hi....
I have been using Analytics for quite a long time now but I am still not aware of what are conversion rates and goals!?!?

So tell me...you guys have an eager student here.... :P
thanks

Conversion rates refer to having a visitor perform a specific task.. It could be buying a product or eBook, signing up for a newsletter, or clicking on an ad.. You have "converted" a passive viewer in to a customer..

Your goal would simply be the percentage of viewers you would like to convert to customers..

how does it work?

Are you looking to create the same or you are looking to have little bit other king of project. Who are you? A viewer which are looking to be a customer or you want the same project?

I agree with Feydakin ! In Internet marketing the conversion rate is the % of unique visitors who take a desired action on website. The action may be submitting a Thank you, making a purchase etc.

you can use goals and conversions to determine how your website is doing for your business. Traffic just means that people are coming to your website but traffic is not really that great if they leave right away. You can set goals such as when someone requests a quote or fills out a form or buys a product. This way you can determine if you are actually making clients out of visitors. Goals and conversions do nothing for SEO or for google they just let the webmaster know if you are turning visitors into clients or potential clients.

Its just setting goals to your site to see if the goals you set are converting. Lets say you want the user to register to your site. It will show in google analytics you just need to set it up.