BuyCleanGreen-A directory for eco-friendly businesses

Below is a business plan to the best of my ability. The plan consists of a one stop online directory for eco-friendly businesses to advertise their products. The consumer has the option of visiting buycleangreen.com before purchasing a specific product. A few options will be available. One, they can search products by category, such as house wares, clothing, pet accessories, lighting, or even artwork. Two, the consumer can search the directory by business name. Regardless of the search method, the consumer is connected with products manufactured and sold by eco-friendly businesses. And three, the consumer could visit the portion of the site featuring articles about the latest "green" news. The last search option would require an author or partnership with another company. These plans are all great but I also think more can be done, something to keep the idea hot and users returning. I have saved money from holiday and birthday cards since seventh grade. I had a couple hundred dollars of my own money but have spent most of in the past month to try to get this directory on its feet. In 2007, I purchased my domain name, buycleangreen.com. I have also purchased a website design which was coded and themed (not yet completed), an eco friendly host, a site logo, and added 1,700 eco-friendly businesses to my site. All of these fees were negotiated and cost me only $300.00. This is where my project is now, nearly ready for launch. However, before the value of the site can be fully realized, and before I feel comfortable with a full launch, I need additional funds for technical work on the project. I have itemized the needs below: -The Fixing of Cross-Browser issues meaning the sites appearance will remain the same whether the user is using safari, opera, google chrome, internet explorer or firefox. ($20) The implementation of an online community. This involves a forum being added, login interfaces being bridged and a new theme, which I will be able to work on myself. -The forum software ($0 unless upgraded later in which case it would cost $100) -The forum design ($50) -The bridging of the directory to the forum ($0-$10) The beginning of an online community that does work in their own community and posts there findings and success possibly even a video in the forum. -This is free to do but will take some advertising which will appear below as a future project. -If this does not work it may have to turn into a contest, which will offer incentives like free eco-friendly water bottles with the sites logo or the new reusable tote bags with the site logo. -SEO-Search Engine Optimization-this will increase the position of the site on search engines such as google, yahoo, msn, and ask. ($100) -Advertisement-this would include banners on other sites and subscriptions to things like google ads and bidvertiser. Along with the paid opportunities I will subscribe to stumpleupon.com free of charge. ($100) -All of the current companies must be placed into categories as well. I have a friend willing to do the task which takes hours for ($75) The price for the following is not known nor does it matter, as these ideas would come much later: It would be a stretch but also quite cool to offer an iPhone app that its a UPC scanner. It would be able to show the impact the product has on the environment. A similar app exists in the way that it is a UPC scanner and finds the best deals price wise. Another more relevant iPhone/iPod Touch app would be the sites directory at your fingertips. TOTAL NEED: $355 MAX Remaining funds would go into the trade marking copyrighting and proper registration for a company of this sort. I would also like to file for a not-for-profit status for the company. If there are any questions about this or any other suggestions please contact me at (864)353-7395 or danielchandlerpasker@gmail.com