Listen to this, I had a client call me a couple of days ago happy and excited about some new discoveries on her website. She finally (umm… after more than a year) started to take a look at her Google Analytics and realized that there were some behaviors that her readers were taking that she needed to take note of. For instance, she got to see what pages they liked most, how long they stayed on the site and specifically, she realized that she needed to remove the navigation links on her event pages in order to get people to make the decision before getting distracted by other stuff on her site. She also realized that needed to focus more efforts on the websites where most of her traffic were coming from. As a result she’ll be able to convert the people interested in those events into attendees, and serve their needs as she’s meant to serve. She’ll make more money, and have a great time doing it.

Most business owners don’t want to take about the boring stuff… stuff like data and tracking and metrics, but if you are not looking at these things you really shouldn’t come to me (or anyone else) complaining about why you just can’t seem to make the money  you want to make in your business. There are free tools at your disposal all over the internet, and ignoring the foundation of what drives your business is just plain stupid.

Yes, I get it, you want to focus on your “why” and you are a heart-centered business, but it takes more than heart to actually drive sales. It takes know how and systems and checks and balances. Without those, you have a cause and a hobby that you are very interested and invested in, but you’re doing yourself and others a disservice.

I know it gets a bit overwhelming to understand something that can even call itself “analytics” – the word itself says “you might need a tech degree to understand me” but don’t let that deter you. I actually track my metrics using four different services: Google Analytics, Site Meter, Clicky and my web hosts’s own inclusive tracking. Here’s the interesting thing: They all help.

Now, you don’t have to get all “tracking data maniac” like me, I happen to see in numbers. I was on the equations club in High School, so I geek out like that a bit. But you do need something and since Google Analytics is a bit overwhelming, even for me at times, I suggest you start with something simple like Clicky. If you can’t afford clicky start with Site Meter. Be sure to block the traffic that you generate by visiting your own site (there are filters for that) and start to monitor who’s visiting your website, how often, what they see, and when they leave.

If you do this simple task, and look at your summary just once each week you’ll start to see that there’s a treasure trove of opportunity waiting for you. Don’t let it continue to hide in your website. Take action. What’s the first thing you’ll do moving into the next week?