Web Marketing – Page 15 – TP Javeton WebNet

Goal-setting parameters

As has always been a widely accepted truism about goal-setting, the task of setting clearly defined short-term and some long-term goals, often enables the goal setter to measure his/her progress, achieve personal satisfaction and, after successfully meeting the goals set, establish parameters for future goals and objectives. Charting one’s progress will also enable him/her to actually see the stages of completion leading to actual realization of goals, thereby eliminating that sense which always seems to sneak into a goal setter’s thinking, that the journey towards achieving such goal is a pointless grind.

The act of charting the progress of a particular goal or objective also instills within the goal setter, a sense of self-confidence and a level of competence which will go a long way to improve goal-setting skills and refine the process, while heightening awareness of the goal setter’s capabilities as s/he complete or achieve the set goals. Keep in mind that the basics of goal-setting is an open secret known and adhered to by top-caliber athletes, successful business people and numerous other high achievers in all different fields.

Breaking down goals

In other words, the basics of goal-setting provide you – if you are the goal setter – short-term and long-term motivation and focus. Goals help you to focus, and maintain that focus, on the acquisition of critically important knowledge needed to help you plan and organize your resources, as well as your time, so that you will be able to get the best out of both your personal and professional life. Goal-setting basics often involve decisions pertaining to what you really want to do with your personal life, and what short-term and long-term goals you need to achieve in order to get it.

Of course, you always have to reduce goals into smaller, more manageable targets which you must complete on your way to achieving your lifetime targets; and once your list is complete, you should waste no time in tackling the overall goals you’ve set. One effective manner in which you can have a manageable list is to create daily and weekly sets of goals; and by doing this you will always be in a position of going towards you life plan goals. Everyday will give you the opportunity to fulfill a certain goal, thereby creating within yourself, the feeling of accomplishment.

Following are a few tips that should help in the goal-setting/process.

Attitude • Time • Education •

Attitude – This controllable characteristic plays a very big role in setting and achieving your goals and, as such, you must ask yourself if any part of you or your mind could be impeding the progress in completing your simplest goals. And if you can identify any part of your behavior that is a hindrance to your plans or throws them into disarray, it is important that you immediately address this problem. Some solutions may include a visit to your doctor or psychiatrist in an effort to control your emotions.

Time Management – Many a career have been made as a result of good time management practices, while failing in a career have often been attributed to bad time management. Most successful business people will attest to the fact that a career requires a lot from the individual; and the kind of commitment an individual must make in order to achieve a successful career can become a consuming force in the life of that individual. To avoid this destructive side of “commitment to your craft,” make sure to plan how far you want to go into your career and stick to your plan.

Education – This is key to achieving your goals, especially if those goals require you to have a certain kind of degree, require a certain specialization or demand a certain skill to be developed; so make the necessary plans to get the appropriate education where and when applicable.

Family! Finances! Physicality!

Family – Your family should never be left out of any plans you make pertaining to your career choices. If you are just starting out then you have to decide if you want to be a parent, or when you want to be a parent. You should also considerable thought to whether or not you would really be a good parent, and how well you would relate to extended family members.

Personal Finances – An individual’s personal financial situation will probably always play a major role in achieving his/her goals, since almost everything s/he does, or is able to do, is predicated upon affordability. That having been said, if you are that individual it is important that you have realistic goal on how much you really want to earn. You also must be able to create plans or stages by which you will be able to reach your earning potential.

Although it is not something most of us can control, physical ability is another characteristic that can be categorized when setting goals; meaning that physically gifted individuals are also able to achieve sports-related goals, whether they compete in the NBA (National Basketball Association), NFL (National Football League) or MLB (Major League Baseball; so determining your physical capabilities should be one of your priorities, since physical limitations could sometimes be conquered with proper planning.

Plan good and work hard

While it is important to plan good and work hard, it is just as important to rest and have a little fun along the way. According to the old adage, which you’re probably familiar with, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, or something to that effect; and which this saying is probably true down to the last the letter, giving yourself a little pleasure (rewarding yourself for accomplishing your goals?) should be included in all your plans.

