Set S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals!

There are ~200,000,000 blogs and growing in the blogosphere (source: Technorati). But most blogs fall by the wayside after only a few months. Most real estate bloggers will ditch their blog after 5-6 months. Why? The most common responses are:

It isn’t working…

It takes too much time… I’m not seeing any results.

Lack of Planning:

Ever heard of the phrase: “Failing to plan, is planning to fail.” Well, that’s exactly why most bloggers fail on executing their blog over the long term. They don’t develop a specific plan to guide them from the very beginning.

S.M.A.R.T. GOALS:

S.M.A.R.T. is a mnemonic term used in project management. It’s a criteria that stipulates that goals should be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Specific – your goals need to be straightforward and specific. What do you want to happen and what do you expect to happen? The more specific you are, the easier it’s going to be to focus towards your goal. Saying “I want more business” for example, is too generic. Try aiming for “I want to generate 10 web-based leads in the next 3 months.”

Measurable – if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage/track your progress. So while you’re getting specific about your goals, try to set something that you can measure. For example:

Generic Goal: I want more business.
Specific & Measurable: I want to generate 10 web-based leads in the next 3 months.
Specific & Measurable: I want to “X” (X = number of people) to register a home search over the next 6 months.

Attainable – did your parents ever tell you to Dream Big? Mine did. It’s inspiring and it’s motivating sure. But when setting your goals, you should be a bit realistic about them. For example, saying that you’ll run the marathon in a month with no training and a poor diet is probably a lofty goal. Setting a goal to run 3 miles, 3 times per week and getting set to run a 5k or 10k is much more realistic. The more realistic the goal, the more likely you are to commit to it.

Relevant/Realistic – sure, your goal is to sell more real estate. Saying “I’ll close 20 escrows from my real estate blog in the next 6 months” is probably a bit of a stretch. 10,000+ subscribers in 6 months is a bit of a stretch too (especially for a real estate blog). All of this to say that your goal should be realistic. In other words, in the process of developing your plan to get there (the end goal), your goals should be realistic, and measurable and do-able. It’s ok to set the bar high, but set it just high enough that it’s still achievable.

Time-Bound – you need to give yourself a time-frame. What do you plan to accomplish in one week? One month? Three months? Six months? The end of the year? Setting goals and giving yourself a time-frame for meeting those goals holds you accountable. “Am I doing what I’ve set out to accomplish by next month?” If you don’t set a time-frame and hold yourself accountable, it’s likely you won’t stay committed to achieving your goal.

One Last Step:

E.R. – the final step in setting S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals is to Evaluate and Re-evaluate your progress. Have you achieved your goals by week one or month one? How far along are you towards completing your goals? If you’re not making any progress, perhaps you need to regroup and rethink your goals to make them more attainable and realistic. There’s nothing wrong with regrouping and rethinking your goals. And as long as you’re making progress, you’re well on your way.

What Are Your S.M.A.R.T. Goals?

What are some of your S.M.A.R.T. Goals for your real estate blog? I’d love to hear your goals/thoughts in the comments!