The three numbers a small business should watch

Every small business owner I have handed an analytics login to has done the same thing. Opened it twice, felt vaguely bad, and never opened it again. This is a correct response to the interface. There are hundreds of numbers, most of them are noise, and none of them tell you what to do on Tuesday.

Here are three that matter, and what each one means.

Calls and form fills. Not visits. The thing that starts a job. If you track only one number, track this, and track it monthly rather than daily so you are not reading weather as a trend. Every other number on this page only matters because it eventually moves this one.

Where those came from. Search, maps, a referral, direct. Not because the percentages are interesting, but because it tells you which of your efforts is carrying weight. Most local businesses discover their map listing is doing the work and their website is a formality, which is useful and slightly deflating.

Which pages people arrive on. Almost never the homepage. Usually one specific service page, often one you thought was minor. That page is your storefront whether you meant it to be or not, and it is where any effort should go first.

That is the whole dashboard. Three numbers, checked monthly, written on paper if you like.

The rest of it, bounce rate and session duration and the rest, is measurement built for publishers who sell advertising. You are not one. A visitor who lands on your page, reads the number, and calls you has a terrible bounce rate and a five second session, and they are the best visitor you will get all week.