A good way to start achieving your lifetime goals might be to set a quarter of a century plan, then break it down to 5 year plans, then break it down again to 1 year plans, then 6 month plans then monthly plans, then weekly, then daily. After that, create a things-to-do list for the day; but always review your plans and prepare for contingencies, and the basics of goal-setting should really not be as difficult as some folks make them out to be, once you become familiar with the process.

Highlighting EM mistakes

Some business owners who decide to try email marketing (EM) share the notion that email marketing done in any manner or form is conducive to their business; but this notion might well be misconceived, because there are certainly numerous mistakes a business owner can make when s/he organizes an email marketing campaign. Examples of such mistakes might include:

Allowing promotional materials to be tagged as spam;
Failure to follow-up with promotional emails;
Unpreparedness for increased customer interest after a given campaign;
Neglecting to market specifically to a target audience.

Listed above are the four most prominent among email marketing mistakes committed by some business owners; but let’s take a closer look at each of these email marketing failures individually, beginning with the dreaded spam, which is as serious a problem affecting email marketing as any other; and – because there was a law created specifically to control it – could be seen as the most serious violation of any Web marketing law, rule or practice.

The dreaded spam

Spam is a problem that has become so prevalent on the Web that almost every email service provider, Web hosting company, major blogging platform and most other Web-based businesses have created a weapon to combat it; and still, Web users are bombarded with spam originating from various global destinations that seem to be ignorant of – or otherwise impervious to – CAN-Spam Act, the law previously referred to.

Spam, by its very nature, includes a host of unsolicited emails that promote products and/or services to recipients who may or may not be interested in purchasing, and certainly did not ask to receive them. But it is at this juncture that many business owners make a critical mistake when attempting to do legitimate email marketing business; which is to say, they send emails which are likely to be construed as spam and, as such, they never reach the intended recipients or are deleted by the “spam assassin” tool without ever being read by those recipients.

However, what these business owners must understand is the fact that another way exists in which they can avoid the potential of falling into the spam category as spam; and it is not very difficult to do. This better way basically involves ensuring that the promotional emails sent by their business contain more useful content than blatant advertising; and as a result they will likely see a significant uptick in their emails being taken seriously, both by their intended recipients and the detection software installed to capture and delete spam.

Follow-up & preparedness

Another email marketing mistake often made by some businesses is failure to follow up on promotional emails. Sending out emails to interested parties can be very beneficial; but it is even more beneficial to contact the recipients by other methods, such as mail or telephone, to answer any questions they may have, and offer additional information they might require. This type of follow-up can be much more effective than simply sending an email and allowing it to fall into the abyss of an overcrowded email inbox.

Business owners may also commit the mistake of not preparing themselves for an influx of customers after an email marketing campaign has been completed. The express purpose of email marketing is to generate increased interest in products and/or services offered by the business; so it follows that the business which initiates and completes such campaigns must anticipate an increase in business, and be prepared to accommodate this increased demand for products and services.

In fact, such preparedness is critically important because potential customers who are forced to wait for products or services might just get tired of waiting and go elsewhere (competitors of that business) in search of better service; and if a particular competitor proves to be better prepared to provide them with products or services immediately, that’s where they will spend their time and money.

Target marketing

All too often business owners fail to tailor an email marketing campaign to their specific target market (or audience). This failure represents the fourth mistake on our list, because it is a problem that may result in the email marketing campaign being less effective. Business owners typically make this mistake because they fall into the trap of believing that it is more important to reach a large audience than it is to reach a target audience.

Think of it this way: Blindly sending your business email marketing materials to millions of recipients and only generating a few leads is far less effective than sending the same email marketing materials to a smaller group of, say, only a thousand recipients who all have expressed an interest in your products and services; because the smaller group will certainly generate more leads since they’ve already shown that they’re more likely to do business with you.

It is not only important to send your message to members of your target audience, but also to tailor your message to suit this particular audience. The simple rule to which an email marketing business should is this: Creating an email message which will appeal to a variety of individuals is not nearly as important as creating a message which will appeal to members of its target audience.

The autoresponder

You will need an autoresponder system with which to initiate and effectively complete the email marketing techniques suggested in this article; and which there are many on the Web to choose from, we’ve found this industry leader among the most reputable and affordable email marketing companies.