Website Analytics Basics for Business Owners

You have a website, but is it working? Analytics tell you what visitors do on your site - where they come from, what they look at, and whether they take action. Here's a non-technical guide to understanding your data.

Key Metrics to Track

• Users/Visitors - How many people visit your site
• Page views - Total pages viewed (one person can view many pages)
• Bounce rate - % who leave after viewing only one page. High bounces = problem.
• Time on site - How long visitors stay. Longer usually means more engaged.
• Traffic sources - Where visitors come from: Google, social, direct, referrals
• Conversions - Actions you want: form submissions, calls, purchases

Setting Up Google Analytics

Google Analytics is free and powerful:

1. Create a Google Analytics account
2. Add your website as a property
3. Install the tracking code on your site
4. Set up conversion goals (contact form submissions, etc.)
5. Wait 24-48 hours for data to appear

If this sounds technical, your web developer can do it in 15 minutes.

What to Look For

Once you have data, look for:

• Top pages - What content attracts visitors? Create more of it.
• Traffic trends - Is it growing? What caused spikes?
• High-bounce pages - These need improvement
• Conversion paths - How do people find their way to contacting you?
• Mobile vs desktop - Is your mobile experience good enough?

Check your analytics weekly. Patterns emerge over time.

Analytics turn gut feelings into informed decisions. You do not need to be a data scientist - just understand the basics and let the numbers guide your website improvements.