As the New Year comes upon us, it is that time again - to think about, list, and then to implement, our New Year's Resolutions. This is especially true for those of us running a website or online business. The concept of New Year's Resolutions, is based upon goal setting. Whether a person believes in goal setting or not, it has been proven, time and again, that people who spend even a brief bit of time developing a plan, whether informally, or with a system designed for that purpose, are more likely to actually accomplish their objectives, than if they had not done so.

The method employed may be as informal as a short list of the types of things you would like to accomplish for your Internet business or company, or a more elaborate system, including a business and marketing plan, with target dates. A written with goals and specific setting dates, will be more effective than a simple list, but it's also easy to start with a list, to use as a brainstorming tool.

To get you started, the below steps may serve as a simple New Year's Resolution goal setting template:

1. Define what the overall goal is, so that you can build from it.
2. Take action to develop the goal, by setting smaller targets and goals to accomplish the larger overall objective.

With specific regard to Internet New Year's Resolutions, here are a few suggestions to start with:

1. Solidify a good business idea. If you do not have an Internet Business, the first thing to do is to harvest a business idea - whether it is a good concept, product, service, or good content. If you are unfamiliar with online businesses, time should be spent investigating learning tools about the nature of Internet businesses. Even if you are not a novice, it could also be a good idea to brush-up on the basics, which can help expand your business, or assist in brainstorming for new ideas. Areas essential for new online businesses, include:

(a) Domain Names (check out the list of domain name resources here)
(b) Web Hosting (you can use a resource site like The Web Host Industry Review)
(c) Website Design (one good product is ValueWeb's ReadyWeb), other site design resources are here).
(d) Legalities (to determine how your business is structured - small business resources are located here).

2. Create a business plan. If you already have an Internet business, but never developed a business plan, this could be a critical goal to incorporate. Whether you have a very small company - or seek to grow one that is small, there are many benefits to reap from utilizing a business plan. One good resource is the United States small business administration, that has free templates, with numerous types of business model software available.

3. Examine e-mail hosting systems. While it may be tempting, it's usually not a good idea to use a free email service, unless the site is mainly just a blog. If you have a serious business, it must be viewed as such, and given the dignity of proper planning, using the types of business services available in order to grow and maintain the business. Any type of ''free'' hosting, really means that a lack of an essential business quality will exist. And that inequity will be evident to customers, which will effect the overall success of your Internet business.

One option for email hosting is known as hosted Exchange services - a service developed by software giant Microsoft. A leader in this space is Intermedia.NET which offers two options to new clients: hosted Exchange 2003 service, with a free upgrade to Exchange 2007 during the coming year; or immediate hosted Exchange 2007. To complete the service, in addition, a free copy of Microsoft Outlook 2003 is offered to new clients. Intermedia.NET's hosted Exchange 2007 service is based on the latest Release Candidate of the software, tested by Microsoft.

4. Get quality visitors to your site. Whether you have a brand new or existing business, marketing, search engines, and search directories are a very important aspect of an online business. Having a marketing and search engine plan, can determine whether advertising delivers targeted traffic to the web site. And it is, of course, targeted traffic that will determine the success of your Internet business. One important step is to submit your business for inclusion in the Best of the Web Directory. Getting listed with Best of the Web gains important exposure for your business - and helps to attract qualified visitors to your site.

5. Establish and expand your customer base. With both new and existing Internet businesses, every web site should include a visitor form, to gather email addresses, and/or physical addresses and phone numbers. Even though only a small percentage of visitors will share information, the ones that do, can be developed into future customers and repeat visitors. In order to make customer feel comfortable with leaving their information, a customer/user privacy statement should be listed. Another tactic to grow clientele, is to offer ''tell-a-friend'' incentives, such as discount coupons.

6. Financial issues should be addressed. Finally, one of the most important issues in business in general, are financial records and future plans. Now is a good time to examine accounting records, the same as one would web site log reports or traffic. The information found can also be used as a tool to discover future business trends, develop a schedule of action plan targets, or inventory requirements.  Just as good accounting records are essential at tax time, it is important to maintain proper records in order to solicit investors for new business ventures, or if borrowing money to finance future growth is anticipated. 

Those people who are not fond of the idea of New Year's resolutions, should keep in mind that they are essentially, a form of goal setting. Therefore, if anyone is inclined to utilize any kind of goal formulating process, it would be smart to develop some Internet New Year's resolutions. If it is an issue of time, perhaps time management could be one of the actual goals. There are many ways to go about creating New Year's Resolutions. Whether you decide to use an informal approach, or a more elaborate goal setting process, the bottom line is that by incorporating some kind of goal setting, can actually improve the chances of success in your Internet business.

About the Author

Susan S. Davis is a freelance feature writer and news editor for The Hosting News - a TechPad Agency website property. Ms. Davis has served as an editorial manager at Disney's Go.com and regularly contributes to print and Internet publications. TechPad Agency operates a professional network of hosting related websites including The Hosting News, Cheap Web Hosting Directory and Website Hosting Directory. This content is provided courtesy of the dedicated server hosting showcase at The Hosting News.

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Published on: 2007-01-17 (6890 reads)