What are Performance Goals?
The John Deere explains performance goals:
[Performance goals help you] ensure you clearly understand what is expected of you. You have the opportunity to learn how what you are doing contributes to your department, unit and ultimately [your online business].
Performance goals define your direct contributions that link to the achievement of business objectives.
Performance goals address the “what” element of your job or the achievements of your projects.
So, now that we all have a better understanding of performance goals, check this out:
5 Performance Goals All Bloggers (and Website Owners) Should Set:
- Reply to every comment on your blog: if you haven’t noticed lately, I’ve added a wp-plugin called the wp thread comment. This plugin is a perfect way to create community with your blog. As readers make comments, I can give feedback, answer questions, and be more involved. Readers can get in to debates, form friendships, and even flat out disagree. Now you may ask, “How does this really benefit your website?” Community = Loyalty, Loyalty = Positive Word of Mouth Advertisting, Positive Word of Mouth Advertising = Increased Traffic, Increased Traffic = More Sales and More Money (The Outcome Goal most of us want!) So, set a goal today to Reply to every comment on your blog.
- Reply to every email: Gary V recommended this at Blog World Expo 2008. Why? Again, Community! People – potential customers, current customers, friends, etc. – don’t “care how much you know until they know how much you care” 🙂 Now that’s cheesy, but it’s true! If I blow off emails left and right, what kind of confidence am I creating for my clients? Even if the response is, “I’m really busy right now, let’s plan a time when we can talk or get back in touch…” – that is at least acknowledging that the person is important to you. Now start today and Reply to every email! (hopefully some of the people I manage will read this and take it to heart too LOL)
- Blog about your passion: I’ve talked about this a lot lately; my passion is being revealed by my increased consistency in blogging about how to start an online business. Passion is key to your success with this endeavor!
Passion is the underlying force that fuels our strongest emotions. It is the intensity we feel when we engage in activities that interest us deeply. It fills us with energy and enables us to perform at our peak. Just as people can be guided and inspired by their personal passions, so can organizations be driven and defined by their collective passions. Organizations that are driven by the collective passion of their associates reap those same rewards. (source)
- Pick 5+ blogs within your industry that you read religiously: Educate yourself in your industry. You may think you know all there is to know. YOU’RE WRONG! The best people I’ve listened to and read information from are sponges – they are always networking, talking to others, asking questions, and learning because they know, in order to stay at the top of their game, they have to do more and be more than their competitors. If not, they’ll get passed up pretty quickly. Find some blogs you like, subscribe to their email list, and study their success! Then use that success to form your own patterns.
- Make valid, thought provoking comments on these blogs: Reading just isn’t enough! You have to get involved in your industry; this is one limitless way to do that. Make good comments on the blogs you’re reading. Don’t be afraid to disagree. Ask direct questions. Share your experience. Basically what you are doing here is tapping in to an already established database of your target audience. You’re also building your name, brand and credibility. One of the best things I’ve done for the MollerMarketing Blog was to interview Jeremy Schoemaker. Our interview was published on his blog and boy have my traffic numbers gone up since then! At times you’ll have to break your fears – you’ll have to step out of your comfort zone; but those are the times that separate the “serious from the curious”.
There you have it – 5 Performance Goals All Bloggers Should Set! Thoughts and comments welcome…