Internet Marketing Lessons From the Labor & Delivery Room

My wife and I recently welcomed our second child into the world.

One of the things that struck me about the experience is how once we got to the Labor and Delivery room at the hospital our lives revolved around a monitor that displayed three critical pieces of information:

1. The baby’s heart rate
2. My wife’s contractions (not that she needed a monitor to let her know when she was having those!)
3. How dialated my wife was

It’s unusual to be focused on so few pieces of information. Usually our attention is divided between so many things: email, voice mail, meetings, what to get/make for dinner, news, weather, family, friends, etc. It’s hard to keep your eye on the ball.

It’s different when you’re in that L&D room though. Not that nothing else mattered. But being basically isolated in that small room and knowing the significance of what was about to happen has a way of making you focus on what’s really important.

So we focused – on those 3 critical pieces of information flashing on that monitor.

You’re probably wondering what on earth this has to do with internet marketing.

The lesson is this: Stay focused on your key metrics.

We knew why we were there and stayed focus on the few key pieces of information that told us how close we were getting to that baby coming out.

You have a goal (or a few of them) for your website. It may be generating a mailing list, selling a product or service, or getting people to sign up for your newsletter, whitepaper, or special report.

The key is to know what that goal is and find the few key metrics that will tell you if you’re reaching that goal (or at least headed in the right direction).

While you won’t have anything as wonderful as a baby to show for your efforts, focus on your website’s key metrics and you’ll be well on your way to marketing online successfully. With a lot less screaming involved than in a L&D room.