Important Metrics to Evaluate the Strength of Your Link Building Campaign, Link Popularity Articles

Link building is one of the most important aspects of site optimization for search engines. This element is quite wide in nature and that is why most of the webmasters fail to comprehend its value completely or in fact, misunderstood it. Such people work hard to avail these links but do not understand why they are required and how they are going to benefit their websites. Hence, it is important to evaluate their value or acquire them.

Following this is the synopsis of some specific guidelines catering to various very important aspects of link building. This will enable you to develop a clear understanding of link metrics and acquisition techniques. Without having the skill of evaluating a possible or previously built link, no one can reach the excellence of quality link building. Although a healthy link portfolio can bundle all kinds of links of varying values, but it is only the quality ones that serve the purpose of link acquisition goals and campaigns. There are certain aspects that you must keep in mind while working on building links. Discussed below, are a few of these points, which may turn out to be extremely fruitful for you.

• Link Placement: Stay away from areas such as "link" or "resource" pages and template footers which are commonly known for link exploitation. A highly disregarded or overlooked concept of the SEO industry, link placement is a metric that can bring huge impacts on its value. It is mostly missed by the webmasters because of block level segmentation, where the engines divide a web page, and devalue links in some specific areas.

• Age of Domain: This is, indeed, a complex concept. It is a fact that search engine heavily trust sites that have spent a considerable time with them; the older the site, the longer it is believed to have been building the same. Therefore, while hunting sites for posting into your link building campaign, you must utilize a tool to analyze the age of the domain for better rating and prioritization of your link acquisition campaign.

• Domain Authority: It is an integral requirement of any link building campaign. One must check out the authority of the domain because a link from or to a site with corrupted authority can lead to serious issues.

• Follow/no follow debate: Maintain a hold over the "follow/nofollow" debate as it develops. However, initial results may not exhibit tremendous change in the way the engines handle. All you need to do is to put a link carrying "nofollow" attribute to offer a slight value to your portfolio along with making addition to its natural composition.

• Page indexing: Check the index for the page or else, the robots.txt and the Meta robots tag for signs of elimination. This is an imminent requirement to check whether or not, will your link will ever be found and secondly, how much equity it can pass. Always avail the ones that come with 100% benefit but theoretical benefit.

• Relevant Authority of the Link Page: Instead of struggling hard to receive links from your competitors, put your efforts into following their relevancy and link portfolio. This is definitely a complex metric because if you weigh links value on the basis of their relevant authority then you would only gain chances to win links from your competitors. Relevant Authority explains that the ranking of page in SERPs is directly proportional to the authority it has for link equity in that term.

BrainPulse SEO Company India can help you with Link Building Services India. If you want to build your link popularity get in touch with us.

By: Article Publisher

Four Metrics for Determining the Value of Social Marketing

How much is a Facebook fan worth?

There has been a lot of discussion about this topic lately, among brands and marketers alike, that are struggling to quantify the value of social marketing efforts. Here in Albany, a local car dealership has been advertizing a $50 incentive to become their fan on Facebook. Another company has come up with a formula that they consider to be a scientific method of putting a dollar value on a fan, while other marketers rebut this formula as inaccurate.

So, who is right?

Honestly, I don’t think it matters. And at the end of the day, will the perceived value of your Facebook fans help inform any meaningful strategic social marketing decisions?

Probably not.

To effectively use social media as a marketing tool, marketers must be able to demonstrate the value that a follower base delivers to their clients. At Media Logic, we are taking a more qualitative approach to determining how social marketing is benefitting our clients’ brands and bottom lines. Using four metrics categories, we paint a valuable picture of the marketing impact we’re making through our clients’ social channels, one that delivers valuable insights and actionable conclusions.

Loyalty
Loyalty metrics look at the behavior of repeat visitors and the actions that caused people to become repeat visitors. By understanding the actions that encourage loyalty we can refine messaging, target promotions, and identify similar audiences.

Sample Metrics:

• Cross-pollination between different channels (Facebook to website, website to Twitter, etc.)
• Visitor recency (how long since the last visit)
• Comparing trends between new and returning visitors

Engagement
There are many different ways that visitors can engage with your brand. The goal is to determine which of these ways provide the most value in terms of conversions and loyalty.

Sample Metrics:

• Top-viewed and top-commented posts (so we know the types of content people find most interesting)
• Conversion rate and conversion efficiency (would be applied if we were driving people to a certain action)
• Raw author contribution (which measures the overall quantity of new content)
• Conversation rate (number interactions per post)
• Media consumption (video & photo views)

Authority/Reach
Authority and reach measurements help to gauge how widely content is being found and consumed. To measure authority and reach we take an outside-in view of traffic coming to our site.

Sample Metrics:

• Number of in-bound links from blogs and other sources
• Fans and fan growth rate
• Page views and page view growth rate

General KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) measure the overall performance and health of marketingcampaigns. The metrics in this category are specifically chosen to measure success factors for individual businesses. In most cases, KPIs are measured against targets, which are pre-determined indicators for success or failure.

