Create measurable goals

Every good plan has goals both specific and measurable. The same is true for your SEO plan. Get your team together and agree on a set of goals your website can reasonably achieve. Start by agreeing on the role your website plays in the greater scheme of your marketing strategy. How can the website be aligned to contribute to the business and marketing goals already in place? What do you want visitors to do when they get to your website?
If your website is:
A distribution channel, goals may include increasing online sales volume or average order value, donations, or subscriptions, or decreasing the number of bounces or exits before a conversion (or action) takes place.
An information center, goals may include more downloads of white papers, educational materials or other information, an increase in unique visitors, better awareness of an issue, an increase in online form submittals.
A support center, goals may include improved assistance for products purchased online or in a store, increased hits on the frequently asked questions page, increased use of features such as email, live chat or an 800 phone number.
A community builder, goals may include an increase in memberships, more people connecting via blog postings, forums, or bulletin boards, an increase in reader comments, or more volunteers.
Of course, improving organic search engine rankings is foremost on most web marketer’s minds. So, you may have goals like these: Improve organic rankings by one page. Based on organic results improvement, decrease paid Internet advertising by X percent.
Goals will be specific to your company, its position in the marketplace, business and marketing objectives, your industry and other factors. Regardless of what makes sense for you, make sure the goals are clear, agreed upon and measurable.
Track online results