My Focus Keyword
If we strive to make the next day better than the last, or even more encompassing the next year better than the last. I feel it's important to have something to focus on. I find the best way for me is to choose a focus keyword.
One simple keyword that I use to change my mindset. Maybe even change my work habits, or my business as a whole.
This year's keyword I've decided is “improve”. I touched on some personal aspects of this over on my personal blog in a post titled "Learn To Improve". Here on my business blog I'll focus on the business aspect of this thought process.
Let me pause a moment. Some have been curious why I have two blogs. I've felt there are things I want to talk (blog) about that don't affect business or aren't business related. Sure, mindset, spirituality, hobbies and things of that sort do impact how you do your business, but I decided I wanted a site dedicated for the things I'm passionate about. I will carry out the same keyword "Improve" in both my personal and business life.
The thought process is similar so I'll replicate these steps here that I had over there. But here this process will be focused on business ideas.
If we’re to improve we have to:
Determine What It Is We Want To Improve
Before we can improve anything we have to know what we're lacking in or areas that we feel we need to get better in. Not that we are horrible at those spots but, there is always room for improvement. Maybe, you want to be a better speaker, writer, designer, or something along those lines.
It could be you just want to improve traffic to your website. Or your website as a whole. Maybe, you want to know more about your business and improve your "numbers".
For example you know you want to make more money. Who doesn't, right? Well before you can make more money, you have to know what you are currently making. I mean, you know what you pay yourself but, do you know what you are bringing in and from where?
So, to improve you need to look at what you're bringing in, what you're spending and where you are spending it. Sometimes, you can make more money by removing things you no longer need to be spending money on. I've said in past posts that we should once a year (if not monthly), look at our subscriptions. Those things we pay for on a monthly basis. We all of those things we did a trial on that went to a paid subscription only to find out we never implemented. Those things are what we're looking at.
One of the things I want to improve this year is traffic and conversion. First I need to know what my current traffic is so that when I get more traffic I can tell that it's more.
So what do I need to do to improve traffic and conversion?
- Well the first thing is to make sure I have a traffic tracking mechanism in place. Such as Google analytics, or other mechanisms.
- The next would be to determine where my traffic is currently coming from. Such as SEO, social media, Facebook ads, Google ads, etc.
- Analyze the traffic I have and determine if I'm receiving visits from people that will be potential customers. I know that sounds confusing. Let me explain. If we have 10,000 visitors and only 1,000 are people that actually want or need my services then there’s a problem I’m attracting the wrong people which affect my conversions. Which leads to…
- Review the keywords and content I’m using on my website, ads, social media posts to make sure they match up with my target market.
This is just a starting point but you can see the thought process of what you need to do to improve just that one topic.
Educate Ourselves On How To Improve It
Continuing with my theme of what I want to improve, you may run into know what you want to improve but just unsure of HOW to improve it.
- Determine which topic you need help with. This is probably obvious.
- Start with YouTube - for example if you already have a hosting account that uses cpanel you already have stats built in. You could search YouTube for “how to use cpanel stats”.
- May you want to learn about Facebook ads and can’t find something recent - try Googling for Facebook ads, or Google ads. In some cases you may want to hire a coach that can explain your specific situation.
- In some cases you may just want to hire someone to do it for you. That is okay too. After all time is money, and you have to use your resources wisely.
Document Our Starting Point
Peter Druker once said “you can't manage what you can't measure.” Meaning there is no way to know how successful you are without being able to measure it.
Sure, if you had $10 yesterday and now have $20 that’s pretty easy to see the growth. But in the grand scheme of things you need to know where you are today, and be able to keep track of the variables.
You could start simple but as you grow so will how much you want to track and measure. What I mean is you may just want to know how much you're spending to see how much you are keeping.
But as you grow in possibilities you may want to measure. For example how much are you spending on Facebook ads and what is your return on that investment also known as ROI. Does it cost more to run Facebook ads than it does to run Google Ads, or other ad types. Do you get the same results?
Is the investment for a full time assistant since able? Or, after tracking ROI do you just hire out the tasks you don’t like (or aren’t able) to do and use the difference in savings elsewhere?
Give Ourselves Points Of Measure To Determine Success
Now that we know that we should be measuring different parts of our business or even personal lives. We need to set predetermined points that we check these measurements. You can’t just check numbers and panic without having good data points to match against.
As the saying goes, “Comparing Apples to Oranges”. There are also things to factor in during these points of measurement.
Some things I’ve noticed when reviewing stats.
- Certain days in my market I receive more traffic then other days. I should be aware of these days and post content or modifications in time for those days.
- Emails get opened more on certain days and even time of the day. I should consider mailing on those days and possibly even segment my list to mail during the times best for that list segment.
- Some of my websites received more traffic from mobile devices, and others receive more traffic from desktop devices. I should make sure my websites look and function well for those devices. Doing so can increase conversion.
- Certain age groups only use specific social media accounts. Am I using the right social media services to attract my ideal customers.
- In my emails I see that the 3rd and 4th links get more clicks then the first two. Should I add maybe a 5th link, should I change up the link text/button? Should I keep all the links so there is consistency. I should test and track these steps.
There’s Always Room For Improvement
I hope that you’ve found this information useful. If anything, we can see that there is always room for improvement and with everything we should not overwhelm ourselves with doing too much all at once. Obviously if you are a small business owner you need to do what you do.
We also need to remember we need to take time to work ON our business and not just IN our business. To be truly successful there has to be a good balance of both.
I’d love to hear your feedback, so if you’ve read this far, leave a comment in the space provided below or even connect with me on my social media accounts which you’ll see in the footer below.
Thanks for checking in and I look forward to connecting again in the near future.
