Analytics

Last week while traveling I found myself in line at a Starbucks. The woman behind the counter knew just about every customer's name and, amazingly, what they wanted. For example, she would say, "Hi Stacy! An extra-hot caramel macchiato with soy?" I made that up, but you get the idea; she knew her customers and their preferences. People like that barista are worth their weight in gold in the retail world.

Unless you have a content-first website like The New York Times or a juggernaut of a blog like TechCrunch, people don't come to your site for content. Don't misread that: some of your visitors may well consume some of your content, but most of them don't visit your website with the intention of reading. Nielsen indicates that users have time for about 20 percent of the content on your page, which affirms that the majority of users don't read. Rather, they scan.