If you're like most people, looking at a page full of charts and graphs can be extremely overwhelming. This is only made worse when it comes to looking at your website, and trying to interpret what a 53% bounce rate really means for your cash flow.
But the reality is this: Your website analytics matter.
Here are 5 Quick Reasons To Care About Your Website Analytics
Know Your Visitors
If you are a local brick-and-mortar store, but all your traffic is from way out of town, you would know something is up. Or if your website hits were coming from a particular audience, you might want to steer your advertising or SEO that direction.
Know Your Visitor Behavior
Have you ever wondered why your small business website gets almost no one signing up on your email list? What if you could see a person's interactions with your sites to see right where they are getting stuck?
This is where your website analytics can really help. You can tell which pages are leading to website conversions or sales, and which are not.
Know Your Content
One of the best feelings in the world is when you see a piece of content you've written or a product that you've created gain some traction online. It gives you the instant feeling that you have struck a nerve, that you have found a wave worth riding.
See those charts with that content spike is crucial for your small business. It gives you the instant opportunity to steer in a direction toward more customers.
Discover Who's Driving Traffic (aka Off-page SEO)
I'm sorry to break the streak of Knows in there, but, let's be honest: If you already knew who was driving your traffic, you wouldn't need analytics.
Your Off-page SEO, or referring traffic, is one of the most vital things a small business can invest in. Search engines like Google take a deep look at who is talking about your website, and it begins to believe you are an expert about your specialties.
Find Your Partners
Once you discover who is driving your traffic, you can begin to use this data to find partners. Do some affiliate marketing for your small business by building your partnerships. Or find other local businesses that are linking to your site, and begin conversations with their CEOs or business owners.
No matter what your reason, analytics are crucial for small businesses. Even when you are just starting out, a small tick in hits can give you a lot of clues as to where to focus your marketing, your relationships, and your business.
What do you think? What are some of the reasons you care about your analytics?