Get Fit and Stay Healthy

Everyone talks about wanting to lose weight; especially at this time of the year when the holiday season has unleashed merciless calories on us! Plus most of us are still optimistic that we may actually make a resolution this year and find a way to stick to it.

But consider this, isn’t getting fit and staying healthy a much better goal than simply wanting to lose weight. At least, that’s my opinion. And if you think about it, the poor underweight folks are actually hoping to put on some pounds so losing weight is not on their list at all!

As an Internet marketer, I often find myself helping clients understand this difference between having a healthy online presence as opposed to a glamorous one. Just like losing weight to look like a skinny Parisian model when being fit and healthy can make you a lot more attractive.

This year, aim to make your business healthy and solidify your online presence.

Here are 3 worthwhile Internet marketing goals for 2011. They also work well to get fit personally!

Set up realistic goals. This is the first step towards being successful. You can’t set your target on losing 50 pounds in a month. You are more than likely to fail at it. And if by some (black) magic you do, it won’t be a healthy way to lose weight. It’s the same thing with your website. You want to jump to #1 on Google overnight and maybe some fly-by-night SEO wizard will promise you that too. But you may end up doing more damage than good to your organization’s web presence. Never mind that the search engines will also eye you suspiciously.

If you’re not using it, get rid of it. If you’re like most people, the treadmill or elliptical you were so excited about once upon a time is now a clotheshorse for your laundry. I bet you’re smiling as you read this – it’s true, isn’t it? If it’s taking up precious space and you’re not using it, get rid of it. Take a close look at your website too. Identify what’s working well for you and make a plan to enhance these productive areas. Keep what’s working and improve on it. That Resources section with a year-old “Coming Soon!” line? Get rid of it today! The video on your home page you uploaded a long time back? Archive it and create a fresh one that will help with your SEO rankings and elicit renewed interest from your site visitors.

Find the right diet and follow a sustainable exercise routine. Crash diets and an Olympic fitness regime won’t work in the long term. Similarly, a sensible integrated marketing mix and sustainable strategy can deliver online business success. Create a task list of quick and easy things to implement that will bring fast results. Also plan your strategy for ongoing enhancements that will take longer to accomplish but are worth the wait. Setting up web analytics, implementing a PPC campaign, creating a custom Facebook page, posting regular Tweets, uploading a viral video; these are all quick Internet marketing initiatives you can undertake. On the other hand, SEO, blogging, online events, PR, updated website content; these are activities that take more planning and effort but should definitely be on your agenda as well.