Which paths are your visitors following? - For example, your visitors enters your site on page A, then surfs to B, then D, then Z, then exits your site. This can help your determine where to place ads and how to restructure your content.

Where are your visitors coming from? - A very critical piece of information, especially if you are running ad campaigns or link exchanges. You can use this statistics to determine if your promotional methods are actually working. In addition, I've found it useful to determine if our site is featured in articles and recommendations.

Which browsers are they using? - A very useful statistics, which can guide you in which HTML tags you use and how you code your web pages. What are their screen resolutions? - If most of your visitors are running 800X600 and your site is 1024X768, then you've got a problem. This statistic can help you fix that.

How many unique visitors did you get? - Different than page views or hits, this statistic helps you determine if you are getting many people visiting your site. This is most useful in determining if an ad campaign is actually working.

What search terms got your visitors here? - Useful if you are optimizing your pages for search engine placement. I've found it very interesting to find out what search keywords are getting people to my site, and how these often bear no resemblance to my own concepts of how people search.

Using these and other statistics, you can optimize your web site. For example, you may find that people are often leaving your site after visiting page XYZ. You can then test that page, and you can determine why it is driving people away. Perhaps it loads slowly or has offensive banner ads? Once you know cause, you have a chance of correcting issue.

Using these statistics intelligently, and you can create a better experience for your visitors. If you are selling something on your web site, statistics will tell you areas that you can improve, and areas that you shouldn't touch because they are working well. Without statistics, you are running blind.

8. Tweaking

Don't laugh. If you subscribe to helpful ezines, you continually learn about little ways to improve your web site's design. You'll often be tweaking it a bit here, and a bit there.

9. Fixing tables and forms

For unexplained reasons tables and forms go out of shape, or need to be revised. Unless you delegate this aspect of your work, it will eat up time sooner or later.

10. Starting an ezine to build relationships

Before long you will see best advertising is to be an authority figure in your field. You'll want to keep in touch with past customers and those who window-shopped at your web site but need to be invited back. You might just write articles like this and let your resource box do your advertising, but if you start an ezine - watch out - it will take over your life.

11. Corresponding with new friends and clients

If your website and ads will make you many friends and clients they will want to chat with you and get some business questions answered. It takes time to answer them all even if you are a people- person and have gift of gab. Especially then!

12. Dealing with floods of email!

Some email is truly junk, but it takes a while to sort and organize your system for recognizing and dealing with it. Still, some days it will hit you like an avalanche.

Am I trying to discourage you? By no means! It's an exciting life. I find considerable fulfillment in it. But if you are just starting out, you might want to make sure you have room in your life for all this. Do allow yourself enough time to learn. Don't expect to understand it all and be rolling in money by next Friday.

Unless you are one exceptionally coordinated team, a committee will take twice as long. Take time to learn it all yourself. All this knowledge is going to be very useful to your business career.