A content management system (CMS) is a software application that supports the creation and modification of content in the digital environment. The basic objectives of developing a CMS for the business is to (1) manage content; (2) create content items; and (3) collaborate. Below is a list of the core features the content management system…

The definition of 'audience development' is fluid and (at present) not defined particularly well. However, within the scope of this website I define audience development as distinct activities undertaken specifically (1) drive traffic to the destination website; (2) to maximise usage of the destination website by the audience; and (3) to increase conversions and sales…

In this final article within the series we look at the HR worksheet within the model, the Assorted Costs sheet, and Budget Detail pages. HR MODEL This worksheet includes a list of all employees who will likely be employed during the duration of the 60 month model. Emphasis is placed on the first 18-months in…

The ‘Contributor Payment Model’ worksheet is designed to calculate the editorial spend required to support the products and/or business. Broken down by month, the model variables included in the model are as follows: NUMBER OF ARTICLES PER MONTH ARTICLES PER MONTH - VIRTUAL REALITY ARTICLES PER MONTH - SPACE TECHNOLOGY ARTICLES PER MONTH - GENOMICS…

For obvious reasons the 'Marketing Plan' is important to the accuracy of the entire business. Without an audience our example business will not work. In-fact, without a suitable audience, no online business will work. The worksheet consists of a monthly matrix for the entire duration of the model. In the example case its 60 months.…

The particular financial model we are looking at in this article within our series is inventory-based advertising. The advertising model consists of both standard marketing services efforts, such as internal and third-party inventory sales; and also company listings, which for our example business we are calling Storefronts. In terms of banner inventory variables, I do…

Moving on from the two paid subscription models we looked at in the previous articles within this series, the 'Report Sales' worksheet outlines the various report products that the example business will take to market. It takes into account both internally produced reports; and those produced externally by a separate vendor such as Gartner, or…

In the previous article in this series we looked at the Individual Subscription Model. Having completed that model, we will now look at the seperate(and distinct) 'Corporate Subscription Model' we use for the example portal business. The corporate product is a slightly quicker and easier product to model within a worksheet, as it does not include…

The first model proper we are building for this example portal business is the ‘Individual Subscriptions Model’. The worksheet itself is broken down by month and utilises the following model variables: AVERAGE MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION COST AVERAGE DISCOUNT ON PRICE RESULTING MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION COST AVERAGE MONTHLY RETENTION RATE FREE TO PAID CONVERSION RATE FREE TRIAL PERIOD…

The ‘Monthly Travel’ page is perhaps the quickest worksheet to put together and simply outlines how the business performs on a monthly basis, taking into account the various costs and revenue models included. Think of it as a monthly breakdown of the ‘Results Page’, enabling you to see how the business trends during the year.…

In this extensive nine article series I will outline the core principals behind modelling a business from a financial and operations perspective. The type of modelling I prefer is less based around ‘grand thinking’ and more towards known costings, industry average performances and if at all possible actuals. To be perfectly blunt, this takes a…

Each portal our example business will operate will produce at least one free report and then market it to visitors not only to the portal, but also to the traffic drivers of the portal. The purpose of creating a free report is to encourage potential visitors to visit the property and input contact information in…