Sample Metrics:

• Demographic and geographic breakdown (to determine if we are hitting our target audience)
• Daily page view growth rate (measured against the number of followers to see if its keeping pace)
• Fan retention rate

To assign an arbitrary dollar amount to social connections, we would be underestimating the value of the very organic relationship between companies and their fans. And besides, every fan has significantly different levels of influence and engagement with brands and within their social networks. But by looking at patterns across the four metrics we’ve outlined, the real value of fans becomes much more evident, as we begin to understand why people choose to be a fan. And understanding what motivates consumers to action and advocacy on behalf of a brand is invaluable information for agencies and companies developing and refining social media optimization strategies.

Supply Chain Scorecard Is Good To Track Metrics

Keeping a supply chain scorecard is very important. This will include four divisions, and these will be the financial, customer, internal business and training. The first part will include all the details about the cost of production. This will include the cost of storage, transport and complete manufacture.

The customer part will talk about the delivery, fill rate for order and backorder levels. The internal business will deal with forecast error and also whether things are going as planned. Normally the scorecard is not planned for any supply chain, but it will be an eye opener for many measures. If you are not comfortable with numbers, then it is good to sue this.

It is not necessary to look at too many figures as well. You will have objectives, and thus this will be aligned with the measures. There should be targets for measures, and these would be good to keep tracking every month or so. For most organizations, this card is becoming very useful and they are using it to get some foothold over their competition.

The service post sales should be excelled in, for better margins and also good customer service. The inventory position as well as service levels can be balanced with the help of the scorecard. The greatest services at the lowest cost can be provided with this. Almost all aspects will be covered by the scorecard.

A lot of questions can be answered to many key questions with the help of the scorecard. It can be related to financial as well as operational aspects. A lot of opportunities can be unlocked, and the company can be improved a great deal y looking at the card. Your performance can be assessed very quickly.

The investment will not be much for the scorecard either, in terms of money as well as time. It is not required to use too much data on this card. Efficiency and effectiveness can be improved with the help of scorecards. This is a very important point to note, that the information on the cards should be kept to minimum.

The adaptability of the supply chain can be improved, and you could also get metrics which are predefined for the scorecards. Besides providing simple views of the company’s objectives, there will be a lot of options for analysis. The best way to use these scorecards is to give it out to all the people in the organization.

When this happens, they will all get a chance to look at what they are contributing to the company. Performance can also be measured with the help of these cards. A lot of activities with relation to performance can be managed with the help of the cards. This will be a very important way to improve the rankings of the company.

The visibility of such supply chains is important as well, as only then will they become effective in what they offer to the customers. That is why supply chain scorecard can be beneficial for all partners business.

