An awesome, actionable analytics round-up (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest – November 5, 2010)

Since the last couple weeks here at thinks Central seemed to be all about analytics, what with looking at how to measure your website, why you should always consider Google Analytics as an option, what you’re really tracking with analytics, and what your analytics won’t tell you, now’s as good a time as any to round-up some excellent analyses of analytics action (Try saying that one three times fast). And, so, without further ado, here are the links:

• You can’t start any serious discussion of analytics without the mighty, might Avinash Kaushik. And he’s at his mightiest with this amazing overview of a successful web analytics maturity model. It ain’t the lightest reading you’ll do this weekend. But it might be the most valuable.
• While we’re talking about the esteemed Mr. Kaushik, his look at the best quantitative and qualitative analytics tools is also worth a read.
• Of course, regardless of your chosen tool, it’s important to understand what it means. For instance, maybe you don’t have as much mobile traffic as you think (or maybe you have more) as Mike Moran points out tracking mobile isn’t as easy as it seems.
• While less about analytics and more about measuring the value of programs, which is kind of the general idea, Mashable has a great piece about calculating the ROI of your social media activities. Sweet.
• Along the same lines, if your site is focused more on lead gen than e-commerce, that’s OK, because Big Picture Web offers a great feature on using Google Analytics to measure your contact form.
• Finally, search, especially SEO – is always a hot topic around the thinks Central water cooler. Which is why the whole team (me, myself and I), really loved SEOmoz’s look at 2 actionable SEO metrics you’re probably missing.

Enjoy the links, Big Thinkers. If you’ve got a great post about analytics, I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a line in the comments below.

Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Technorati Tags:
analytics, Avinash Kaushik, continuous improvement, conversion, conversion rate, conversion rate optimization, E-commerce, e-commerce, e-marketing, ecommerce, google, Google Analytics, how to measure anything, internet business, internet marketing, Mashable, measurement, metrics, mike moran, search, search engine optimization, seo, SEOmoz, social media, social strategy, success