Creation

What can convince you that your site is successful? After you establish goals,
you need to specify the criteria that satisfy them. That means establishing
measurable objectives. First, enter your calculations from Chapter 1 for
break-even point, return on investment (ROI), and budget onto the Financial
Profile section of the Web Planning Form in Figure 2-1. Your budget and ROI
expectations might constrain how much you can spend on marketing and,
therefore, on how much traffic your site will receive. Take this into consideration
as you specify numerical targets for your objectives and the dates you
expect to accomplish them. There’s no point in setting unrealistic objectives
that doom your site to failure before you start.
Table 2-1 suggests some possible measurements for different Web site
goals, but you have to determine the actual quantities and time frames for
achievement. Define other objectives as appropriate. Enter the numbers and
time frames for the criteria you’ll use on the Sample Objectives section of the
Web Site Planning Form. These numbers are specific to each business.

If you don’t have objectives, you won’t know when you’ve reached or
exceeded them. Setting objectives ahead of time also ensures that you establish
a method for measurement.
For instance, you can obtain site traffic numbers from your Web statistics,
as I discuss in Chapter 14, but you can’t count leads that come in over the
phone that way. Your receptionist must ask how a caller heard about you
and tally results. Or you can display a separate number, e-mail address,
person, or extension for Web visitors to use, just as you would establish a
separate department number for a direct mail campaign.
Try to track data for a 13-month period so you can compare same-date results.
Almost all businesses experience some cyclical variation tied to the calendar.