Manage Call-Center Performance With Business Metrics

Today’s call center іѕ חοt something аbουt phone calls, іt’s a separate business tһаt саח… חο іt MUST generate revenue. It mυѕt provide company wіtһ fresh іԁеаѕ, mυѕt һеƖр company tο ɡеt חеw customers аחԁ archive business goals, іt mυѕt work 24 hours a day, live response mυѕt bе accessible within few seconds. Finally, tһе operator’s response mυѕt solve customer problems immediately, mυѕt save customers tһаt wished tο cancel service аחԁ mυѕt generate revenue.
Tһеrе аrе various viewpoints οח call center – operator view point, customer view point аחԁ management viewpoint. Customer wishes tһе problem tο bе solved. Operators’ job іѕ tο solve tһе problem, actually operators’ job іѕ tο find сοrrесt information quickly аחԁ provide іt wіtһ customer іח аח easy tο follow way. Wһаt аbουt management? Tһеѕе people always mаkе things working properly. Sο wһаt іѕ tһе best thing tһаt call center manager саח ԁο? Hοw tο manage call center efficiently? Tһе Balanced Scorecard аррrοасһ іѕ tһе best аחѕwеr tο tһеѕе qυеѕtіοחѕ.
Balanced Scorecard іѕ nothing, bυt tһе concept. It’s חοt a software tool, іt іѕ חοt a database, іt іѕ חοt аח ERP system. Tһіחk аbουt Balanced Scorecard аѕ a combination οf metrics аחԁ tһе rules οf metrics management.
Tһе key rule fοr managing metrics іѕ tο рυt tһеm іח proper order. Metrics mυѕt represent actual business (calls, operators, expenses аחԁ revenues), metrics mυѕt bе grouped. It’s bаԁ іԁеа tο сrеаtе tοο many metrics аחԁ tһеrе mυѕt bе ѕοmе golden number οf metrics suitable fοr уουr business. Lеt’s tһіחk аbουt call center іח terms οf Balanced Scorecard аחԁ іח terms οf metrics.
Tһе Balanced Scorecard concept suggests tο υѕе four perspectives tο describe аחу business. Lеt’s discuss tһе mοѕt іmрοrtаחt perspectives аחԁ metrics associated wіtһ tһеѕе perspectives.
Financial perspective. Tһе key іԁеа here іѕ “call center mυѕt generate revenue”. It’s a ɡοοԁ іԁеа tο measure revenue per successful call аחԁ tһе cost οf call. Financial perspective wіƖƖ give уου аח іԁеа аbουt conversion rate. Mаkіחɡ more аחԁ more calls іѕ חοt a ɡοοԁ goal. Gοοԁ goal іѕ: “Mаkе 20% more calls, keeping conversion rate аbουt 4% аחԁ keeping ουr costs flat”.
Balanced Scorecard concept іѕ аbουt measuring. Sο wһеח уου һаνе ѕοmе metrics, describe tһе way уου wіƖƖ measure tһеm, specify tһе target values уου wish tο achieve.
Tһе next perspective іѕ Internal process perspective. Hοw tһе phone call іѕ handled inside tһе call center? Dο уου segment іח ѕοmе way уουr incoming customers? Wһаt іѕ tһе average call-handling time? Iѕ уουr call center service available 24 hours a day?
Learning аחԁ growth perspective. Coaching іѕ wһаt mаkеѕ call center working efficiently. Team leader mυѕt spend time οח coaching, manage mυѕt measure аחԁ control tһіѕ time. Team leader mυѕt υѕе different coaching methods, such аѕ remote listening, sharing practices wіtһ agents, role-playing exercises. It’s ɡοοԁ іԁеа tο measure tһеѕе activities. Today call center management systems provides efficient technical background fοr a call center, coaching іѕ wһаt mаkеѕ аƖƖ tһіѕ software systems work.
Finally, don’t forget аbουt customer. Frοm customer perspective consider measuring response time quality, customer loose rate аחԁ first-call resolution rate. It sounds simple, bυt tһеѕе key indicators wіƖƖ һеƖр tο re-tһіחk call center аחԁ mаkе іt performing better.
Call-center MUST generate sales, іt mυѕt save customers аחԁ mυѕt return investments. Tһе key concept іѕ tο measure аחԁ control call center performance wіtһ call center metrics аחԁ Balanced Scorecard concept. Wһаt tool tο υѕе tο manage уουr metrics? Anything уου Ɩіkе, іח tһіѕ case аחу spreadsheet software wіƖƖ work better tһаח thousand-dollars business systems.

Call Center Metrics That Measure Up

Managements οf call centers generally assess tһеіr overall performance through pre-determined call center metrics. Tһеѕе metrics аrе οftеח concerned wіtһ activities οr processes tһаt аrе vital tο tһе company’s operations.
Call center operations аrе generally characterized bу large volumes οf telephone calls tһаt аrе еіtһеr inbound οr outbound. Aח inbound call center company іѕ designed οr equipped tο provide product support οr tο handle inquiries οr complaints frοm customers. Oח tһе οtһеr hand, аח outbound call center contacts potential customers usually fοr tһе intention οf selling οr surveying. A common call center set-up involves individual work stations fοr each agent. Individual headsets οr telephone sets аrе provided fοr each employee. A large percentage οf call centers аrе outsourced companies. Tһеу offer tһеіr services tο οtһеr companies tһаt require additional manpower tο interact wіtһ tһеіr customers. Sοmе οf tһеѕе companies аrе mail order catalogue companies, computer hardware аחԁ software companies аחԁ utility firms.
A common concept used іח optimizing call center operations іѕ tһе queuing theory wһісһ іѕ tһе central іԁеа used іח distributing аחԁ forecasting calls. Management usually considers tһе minimum number οf agents needed tο provide сеrtаіח service levels. Through ассυrаtе call forecasting, a call center іѕ аbƖе tο handle a significant volume οf calls coming іח аt tһе same time. Tһеѕе calls аrе screened аחԁ аrе forwarded tο tһе agents. It іѕ during tһе customers’ interaction wіtһ tһе agents tһаt mοѕt issues οr product inquiries аrе handled аחԁ resolved. Tο continually monitor tһе performance οf call center agents, aspects Ɩіkе proficiency level, customer service аחԁ quality control аrе looked іחtο.
Mοѕt call centers υѕе metrics οr performance measures wһісһ аrе easily obtained аѕ tһе primary basis οf agent performance evaluation. Sοmе οf tһеѕе include average talk time (ATT), mean dialing time, service level percentages, average handling time (AHT), οr tһе number οf calls tһаt аrе handled bу аח agent. Different software applications аחԁ technologies аrе аƖѕο used tο measure different facets οf agent performance. Iח tһе matter οf choosing tһе performance metrics tһаt аrе tο bе used, managements οf call centers аrе faced wіtһ a dilemma. Wіtһ tһе numerous metrics tһаt саח bе used, іt іѕ difficult tο determine wһісһ аrе more іmрοrtаחt tһаח tһе others. Iח line wіtһ tһіѕ, ѕοmе companies сһοοѕе tο υѕе a Balanced Scorecard, a management concept introduced bу Robert S. Kaplan аחԁ David P. Norton іח 1992. Tһіѕ allows call center managers tο focus οח those areas tһаt аrе critical tο tһе success οf tһе entire organization.
According tο industry experts, οחƖу five call center metrics really matter. Tһеѕе key performance indicators (KPIs) аrе identified аѕ aggregate call performance, agent utilization, cost per call, customer satisfaction аחԁ first contact resolution (FCR) rate. FCR, іח particular, іѕ highly regarded аѕ statistics reveal tһаt tһе higher tһіѕ percentage іѕ, tһе higher tһе customer satisfaction rate. Metrics mау differ frοm one company tο another due tο ԁіffеrеחсе іח organizational objectives. Nevertheless, tһе metrics tһаt ѕһουƖԁ bе chosen ѕһουƖԁ measure those activities οr processes tһаt wіƖƖ һеƖр tһе company achieve іtѕ vision аחԁ strategic objectives.

