Build on the success of your website with a reputable web hosting provider.

Whether you are about to embark on a journey that leads to creating an ecommerce site or tweaking the one you already have, your web host is your global positioning system.  Many ecommerce owners make the mistake of slapping something up on the web “to get started” without mapping out their business goals. And if you don’t know exactly where you are going, how will you know when you get there? Let your web host be your guide.

In the corporate world, managers are often advised to develop “SMART” goals. Management guru Peter Drucker first coined the phrase in 1954 in his publication titled “The Practice Of Management.” The acronym stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Talk to your web host about how you can apply this tried and true goal-setting method to boost the success of your online business.

SMART website goals must be:

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. The more precise you are, the easier it will be to measure whether or not you are reaching your goals. When we are specific, we harness the power of our dreams and set forces into action that empower us to achieve our goals.

Measurable: Top business strategists contend that “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. “ When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort. Measurements should be specific. For instance, a goal such as “making a profit
on my ecommerce site” is not specific enough because it doesn’t define what “profit” is. A better goal would be to make a monthly profit of $1,000 or to maintain a profit margin of 10% of gross sales.

Attainable:  When you identify the goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come attainable. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

Realistic: Your goal has to be something that you can reasonably make "real" or a "reality" in your life. For one person a goal may be realistic, but for another the same goal may be unrealistic. Be very honest with yourself as you do your planning and evaluation. Perhaps it would be good to get a friend to help you (as long as that friend is by nature an optimist and not a pessimist). This can go a long way toward helping you know what is realistic.

Timely: A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no sense of urgency.  If you want to establish a customer base of 10,000 people and say it will happen “someday” you will never accomplish it. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, "by May of 2008", then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

Work with your web host to develop SMART goals that will help you achieve your vision. Despite a lagging economy, ecommerce sites continue to grow and thrive so you should make sure your site is head and shoulders above the competition so you will benefit from this trend.  With a little planning and a lot of creativity, you can pave the way for unprecedented success. As Peter Drucker put it: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

back to top