My daughter Meera came to me a couple of days ago asking me why do we have the number zero (0). She said that if you add anything to it, the number does not change and if you subtract anything from it the number does not change. She is still in Kindergarten and has not been introduced to multiplication and division. I explained to her in as simple terms as possible that for numbers you need a starting point and that is why we have the number zero which is also called a separator.

Starting Point

Just as we have a starting point for numbers, we also need to have a starting point in our data analytics. This is also called base lining. We need to be able to measure different types of numbers also called as KPI (key performance indicators). Everything that we do needs to be measurable and working towards an end point or goal. Also, the goal needs to be reevaluated regularly and updated as appropriate.


If somebody tells you that they have 100 visitors to their site, it means absolutely nothing. Was this number for a day, a week or a month? How many visitors did their site have earlier? Where is their traffic coming from? What is the quality of the traffic? Are their goals defined for the website traffic?

Are you a blogger who is sharing information with the community, are you a business person who is selling a product on the web or are you selling your services online? What are your goals and how do you plan to reach them?

Historical KPI’s

It is always important to get an idea about how your historical KPI’s are doing? If you are a brand new website, observe your traffic for a period to understand the KPI’s. If you are an existing website but do not have analytics enabled, enable analytics and observe your traffic (and KPI’s) to understand it better. More in detail about KPI’s and enabling analytics in future posts.

Web analytics tools

There are a huge number of web analytics tools available on the web. Some are free and some are paid. Some are for small businesses and some are for enterprises. Depending on the amount of traffic, transactions and the fine tuning analysis that your site requires, you will need to select the appropriate tools. A very common free tool that is used by small businesses and bloggers is Google Analytics. I use it extensively as it provides me the analytics data that I am looking for.


If you are looking to research all the web analytics software available in the market, this would be a good place to start – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_analytics_software

Can you measure your online success today? Do you measure your data? What are some of the tools you use for data analytics? Drop me a note about it.

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