February 2021
When you start a new business, it’s beneficial to set goals for your success. What vision do you have for your business? When you have your new website up and running, you may want to create a list of goals that you want to accomplish periodically. Read on to find out how to set the most effective goals, as well as some suggestions for website metrics to target.
Developing S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Your Website
When you’re setting website goals, a good method to use is creating S.M.A.R.T. goals. These are guidelines to help you develop goals that matter to your business.
S.M.A.R.T. stands for:
- Specific: Avoid vague goals. Think of a specific increase in sales you want to achieve or a number of weekly website visitors.
- Measurable: Set goals that you can monitor and know when it’s been completed. Consider things like social media engagement and site visitors that can be found through tools like Google Analytics.
- Actionable: Set goals that have a clear and definite action associated with attaining them.
- Realistic: Your business goals need to be realistic and met within a reasonable time. Aim for slow and steady goals that are attainable for you in your current state.
- Timely: Set end dates for all goals. Determine a date by which you’d like to accomplish the goal.
Goals to Target with Your Website
Here are some great metrics to consider when you’re developing goals for your business website:
Increase Sales
Of course, the most important goal to set for your website is to increase sales and revenue. There are several steps you can take to drive traffic to your site to increase your business sales. The suggestions below can help increase your website traffic and, in turn, potentially increase sales for your business.
Increase Website Traffic
For a better chance at increasing sales, you want to draw more unique visitors and increase your page views. The best way to increase your website traffic is through well-written and intriguing content. Users like to see features on the site such as links in the sidebar or related content. This helps keep them engaged on your site longer.
Capture and Convert Leads
There are several ways to drive your target audience to your website and convert them to leads. You can capture leads with appealing calls to action and advertisements that appeal to the audience. Conversion happens when new website visitors take an action on your site like buying your products or services.
You can do this by including past customer reviews and testimonials to help persuade new users to purchase. Keep your checkout or subscription process easy to ensure the new user follows through with the purchase.
Increase Brand Awareness
Increasing your brand awareness is always a great goal to include in your business plan. If your website does not have an appealing look or is difficult to use, it can affect the visitor’s perception of the company.
Inform the Audience
You want your visitors to believe you are an authority on your product or service. Be sure to include quality content on your website. This content should also be up-to-date with established trust and confidence in the brand. You can implement this goal by shooting for a certain number of blogs or graphics to be published each month.
Increase Email Subscribers
Offering an incentive in return for subscribing to your email list. This could be anything from a product discount to special offers in exchange for signing up. You can add whatever you feel is relevant to your business to draw new email subscribers.
Once you increase your email subscribers, you’ll want to increase your open and click-through rates. You can do this by thinking of an intriguing subject line for the email and use fascinating images to pique interest. Adding the user’s first name to the email adds a personal touch that may encourage a subscriber to read your email.
Increase Social Media Engagement
Social media marketing has become very crucial in recent years to successfully promote your business.You can increase your social media presence by adding calls to action for your visitors such as Tweet buttons and other social media sharing buttons for users to share blogs on your site.
After you have increased your social media presence and following, then you need to increase engagement on these platforms. You can do this by injecting a bit of your personality into your posts. Start conversations with other users about the subject matter and respond to all social media engagements.
Decrease Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is when a unique visitor is only on your site for one page before exiting or visiting another site. You want visitors to spend as much time on your site as possible. Many factors can lead to a website’s bounce rate including slow website speed, pop-ups, content that does not have a flow, and a site that is not user friendly.
You can use tools like Google Analytics to measure your current bounce rate. The ultimate goal is to decrease your bounce rate to under 50 percent over time.
Regular Blogging
Blog content is a great resource for your visitors and potential new customers. When you blog on a regular basis, this lets the audience know that you are knowledgeable in your business field. This provides added value to your business by providing information to consumers. Regular blogging can also help with your Google ranking as it adds quality to your website.
Reach Your Goals with Inner Works Pro
It’s important to set realistic and attainable goals for your website at its beginning. Avoid setting the bar too high right away to prevent disappointment if you don’t reach the target. Steady growth over time is the best scenario for a long term profitable business. Inner Works Pro can help you come up with an initial list of attainable goals for a new business website. Contact us to get started.
