Christine, putting "touchpoints" in as many places as possible was a real moment for me after going through a lot of data (both site analytics and usability studies). I felt pretty humble about not doing it sooner.

The trick, of course, is to balance it with your branding so that it isn't like a constant drumbeat of "CONTACT NOW" (unless that is sympathetic with your branding).

Also, not to push myself too hard, but do check out my usual writing at the blog linked out from my name in this comment.

Good luck and let us all know how it goes!

So, thank you!

But in order to convert the visitor to a lead (a potential client/sale), you must first have traffic that stays long enough (and visits the key places) to appreciate the value of the site/person behind it. Any metric which helps accomplish this is valuable. Thanks for the insight.

(and yes, it helps to have some performance numbers on your website to show the consumer you do get results)
http://tinyurl.com/3arzh4

For example:

A particular metric is moving, say "Traffic sources that generate leads" (which is the next thing to look at once you get the hang of the second KPI listed above) and indicating that Google or Yahoo is sending you significant traffic that is converting into leads, since you have more leads your sales go up (let's hope, anyway). This is information on which you can act (invest more marketing resources towards Google or Yahoo). If you have only raw sales data without tracking the KPI, what action do you take when your sales go up or down?

Think of understanding your web analytics as understanding your customer so that you can make the sale.

Sales are absolutely important, and the goal of monitoring a handful of KPIs is to generate more sales.

Does that make sense? Thanks for the great question!