The Basics of Goal Setting.
Website goals can vary from qualitative to quantitative. For example building a website to Add Credibility is a great goal but it is difficult to measure. Generating More Qualified Leads is easy to measure (you just count how many emails you captured). You should aim for a mix of qualitative and quantitative website goals.
S For Specific.
Yes, we are talking numbers. Being vague with your smart goals does not work. You need to focus on %, $, or time here. Compare these two goals: “Sell more online next year” OR “I want a 11% increase in online revenue by January 2022”. Which do you think is the best?
M for Measurable.
These can include metrics such as website visitors, social media numbers or any other goals you can define, measure and test. Website visitors or number of liked posts are all measurable things. ‘Increase engagement’, for example, is not.
A for Actionable.
Can you actually do something to achieve your goal?
R for Realistic.
Are you being realistic? With less than £250 advertising budget you will not be able to ‘Overtake Uber as online taxi provider”. But don’t make it too easy either. Be ambitious and base your judgement on previous performance.
T for Time-bound.
There must be a set deadline.
Tip: Break it down. It helps to break these down into yearly, quarterly and monthly goals and objectives. We divided our template into three 1-month long campaigns.
TOP TIPS
Free Goal Template
- Set your goals.
- Perform actions.
- Achieve results.
Download our 100% free Excel/GSheets template HERE
LET ME DO IT FOR YOU
Need Help?
I can help you establish and achieve your website goals. It all starts with a call..
SMART goals to fill your inbound marketing funnel.
1. Website visitors
Just after launch of a website there is an increase in website visitors, as people check out your new design. Over time, without any marketing, the number of visitors will decrease. It is unrealistic to expect many ‘organic’ visitors (they find you by performing Google search) – unless your SEO is being worked on by a professional company. Or if you have a paid advertising in place.
There is however few things you can try doing to increase your traffic
Why do you need many visitors?
If you are selling products or services online you already know that you need many visitors because most are not ready to buy when they first come to your website. Only few will be converted into leads.
SAMPLE SMART GOAL:
Increase website visitors to 5,000 per month by December 1, 2021.
2. Social media reach
It is certainly a good idea to plan and manage your social media activity. Although with paid advertisement you can still reach people who haven’t yet engaged with your brand. However it is much cheaper to grow your following yourself.
With tools such as CoSchedule drafting & scheduling posts is easy and takes minutes. Taking more strategic approach to your posts will result in improved consistency and better quality of content. This in return should ensure more followers become fans of your brand. Your social media reach represents the potential size of the audience to consume your inbound marketing content too.
SAMPLE SMART GOAL:
Increase followers of our Twitter company page to 250 by the end of the 3d quarter in 2018.
3. Blog subscribers
There are the people who have opted in to be notified when you publish new blog posts by email or RSS feed. Blog subscribers are relevant because they not only are consumers of your marketing content, but they help your search engine rankings with Google.
SAMPLE SMART GOAL:
Increase blog subscribers by 40% by September 30, 2021.
4. Leads
These are website visitors who have exchanged contact information (their details) for content offer. This is the first opportunity for you to qualify visitors against your customer persona and see if there is a match or opportunity.
Lead magnet examples:
– PDF, Reports, Publications
– Competitions & Give-aways
– Templates, Excel sheets, Design Templates
– Free Samples & Trial Subscriptions
SAMPLE SMART GOAL:
Generate 10 inbound marketing leads per month by November 28, 2021. OR
Capture 10 emails by giving away free lead magnet, by November 2021
5. Lead conversion ratio
This ratio is the % of website visitors that convert to leads, in a given time period. If you have a high lead conversion ratio, you need less website traffic to hit your lead goals. The lead conversion ratio is a good measure of the effectiveness of your inbound marketing.
SAMPLE SMART GOAL:
Hit a lead conversion ratio of 2.5% by the end of the second quarter, 2021.
6. Email clickthrough rate
You will know that your message resonates with the audience if they choose to click on the links included in your emails.
SAMPLE SMART GOAL:
Hit an email clickthrough rate of 10% by September 30, 2021.
7. Customers generated through inbound marketing
There are people who found your company through your website or social media networks and became customers. This is the ultimate measure of the effectiveness of your inbound marketing efforts.
SAMPLE SMART GOAL:
Generate 10 customers from inbound marketing in 2021.