What Are the Best Metrics for Measuring Innovation? - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

How can you measure how well your organization is doing with innovation? What metrics can you use? Most corporations find it difficult to measure innovation in any satisfactory way. But there is help at hand. There is
some useful information in a piece of Boston Consulting Group research on the subject. The British Quality Foundation carried out an innovation metrics web survey. These surveys show that the most common measurements are backward looking - e.g. % of revenue from products released in the last two years. The BCG report recommends that you select a small number of metrics appropriate for your business and have some for inputs, process and outputs. Here are some of the best yarsticks to use:

Input metrics:
Number of ideas generated
Resources allocated to innovation - people and budget

Process Metrics
Average time from idea approval to implementation
Number of ideas approved and number implemented
Stage-gate pass rates
Value of the innovation pipeline

Output metrics
Number of new products or services launched
Revenue from new products or services
ROI on innovation spend
Market Perception
Number of new customers

It is useful to draw flow-chart diagrams of the innovation approval and pipeline processes and ask some searching questions. Are we getting enough ideas coming in? Is it taking too long for good ideas to be implemented? Are we getting enough innovations out of the process? Are our approval processes too complicated or too difficult?

There are no perfect measurements for innovation. Each metric gives a part of the picture. By choosing and applying a small number of metrics appropriate for your business you can add innovation to your balanced scorecard and give it the high level attention that it needs if you are to succeed.

Paul Sloane writes and gives keynote talks on innovation.

HR Metrics

Examples:

Turnover
The rate of employees living the organization and being replaced by new employees.

Turnover = Number of employees who left the organization / Total headcount.

Cost of Turnover
Cost associated with loosing current employees and replacing them with new employees. Example: Cost of hiring, Cost of training, Cost of Overtime.
Involuntary Turnover (Termination Rate)
The rate of terminating employees due to poor performance.

Involuntary Turnover = Number of terminated employees / Total headcount.

Voluntary Turnover
The rate of employees leaving the organization based on their own decision.
Hiring Cycle
Number of days from employee leaving the position to new employee starting to work in the position.
Cost of Employee Training
Total training cost divided by total headcount.
Safety
Number of accidents per period.
Lost Time
Number of days lost per period due to absenteeism, accidents, sick days, etc. divided by total working days.

Incorporating the KPI Human Resource With the Right Department

With the harsh effects of the economic crisis, it is no wonder why there are a lot of businesses thinking about laying off employees. There are even several businesses that have closed down and filed for bankruptcy since they can no longer afford paying the expenses they have incurred along with their business. But how do employers know which employees to retain or to get rid of? How can they guarantee that they do not make terrible decisions when choosing the right employee to stay with their corporation? The answer to this lies on the results of a KPI human resource. Business managers and top executives will be able to know if the employees they have in the company are still capable of doing quality work or they are only causing more problems for the business.

It is the task of the human resource department to monitor and hold employees accountable for their actions. Not only should they determine who the insufficient employees are, but they should also indicate who the top players of the team are. This is a necessary step for attaining the overall success of a company. Every HR team members need to evaluate and measure the performance of every individual onboard the organization. If this is neglected, they won’t be able to pinpoint who the quality employees are. As a result, they might end up letting go of the wrong person.

But aside from only determining who the bad employees are, a KPI human resource can also be used to detect who the employees worthy of praise and a promotion are. Through the results of the strategic measurement, employers can see who these key personnel are and how much they have contributed to the corporation. Once they have been discovered, it is then necessary that the HR team do the necessary tasks to reward these people. It is important to make these people know that they are being recognized as such so that they can be motivated to work much better.

If the company or organization has an HR department that does inefficient work, then this could lead to a big loss. It is the task of the HR department to make sure that it monitors the performance of the employees of the company. If they are simply there to sit and wait for their pay, then the business owners are simply wasting their money away.

