Note: This post originally appeared on the blog of my since-shuttered analytics firm: Axiomatic. That said, if you need some analytics work, get in touch

You're busy, so we'll keep this brief. I have a New Year's Resolution to propose to you ...

I've talked to enough business owners at this point to recognize a disturbing trend - analytics going unglanced at for weeks or months at a time. On one such occasion, their entire funnel had stopped tracking six months earlier and no one had noticed ...

Because no one was looking.

In five minutes (or less), once a week, you can make sure your business and your website analytics are running smoothly.

And yes, I timed this.

The Workflow

On your dashboard, first expand the view out to the last six months.

Look at the sessions trendline. Everything look good and make sense?

Groovy.

Next up (with the time frame still extended), check on your goals or events if you have them set up.

Next: Acquisition > Channels > Organic Search.

Trend line look nice and stable or has a Google algorithm update screwed things up for you?

Now switch the time frame back to the last seven days and go back to Acquisition > All Referrals.

Look for sources you don't expect. Make a note or to-do to explore them later if that strikes your fancy. Keep in mind: there's been a large uptick in referral spam lately.

Run through any conversion goals you have against the list. Look for anomalies. Make a note or to-do.

Do the same for Acquisition > Campaigns.

That's it, you're done.

Do this once a week and rest easy that all's quiet on the Analytics front.