Your online business requires a business plan just like a traditional business does. Part of that business plan will be putting together your operations plan. Because this is an online company, your place of operation will house only the computer equipment needed to access the internet and your company files and records.

In most cases, at least in the beginning, your online business will often be located at your residence, which will minimize your startup costs. As your business becomes established and grows, there is often no advantage to having an online business in one geographic area rather than another.  There is generally no need for your business to be tied to any specific physical location as shipping can occur from anywhere in the world and e-goods change ownership online.

You will need to establish how you will produce your goods or services for your business. Producing in-house can often save money. However, sometimes that’s not an option for various reasons. You will need to outline the how's and why's of what you are doing in the production field.

For example, your website development will be done by a professional web building company that has experience in HTML and PHP, as well as building e-commerce sites. Search engine optimization will be done partially in-house and partially by a company that specializes in SEO. Building links will be outsourced.

Defining who will be responsible for the various components of your online business operations needs to be clearly defined and the cost associated with these tasks should also be included. This will help potential investors and lenders better understand and it will also constantly provide the guide for you in the running of your business.

You need to keep in mind that some terms that you refer to such as SEO or search engine optimization may not always be understood by potential lenders or investors; therefore, it is a good idea to clearly define what these things are and what their relevance is to your business success, otherwise an investor or lender could potentially see this as a waste of money, which is simply not so.

When you are defining, the operations of your business assume that those who will be reading your business will have no idea what you are doing or what your online business is about. In fact, assume that they do not understand the online business world at all. By doing so you will do a much better job of explaining and defining, what your business is about.