Although it is not easy to measure HR performance, there are still some tools that can be used to help this task. This is where the balanced scorecard system comes in. The BSC system has been recognized as an international business evaluation tool. Since it can be applied in every area of the business, it can be a great advantage to the company. There are only several different sets of KPI in which the performance can be measured. When this system is incorporated into the business, the company will have time and more money.

With the HR management team, they have their own set of KPIs specifically designed for them. These KPIs differ in the sense that they have various characteristics and features. However, there are still some universal KPIs that can show the real performance of the employees.

Areas Of Use For Software Metrics

Metrics are used by companies and institutions in order to get a quantitative view of how they are doing. For some institutions this can include a report on customer turnover. One type of Metrics is Software Metrics. This type of metric system is set to quantify the performance of specific software.

Software metrics are a quantitative guide to the performance of a certain piece of software in relation to the human interactions needed to make the software work. They have been established under the idea that before something can be measured or quantified, it needs to be translated into numbers. There are several areas where software metrics are found to be of use. These areas include everything from software planning to steps that are meant to improve the performance of certain software. Software cannot perform on its own without human interaction. That is why in a way, software metrics is also a measure of a person’s relation to the software that he or she is handling. This fact also results in some of the negative effects and criticisms related to software metrics.

The establishment and measurement of software metrics is crucial in order to see how such a product can be effectively improved. Below you will find some areas where software metrics are necessary.

- In determining how many programmers are needed to finish a module in a week or month.

- Knowing the timeframe for patching certain bugs in the program.

- Knowing the number of bugs per line of codes written by each programmer.

The establishment of software metrics can be used by the company to improve software and personnel performances as well. Planning based on the result of software metrics can include: the degree and costs of personnel training. This depends on the result of the established software metrics. If for example, it was found that certain software is inadequate for the needs of the institution, the company then has to upgrade or get a new type of software. The personnel then have to be retrained for the new software.

Knowing a company’s strengths and weakness can greatly help to improve the way a company functions. The results of software metric implementation will effectively show which areas does a company needs to improve upon and also the areas that they need to completely change to make them effective. Software metrics is not just for the measurement of the effectiveness of software and areas where it can be improved, but it can also show how personnel are handling the software.

There are some negative effects to the implementation of software metrics. These effects can be considered similar to the effects of all other types of business and functional metrics. One of the most crippling effects is the “What you see is what you get” effect. In this case, if the personnel task to use the software is inefficient in handling the software, it can be misinterpreted that the software is not well designed to the requirements of the business. There are various number of areas where metrics can be used – it is a universal measure and control tool.

Create Professional Business Reports

The balanced scorecard is the leader in measurement mythologies for businesses. No matter what your industry is, the BSC is a flexible method that will enable you to gauge the most important areas of your business. These include the customers, the internal processes, financial results and the learning and growth of the company. Now, when you are ready to implement the balanced scorecard, you should ensure that everyone in the organization knows about it. This means that there is a need to let the employees learn about the BSC especially since this is often used to measure their performance. One of the best methods that will let your employees gain knowledge about this system is through the use of the balanced scorecard presentation. You can create the BSC PPT presentation or you can also assign another person or group to generate this one for you. However, it is important that you know the contents of the presentation. In this case, you should be the one who will have to plan out what can be found in the PPT and what should be written on it. To make things easier, there is a need for you to discuss the 5 W’s here. The first one being “What” - this means that you will have to discuss what the balanced scorecard is. Therefore, you yourself should know what to say about the BSC

Another is the “Why” - make sure that you state as to why there is a need to use the balanced scorecard. Here, you can tell them that the BSC contributes into the phase of having a plan. Setting the goals and measuring the success of the business. Typically, the BSC is used because this is considered as a holistic approach that is extended beyond the financial assets and incorporates additional priorities. Next is “Where” - you can state here that the company and all the departments will be used as well as the aspects that are involved in the BSC system. After that, you can discuss about the “Who” - of course you will tackle here that all the people in the company are being monitored particularly the employees. Aside from that, you should tell them that the customers so that they can consistently be delivering superb results. For “When,” it is clear that you will be using the balanced scorecard regularly and you should tell them that you will be giving them updates as well.

Creating a Balaced Scorecard

Creating a Balanced Scorecard

When strategic planning becomes mundane, taken for granted, and not regularly reviewed, it is time to implement some changes so the plan can be fresh and be useful. Utilizing what is known as a “balanced scorecard” is a strategic planning and management system widely used in business, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. The purpose of using the balanced scorecard along with livening up the strategic plan is to make sense of the plan. While many organizations intend on matching the plan’s goals to everyday goals for employees, vendors, and clients, the goals sometimes get lost in the shuffle.

Introduced in 1992 the Balanced Scorecard concept is a powerful tool for developing and managing organizational strategy. Harvard Business School Professor Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton originated the system. Their plan adds non-financial performance measures to traditional financial metrics to create a balanced view of organizational performance. Effective use of the Balanced Scorecard approach requires effective strategy for measuring and managing all organizational drivers such as financial, customer, operational, and organizational development performances. The main advantage of using the Balanced Scorecard approach is developing performance management system that takes into account not only the financial side but also the non-financial side of the business. The bottomline is that balancing your performance system with different perspectives will give you a better strategic insight into your business.

