online-marketing-goal-setting

Guarantees vs Goals of Substance

Ensight Marketing doesn’t make any guarantees on ROI or specific online marketing results, because it’s just not professional to do so!

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]o why do we say it’s unprofessional to make guarantees about a websites’ online marketing performance?

There are just too many variables from industry to industry, from your particular online marketing history, domain-name age and history, website coding validation (W3C), incoming links and link sources, content history, etc… these varying components all play a role, and make accurate predictions very difficult, to near impossible.

[dropcap]M[/dropcap]any online marketers use “bold marketing-speak” style guarantees to garner attention and build a sense of security with the end client. For more see this sample checklist on avoiding unscrupulous online marketing consulting.

This thought-process eliminates longterm accountability on the online marketers part, and harbors some of the unscrupulous culture that exists in the website design and online marketing consulting services industry.

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]re you working with a goal-oriented online marketer or a guarantee-oriented web consultant?

Best way to know is to have this conversation with them. Discuss why guarantees were made in lue of goals? Discuss how those goals apply to “real” ROI and not just the “illusion” of website marketing success.

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]easoned goal-setting, allows us to soundly keep our clients satisfied and comfortable with our integrity and work ethic.

With that said, Ensight wants to be sure we’re all on the same page! Although we can’t guarantee your going to make X amount of money off this website marketing strategy, or get Y amount of leads from our search engine optimization, we can assure you of a collective agreement regarding the growth of your web marketing profile.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his collective agreement we come to, centers around strategies, practices, and measurements we can methodically calculate and control.

We do this while also providing you a valid and meaningful measuring stick for the evolution of your website functionality, as well as your online recognition and reputation. Understand just how we accomplish these data points by learning more about website analytics and user-behavior research.
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For Instance We can Gurantee:

  • You’ll rank on page 1 of Google for 3, 5, or 9 + terms (depending on chosen SEO package)
  • You’ll see an increase in inbound search engine and referral website traffic
  • Your website will provide a wider scope of functions and marketing tactics

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For something more material as far as your ROI, we create Goals of Substance:

  • Goal for year 1 – achieve an avg time on site of over 2 minutes per user
  • Goal for year 1 – achieve avg ratio of 50% or more of your traffic from search engines
  • Goal for year 1 – achieve a bounce rate of 35% or lower for homepage
  • Goal for year 1 – achieve at least 25% total traffic increase from previous year (only measurable if you were already running analytics)

Now, these above website analytics based marketing standards are just a random summary of some goal samples. Ensight sets a client’s goals based on criteria regarding the product or service, the local, national, or global industry, the company’s market position, and the needs of the target audience (company’s clientele); all bound back into the personal aspirations the company has for itself.

The online marketing goals we set, may not all succeed, but as marketing strategists, they provide us a barometer to present to our digital marketing clients. As we analyze and measure their online marketing conditions, it is easier, more accurate, and a more confident way to measure web marketing success.

This way, you as a client, have a better sense of what you’ve spent your money on, and just exactly what it is doing for your business.

Please contact us for a custom Online Marketing Quote or learn more about our Online Marketing Consulting Services. 🙂

If you’re unsure about what’s most appropriate for your small or medium sized business marketing on the web, please call us for a Free Website Visibility Audit @ 408-657-7Web or email us here – audit @ ensightmarketing.com.