I just came across a very good review and introduction to Google Analytics, which is essentially a tool to help you analyze who is viewing your web site, and what they are doing. Sounds simple but way to many small businesses do not pay enough attention to what is happening on their web site. Your web site “should” be an investment, you spent $X on developing it, you should understand the value it provides. I’m afraid that I have spoken to many small and medium businesses that spent several thousand dollars on their web site a couple of years ago, and they still don’t know if that was a good investment or not. With no measurement of “return on investment” for the web site, investing in redesign, or updating becomes another exercise in faith. You wouldn’t keep a salesperson on for 2 years if you didn’t know if they were making sales? For most companies the web site is a very important salesperson, probably the first one that any customer meets, it might not close the deals but it’s getting the appointments.

Google Analytics review on Urban Semiotic