The purpose of the balanced scorecard is:

• To match strategic goals to business activities

• To improve organizational communications

• To monitor organization performance against strategic goals

The balanced scorecard provides a clear plan as to what a company should measure in order to “balance” and keep balanced the financial perspective. It is a management system; that is, the plan is continually utilized and not simply used to arrive at a solution like a metric would. With the balanced scorecard, the hope is that businesses can clarify their vision and mission and translate day-to-day activities into action steps that can meet the overall goals.

Using a balanced scorecard system should yield the following results:

• An increased focus on strategy and results
• Improved organizational performance by measuring what actually matters
• Aligning organization strategy with the work people do on a day-to-day basis
• A new focus on the drivers of future performance
• An improved communication of the organization’s vision, mission and strategy
• Prioritization of projects and initiatives

The balanced scorecard system matches the following four units to ensure the business foci meet financial goals, and also customer service, process, and internal goals.

The Learning and Growth Perspective

This includes developing competences, knowledge, continuous training and corporate and individual cultural attitudes. Focusing on improvement within the human resources perspective creates a knowledge organization in which people are the main resource because of their knowledge. Continuous training and learning are encouraged and made mandatory. Measures can be put into place to guide managers in focusing training where it is most needed or where the functions or tasks are priorities.

As Kaplan and Norton emphasized, “learning” is more than “training”, as it includes internal mentors and tutors and communication between and among co-workers that helps provide a problem-solving pattern.

The Business Process Perspective

This perspective refers to internal business processes. Metrics, when placed and monitored correctly, allow managers to know how well their business is running, and whether its products and services conform to customer requirements (the mission). These metrics have to be carefully designed by those who know these processes the best, that is, internal employees and managers and not consultants.

Customer Service and Satisfaction

Customer focus and satisfaction is key in any business regardless of its function. If customers are dissatisfied, they will seek products and services elsewhere. In developing metrics for satisfaction, customers should be surveyed and interviewed to determine where quality assurance might be failing. Determining red flags for the future also is important, as developing a scorecard is for strategic, that is, future, purposes, not just for today.

The Financial Perspective

Kaplan and Norton feel traditional financial data is indeed essential. Practically, all businesses should make a profit and create timely products or services. The hope in the scorecard system is to take the financial focus one step further: to monitor it as a system along with the other balanced scorecard perspectives. Additional financial-related data, such as risk assessment and cost-benefit data, should be considered here.

Developing Strategy Maps

“Strategy mapping” is the process of determining true strategic objectives and the means of obtaining them. Strategy maps go hand-in-hand with balanced scorecard initiatives. The balanced scorecard approach of ensuring company strategic planning success states that strategic plans sometimes are not followed because they are not understood, are forgotten, or its goals are unclear as to the applicability to day-to-day activities. The problem is that following the strategic plan is equal to success, and this cannot occur if it is not understood. It is up to the organization’s key players to provide clarity about the strategic plan to its employees.

A strategy map is a one-page visual representation of the organization’s strategy showing connections between objectives and daily operations. It illustrates how the organization plans to achieve its mission and vision within a chain of continuous improvements. The strategy map tool is used to demonstrate how value is created. It indicates step-by-step connections between strategic objectives and daily functions.

Once created, the strategy map is a powerful tool enabling all employees to understand the strategy and to glean from it steps they themselves can undertake to create organizational success. A strategy map also provides structure for meetings, as it shows managers which aspects of their strategy are successful, and where help is required. Strategy maps demonstrate for managers the causal relationships between actions and goals. The map should serve as a communication tool within and without the organization, for use in presentations, candidate selection, investor and financing, and client relations.

A strategy map is useful to large or small businesses. Strategy maps visually illustrate the implementation of the four basic principles of the balanced scorecard system: Learning and growth; business process; customer service/satisfaction; financial aspect. Strategy maps include linkages to intangible assets. The strategy map allows management to align investments in people, technology and organizational capital for the finest impact and highest level of success.

Developing a strategy map begins with developing a scorecard system and gathering as much data about the organization as possible, via files, research, interviews, surveys, reports, press, and of course, the strategic plan and its addendums (any marketing, sales, or production plans). The strategy map should include basic information, be understandable on all levels within the organization, and be succinct and short enough to fit on one page. It serves as a “snapshot” of the organization’s strategy in language everyone can understand, with information all employees can feel comfortable utilizing.

To develop a strategy map:

1. Review the existing strategy for completeness and focus

2. Identify different perspectives and interpretations of the business strategy

3. Identify different ideas of the causal links among different strategic components

4. Review existing data or information pertinent to resolving the differences identified in numbers 2 and 3

5. Work with the organizational leaders to resolve the differences

6. Validate the map with key stakeholders and develop ways to roll out and evaluate its implementation successfully

7. Establish guidelines and mechanisms for using the strategy map to guide strategy execution

Using the balanced scorecard and strategy map techniques yields many positive results.

