What to look for, and what to ignore.
GOOD SIGNS
Repeat customers Enquiries from people you do not know Reviews arriving without being chased Customers who found you through search A margin that survives all the costs Referrals
WHAT TO IGNORE
Social media followers, which do not correlate with revenue Page views alone Compliments from people who will never buy Comparisons with competitors whose numbers you cannot see
THE MEASURES THAT MATTER
Orders or enquiries per month, trending Profit per order after every cost Share of orders from returning customers Where customers actually came from
ASK EVERY CUSTOMER
How they found you. Record it. That single habit tells you more than any analytics tool, because it captures phone calls and word of mouth.
REVIEWING
Quarterly. Monthly figures on a small business are noise.
THE HONEST QUESTION
Is this producing enough to justify the time it consumes?
If not after a year of genuine effort, something needs changing: the product, the price, the channel, or the assumption that online was the right route.
