in determining whether your goals, strategies, and tactics are actually achievable. Besides your marketing budget, your financials area should also include financial projections that lay out the expected monetary return on your various planned marketing efforts.

V. Evaluation

Here’s where you discuss the ways that you’ll actually test your results against your goals and objectives. Earlier, you laid out specific and measurable objectives, and now you simply say how you’ll actually measure those results.

VI. Addenda

This includes any attachments or things referenced in other areas of your Internet marketing plan (such as charts and graphs, large images, outside research or statistics, etc.).

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