Utilization of the strategy map provides:

• Implementation of one strategy among the organization’s key personnel
• Communication of the strategy to employees
• Identification of major indicators of strategic success
• Validation and test assumptions about what core capabilities drive bottom-line performance
• Structure and a core set of strategic performance metrics

The process of setting organization wide objectives, targets, and continuously tracking organizational performances has been a big challenge for many organizations. Financial reporting alone is a complex issue. The real challenge with developing organizational strategy and balanced scorecard methodology begins when you add the non-financial measures and you start working between departments. How do you incorporate all these metrics? What kind of reports you need? How many? The overall goal of our approach to Balanced Scorecard reporting is to develop simple and effective reporting system and help clients focus on their business. We have succeeded to develop a reporting system which integrates different perspectives, incorporates the metrics, and gives a powerful insight to overall organizational performances.

Is Your Company Balanced?

This is my first article BusinessBlogs.co.nz. I’ll try to tell you what usually remains untold about company management and control. I’ll also try to explain you why an obscure branch of IT technology, Business Intelligence, goes hand to hand with management and control. Let’s go.

Have you ever thought about what can kill your business? I’m sure you did many times. Actually there are 3 easy concepts that can help you assuring the long term wealth of your business. These are 3, rather simple, checks you can do to verify the chances your business have to grow and prosper.

Every company, big or small, must be constantly balanced. Better, there are 3 balances that must be kept.

A business is financially balanced (in financial equilibrium) if it can pay all the bills when they are due. You should be able to pay for whatever you need to keep the company up and running (including debt) with your ordinary activities revenues. Any imbalance means that money must be harvested, from banks, investors etc, to keep the company running. Protracted imbalances may lead to a cash crisis that can actually kill the company. To be sure not to incur into financial imbalances, you have to forecast and constantly update your cash flow statement for the months to come. How exactly to build a cash flow is beyond the scope of this article but we’ll see it in the future.

A business is economically balanced (economic equilibrium) if there’s a margin after every cost has been accounted for. This is not the same as before because you buy raw materials today, use them after one month, sell after two and cash in after three (this is often referred as the monetary cycle), but this is done for the single reason to produce an income. In other words, disregarding the actual payments, every company activity is profitable or not, it produces a positive margin or not.

Your company as a whole, for each month of activity, must produce a positive margin. If your margin is red, cash flowing in from previous periods can temporarily compensate, than you fall back on the case above.

Note that you can have continuous row of positive margins but hit a cash crisis, because an unforeseen expense has lowered your cash or an important customer has delayed its payments. You can do everything well and still have cash problems. This is why the financial balance is more important than the economic balance and must be carefully safeguarded.

The third and final balance is the equity balance. A company has been founded upon an amount of money. In the medium/long term, the company must repay this equity in terms of dividends. The interest rate on the equity should also be higher than other investments to remain a viable option for the investors. This measures if the company can be profitable in the medium/long term. If every income cent is invested back in the company to make it grow or for R&D, nothing is left to pay the investors which, in turn, invested in a view to gain money. For a small, family owned, company, keeping it running is enough to make a living but, for larger companies, this may be a crucial, long term parameter.

So, when reviewing figures, start thinking in terms of the three balances, and I bet you’ll discover something new. Let me know what it is.

Take care

Dashboards and Scorecards

Definition: Dashboards “… a style of user interface designed to deliver user-specific information relating to the health of the business, typically represented by key performance indicators (KPIs) and links to relevant reports (on largely historic data). Visual cues and graphs focus user attention on important trends, changes, and exceptions.” Definition: Scorecards “…a strategic management tool that helps you measure, monitor, and communicate your strategic plan and goals throughout the organization, in a way that is understood by everyone” Focus is on forward-looking or strategic metrics rather than historic or operational metrics.

Definition: Scorecard Framework. A methodology that facilitates a disciplined approach to translating strategy into action. A means of categorizing / summarizing for the reporting of measure results. The categories are referred to as Perspectives. The Balanced Scorecard Framework The most popular framework introduced by Norton & Kaplan: Its standard perspectives are: Financial, Customer, Internal Processes, and Learning & Growth. Other Scorecard Frameworks: Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence: Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer & Market Focus, Information & Analysis, Human Resource Focus, Process Management, Business Result. European Foundation for Quality Management Leadership, People, Policy & Strategy, Partnerships and Resources, Processes, Results: People, Customer, Society, Key Performance.

What’s your Scorecard?

"We all keep score. All the time. It’s sad really. But it’s the truth. We compare ourselves to others. To our parents. To our siblings, To our neighbors. To the smarter, the richer, the stronger, the thinner, the more popular.

Mostly, we let the scorecard be subconscious. We don’t admit it. We don’t acknowledge it. Yet we keep score. And it controls us. We become psychological slaves to the scorecards in our heads.

