Starting an online business can be an exciting journey. However, many entrepreneurs have hiccups because they either set unrealistic goals or lack an effective system to track progress. 

Having clear goals sets the direction of your business, strategy, and action plans. Without tracking progress, you wouldn't know what's working and what isn’t.

Using my 20 years of experience establishing multiple profitable online businesses, I am answering this core question about setting the right goals.

Before that, let's understand the importance of realistic goals.

We all are driven and motivated to create those big hairy audacious goals presuming we will make it happen. Imagine the energy, overwhelm, and anxiety behind this. This may invite a difference of opinion, however, I am an advocate of realistic but smart goals enough to challenge you, not to kill.

Unrealistic goals lead to unrealistic expectation from self and others. This can eventually lead to burnout, frustration, and failure. Realistic goals, on the other hand, are achievable and aligned with your business stage. They make you feel great about your decisions at every step.

Sunita Biddu

For example, for an online accessories or clothing business, expecting 50 lacs in revenue in the first year might be unrealistic. Instead, focusing on acquiring the first 1000 customers could be a more attainable and motivating goal considering happy customers can be repeat customers. 

Remember that goals should be big enough to stretch you out of your comfort zone but realistic enough to remain within reach when combined with effort and strategy.

Don’t Underestimate the Evergreen SMART Goals Method

Let's talk about the old boring but time-tested SMART goals concept, this time with examples of an online business.

Specific: Clearly define what you want to achieve. For example, I want to increase my website traffic by 20% within three months.

Measurable: Quantify your goals so you can track progress. Example - I want to make 30 new customers within the next 3 months.

Achievable: Ensure your goals are within reach given your resources, time, and skills. Example - I want to focus on utilizing my website and my Instagram to get my first 50 customers.

Relevant: Align your goals with your business objectives. Example - To sell my course, I need 200 active email subscribers within the next 3 months.

Time-bound: Set a deadline to create urgency and accountability. Example - Setting realistic discounts, and early bird pricing as a strategic move for yourself and for the audience.

Break Down Big Goals into Milestones

This is my gold tip. 

I could achieve a lot in my business journey not because I had small goals, but because I had big crazy goals broken into achievable milestones. Big goals can feel overwhelming. Smaller milestones will help you rest, relax, achieve, and celebrate the frequent wins while keeping you driven and motivated.

For example, if you launched a new cloud kitchen business and your goal is to generate 20 lacs of sales in one year, break it down like this:

Month 1: Research and finalize your menu with the early offer pricing to get the alpha customers.

Month 2: Build your website and launch your business and menu with special pricing on social media channels.

Months 3-4: Run your advertising campaigns on your primary social media channel to get 500 new orders.

Months 5-12: Optimize marketing, review the menu and clients' experiences, and scale up to reach the next set of customer goals.

By focusing on one milestone at a time, you’ll stay focused, and build momentum without feeling overwhelmed.

Align Goals with Your Business Model

Not all businesses have the same goals. Assess your objectives and available modes of marketing and sales to see what fits your business model.

E-commerce stores - Focus on website traffic growth and conversion rates from Day 1. Get your SEO started because it will take long. Consider running a paid campaign on the most profitable social network relevant to your products and audience to get the first set of new and repeat customer purchases.

Coaching or consulting businesses - Prioritize lead generation and client acquisition from LinkedIn, podcast, and blog. Build authority with your website and add as many testimonials on the site as possible.

Content-based magazines, blogs, video channels and businesses - Set goals for following, traffic, subscribers, engagement, and sponsorships. 

Choose metrics that matter most for your type of business. Having more followers doesn't mean business for every business. 

Use Tools to Track Your Progress

I have seen many entrepreneurs feeling scared of tools. Considering identifying a few important tools and learning to make the best of these. Tracking your progress is as critical as setting goals. And these tools make your life easier with not only useful stats but also insights to improve your online business performance.

My favorite and most recommended tools are:

• Google Analytics to track website traffic, user behavior, and conversions
• Mouseflow, Hotjar, and Crazyegg to track website visitor activity
• Inbuilt dashboard for Social Media Insights
• Mailchimp, Mailerlite, Convertkit, and Aweber to monitor open rates, click-through rates, and subscriber growth.
• Salesforce and Zoho for tracking customer interactions, sales pipelines, and conversion rates.
• Slack, Trello, Asana, Clickup to manage your workforce, milestones, and timelines. 

Know your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

Knowing the right KPIs is critical as these indicate your progress toward a goal. Identify KPIs relevant to your objectives.

Here are a few examples for your to consider -

• Website Traffic Goals - Pageviews, number of visitors, bounce rate and average time spent on site.
• Sales Goals - Lead vs. Conversion rate, Average order value, and cart abandonment rates.
• Social Media Goals - Engagement rate, follower growth, unfollow rate, and reach.
• Email Marketing Goals - Subscriber growth, response rate, open rates, and click-through rates.

Knowing and tracking the relevant KPIs will drive you to achieve your goals faster.

Review, Analyse and Adjust Your Goals

Your goals and milestones will evolve and adjust as you progress. They may exceed or may underperform as your receive the real-time response from the market and your audience. Be open to everything. Schedule regular reviews, Weekly, monthly, and quarterly — to assess progress.

Ask yourself these questions in every assessment -
Are my goals still relevant?
What progress have I made? Note down the stats and numbers.
What roadblocks am I facing, and how can I overcome them? 
Do I need to adjust timelines or expectations?

Make sure to seek the help of a marketing and branding strategist, or business coach to stay on the right track and make the most of your investment of money, time, and energy.

A few bonus tips to track your goals and achieve them faster

• Make use of automation. An online business involves managing multiple tasks. Automation will save your time and keep you consistent.
• Create SOPs. This helps your workforce and teams stay efficient and organized. Moreover, helps you supervise them better.
• Join cohorts, find accountability partners, online communities and hire mentors to keep yourself supported. 
• Treat failures as learning opportunities. If a strategy doesn’t work, figure out what went wrong, make necessary changes and try again. Remember, resilience is a key trait of successful entrepreneurs.

With this, we come to the end of today's answer. 

Ready to take your online business to the next level? Start small, stay consistent, and seek expert guidance when needed. Your next breakthrough is just one well-planned step away. Know that Success is a Journey, not a sprint.

Ask me any questions about your business, revenue, reputation, or the challenge you're facing. I am here to help.

See you soon with another answer

Sunita Biddu
Digital Business Mentor and Coach
Links
Web: https://www.sunitabiddu.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunitabiddu/

About The Business Playbook: 
The Business Playbook is a monthly column by digital business coach Sunita Biddu where she will answer all you questions about digital business and will guide you through the ever-evolving space of digital business, branding, and time-tested marketing strategies. 

You can mail us your questions to info@thewoomag.com