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You don’t have to be a geek, or lay out any money at all, to use Web analytics for a fatter bottom line.

The somewhat imposing term refers to the tracking of exactly who uses your site and precisely how they do it, what products are selling (and aren't), activity trends, types of visitors, where they come from, number of visitors per page, the page they were on when they left your site, the percentage of customers who created a shopping cart and checked out, and many other factors.

In short, Web analytics provide vital information that can guide e-merchants in improving their sites, their customers’ experiences and revenue.

“The best way for you to understand what is going on at your Web site is to get an analytics program,” says Avinash Kaushik, a Mountain View, Calif., blogger and expert on Web analytics.

Where do you start? The available choices are dizzying, but the good news is that even the smallest startup can afford many of them.

Jeff Mackey is founder and CEO of SIX15 Solutions, a Web consulting company in Oxford, Mich. “The bottom line is that the typical small business starting on the Web shouldn’t have to spend any money on Web analytics software because there are so many free options out there,” he says.

Kaushik advises that before buying an analytics package, even the biggest companies should start with a free solution. Google Analytics is a fully featured, extremely sophisticated tool, gets high marks from many analytics experts.

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