Not all website owners are aware of a tool called Google Analytics that can be used on their site to help analyze the traffic that comes to their pages. Some website owners however do know of the existence of such a tool, and yet, they choose not to use it because of its somewhat complex looking interface. This is understandable since not everyone has the analytic skills and wherewithal needed to effectively use such a tool.

What these individuals do not know is that not finding a way to use such a tool on their pages actually puts them at a disadvantage, particularly if their competition uses analytics. This is because this tool gives valuable insight on the comings and goings of site visitors, which can then be used to tweak a site to make it more appealing to those who visit these pages. What is the downside to not using Google Analytics on your site? Here are some:

You cannot effectively tweak your pages to appeal to your traffic – People come to your site for a reason. It is because they believe you have what they need. Whether it is information they are looking for, or products and services, not having analytics to help you give visitors what they want is not good for your site. People tend to leave a site when they land on a page that is not to their liking. Having analytics will show you which pages people left from and which ones they stayed on. This information alone will help you fix the pages that they don’t like in order for these to be more useful for your site.

You won’t be able to see where people clicked through – Without analytics you won’t be able to tell from where your traffic originated from. In other words, you won’t know whether they came from your paid ads on Google, from your ads on Facebook, from your Facebook page, from organic search results pages, or from other links. The use of Google Analytics will help you determine which avenue is most effective in bringing traffic to your site, and which avenues will need some fixing in order to increase the number of people clicking through from them.

Email marketing efforts cannot be tracked and used accurately – If you are using email marketing to get traffic to your site, you should be able to check which campaigns are working and which ones are not. Using Google Analytics can do this for you. Without this tool, you will end up sending emails that don’t work, and even emails that actually put people off from visiting your site altogether. You can even track which emails are making money for you and which ones are not.

These are just a few of the things that you will miss out on when you choose not to use analytics on your pages. You will also be unable to determine whether your paid ads are working, and if they are, which ones are more effective than others. You also won’t be able to see if your SEO efforts are effective, if you are getting clicks from links on other sites, and other relevant information that can help your site do better. When a site does better, it earns more, and isn’t that what you want for your site?