How to Tell If Your Website Is Actually Working

“I have a website but I don’t know if it’s doing anything.” I hear this constantly. The answer is always the same: do you have analytics installed? Usually: no.

Set up Google Analytics (free)

1. Go to analytics.google.com and create an account
2. Add your website as a property
3. Copy the tracking code snippet
4. Paste it into your website’s header (your website platform will have a section for this)
5. Wait 24 hours for data to start appearing

If your website is managed by a provider like Kisimenti, analytics is typically included — ask them for access to your dashboard.

The five numbers to check monthly

1. Monthly visitors

How many people are visiting your site? Is it growing, flat, or declining? This is your top-line health metric.

2. Traffic sources

Where are visitors coming from? Google search (organic), social media, direct (typing your URL), or referrals (links from other sites)? This tells you which marketing efforts are working.

3. Top pages

Which pages do people visit most? If your services page gets lots of views but your contact page doesn’t, there’s a disconnect. People are interested but not taking action.

4. Bounce rate

What percentage of visitors leave after seeing only one page? A high bounce rate (over 70%) suggests visitors aren’t finding what they expected or the page is too slow.

5. Conversions

How many visitors take the action you want (call, WhatsApp, fill out a form, purchase)? This is the ultimate measure. All other metrics serve this one.

Simple monthly review process

1. Log into Google Analytics on the 1st of each month
2. Check: visitors up or down from last month?
3. Check: what’s the top traffic source?
4. Check: which page gets the most visits?
5. Check: did anyone contact you through the website?
6. Decide one action for next month based on the data

This takes 15 minutes per month. But it’s the difference between a website that works for you and a website that just exists.