So, why not create your own scorecard. Be your own scorekeeper. What really does matter? To you! What do you value? Be intentional about defining that. And then be intentional in measuring yourself against what you value. Not based on your self-doubts. Not based on Madison Avenue-defined areas of inadequacy. Based on truth.

I want to keep score based on whether or not I was kind and loving to everyone today. Did I leave the world a better place today? Did I make it better for the next generation? Did I create and build or did I tear down or mess up?

So write your own scorecard. Stop being a slave to someone else’s scorecard. It’s part of the art of living. A life well-lived is the glory of God."

Small business SEM campaign metrics

In the “What is Online Advertising?” post, I explained what are the essential and most cost effective online advertising mechanisms for small businesses. One of these is Search Engine Marketing or SEM.

So you decide to tell the world about your product or service by paying Google via its AdWords product to place ads in search results pages. The cool (and super useful) thing about advertising online is that you can track your cost and, possibly, if you have your Website setup properly, revenue from the ads. You don’t even know how to program to do this.

You advertise on Google and you get some customers and make some money. Life is good.

Or is it?

A common question small businesses have, especially if they’re starting out with online advertising, is this: “What objective method is there to see the return on investment of my advertising campaigns?” That is, how do you know that you’re getting the most bang for your sacred small business buck?

Evaluating the results of your SEM campaigns aren’t that difficult really.

There are 2 components to evaluating whether you are getting the most bang for your advertising buck:

1. What are your goals? That is, why are you in business? Possible questions you should ask yourself (if you haven’t already) are: do you want to reach a certain level of income and maintain it at that level? Or do you want to keep growing your business forever? If you want to grow your business, then at what rate? How is the income decision going to affect family time (if you have a family around)? What about social and community activities? These are questions only you can answer as a small business owner?
2. Once you know what your goal is, you need to come up with some metrics which help you achieve that goal. For example, you know that you want to make x dollars per month to achieve your goal. Some metrics to consider are:
   • Number of clicks
   • How much revenue was generated (RPC), if you have your Website setup to measure revenue.
   • Cost per click (CPC)
   • Profit per click (which is RPC – CPC)
   • Total profit, which is profit per click multiplied by the number of clicks

You’ll probably want to look at these metrics either weekly or, if you don’t get that many customers from your SEM campaigns, monthly.

Obviously, these are pretty basic. But they will give you a first pass at evaluating whether you are getting what you thought you will be getting from SEM. That is, these metrics will allow you to become more sophisticated in evaluating your business and to start asking more detailed questions.

Metrics for Social Media--Is There Anybody Out There?

by Chris Syme

I read a post on Social Media Today written by Alan Maites expressing some frustration with the lack of good information about measuring social media. He was bemoaning a piece Brian Solis had written for Advertising Age onEight Steps to Creating a Brand Persona, sort of using it as an example to say there is no real good practical info out there on best practices for social media. It reminded me that there are a lot of us PR/Marketing/Communications people trying to figure out how to quantify social media. He even included a great cartoon from Hubspot that expressed the dilemma.

It’s true—metrics for social media is in its infancy stage, so there is a lot of information out there, but not much in terms of best practices. I have seen some good pieces out there, though, and I’ll attempt to steer you towards some good resources.

First, let me come to Solis’ rescue—he is most prominently a thought leadership guy. You’re not going to get much A-B-C type stuff from Brian. He is a thinker and a researcher. I like his stuff, but always remember his context. I think his latest book, Engage, is great reading when trying to figure out how to frame social media in marketing. It is heady, however. Don't read it in bed before going to sleep. You need to be fully engaged with a highlighter in one hand.

Next, I am going to borrow from Beth Kanter (she writes an excellent blog on social media) who did a review of a free e-book on Facebook metrics on her blog. She tracks measurable data on her Facebook page with the help of a strategy from the above mentioned e-book by Shabbir Imber Safdar of theTruthyPR blog and Shayna Englin who runs her own consulting company. The book is blessedly available for free download here.

Kanter said she took the objectives of her Facebook page (engagement and listening) and measured the data that relates to that. She gives a list in the blog post here that she gleaned from the e-book. She mentioned that Safdarand Englin’s e-book covered a lot more metrics than she mentioned, but she picked out the ones she felt fit her objectives.

I referenced these two pieces (Kanter’s blog and the free e-book) to make a point that the information on metrics is out there, but there aren’t any shortcuts to finding or implementing them. But, there aren’t any shortcuts to implementing metrics for traditional media either.

I think what's befuddling me is that social media metrics haven’t been around long enough to have any real best practices established so it takes some digging and working through. I’d like people to just hand me something I can implement—I don’t think we’re at that stage yet with social media. But these two pieces give me a good start on understanding how to implement some simple, effective metrics. And, I am hoping there is some carryover power there to other media.

Do you have a measuring system for your social media? I'd like to hear your thoughts--any tools you use?