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If you see that your traffic picks up suddenly but you’re not sure WHY, then it’s going to be next to impossible for you to be able to duplicate and build upon those results. Web analytics also help us as business owners to recognize when something’s just not working and when we need to pull the plug.

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We can’t afford to ignore the numbers but if you’re like me, you may not always have a chance to look at your web analytics and metrics as in-depth as you would like to, and let’s face it – some of us just aren’t that skilled at figuring out what the numbers are trying to tell us.

A lot of entrepreneurs are Idea People. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. Without innovative ideas and inspiration, nothing exciting or new would ever happen or be created. And that wouldn’t be we a whole lot of fun now, would it? If you’re an Idea Person, don’t be ashamed of it. Fly your Idea Person Flag high.

At the same time, it’s important to realize our limitations and to outsource or delegate the things we need done but aren’t great at doing ourselves. For me, that includes analyzing web analytics.

Web analytics give website owners a road map that helps them identify potential problems and their solutions. They allow us to test our ideas and to receive concrete metrics to help us analyze our results. The objective data we get from our analytics help us to identify weak areas of our branding and to strengthen them before it’s too late. Analytics can even help us establish our brand and differentiate it from all the other guys out there.

Being productive at work can be difficult in this world with so many gadgets intent on distracting us. For folks who work from a home office, add to that the frustrations of trying to separate work and family and trying to keep a space that’s dedicated to work… and it’s no wonder so many of us end up with offices that are more “hot messes” than they are “productive work environments.”

Top 6 Ways to Shape-Up Your Office

• Kid-Free Zone – Untold numbers of folks work at home today, and in the world of startups, that’s generally how most of us keep working, often indefinitely. When you work at home, dedicate your office as a kid-free zone. The very last thing you need while trying to secure financing or land that new client via video chat is to be stumbling over toys or getting your valuable work documents and contracts drawn on or misplaced.
• Think (c)Lean – This should already be second nature to the Lean Startups out there, but it may take a bit of getting used to for the rest of us. This means getting rid of stuff you don’t need in your office, and keeping only the things you do. You don’t necessarily need to throw stuff away or donate it all to charity, but take a good hard look at all of the stuff in your office and determine honestly how much of it you actually use for work.
• Headphones (Noise-Cancelling or otherwise) –  A lot of folks who work at home struggle with maintaining focus. Especially if your spouse, children, or other folks are around while you’re working. It can even be tough to ignore the neighbor’s unreasonably loud conversation or the passing traffic or other sounds. Headphones can help you focus. Just make sure you don’t plug in music that will tempt you to sing along as that can be more of a distraction than the neighbor’s dog barking.
• Get Up, Stand Up – Standing up while working can improve your productivity and health. Recently, researchers have discovered that many people are more likely to increase their productivity if they stand up while working. This may seem a bit counter-intuitive, especially for those of us with what some may call a “desk” job but there has been a recent influx of office furniture which supports the standing positing.
• Get Natural – Hopefully you already have plenty of natural light in your office. If not, you may want to think about opening things up a bit. Natural light, especially during sunny days, can help energize you while stimulating productivity (not to mention that Vitamin D, which is absorbed from sunlight, is necessarily for proper health).
• Slow and Steady Wins the Race – Stop trying to do everything at once. It’s great that you’re passionate and ready to change the world, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, my friend. Even when it comes to implementing these creative strategies for increasing productivity, don’t try to do them all at once. Trying changing just one thing at a time. Once you’ve gotten that one thing down pat, move on to the next one. It takes approximately 21 days to start or stop a habit. Give yourself time to start some great ones.