Because of the birth of my son it’s been awhile since I’ve been on the road but this morning I caught a flight to Washington, D.C. and am spending the next three days hanging out with my new co-workers at Visual Sciences. I dodged a huge snowstorm but could still see the effects on air travel when I arrived. Phew!

I’m not sure I have any plans yet for Wednesday night so if you’re in D.C. and you’re interested in getting together for late drinks and/or dinner, drop me a line.

Esoos Bobnar, a well-known SEO consultant, posted a nice review of The Big Book of Key Performance Indicators in his weblog yesterday. A few nice quotes from the review include:

“I just finished reading Eric Peterson’s new ebook, “The Big Book of Key Performance Indicators.” It’s a great deal at $19.99 USD, and I enjoyed it immensely because it addressed these issues specifically:

• What are the most important performance indicators to track.
• Who in the company should be getting the tracking reports on those indicators (not everyone needs the same reports).
• What action should be taken based on the information in those reports.”

“This [book] is hugely helpful for the typical, non-math-oriented user. The formulas are spelled out in clearly spoken language, and the book is accompanied by Eric’s own Excel spreadsheets to help jump-start your tracking campaign.”

Wow, thanks Esoos!

As I prepare to give a number of presentations over the next few months on key performance indicators it’s helpful to know that people are taking these metrics beyond just the level of “business type” and focusing them on specific business needs like search engine optimization. Perhaps in a future edition of the book I’ll roll in a chapter on business needs and cover search marketing, conversion and content.

I just have to say, and I’m really not allowed to say much, I am sooooooo happy to have my sleeves rolled back up and be digging into client data. This is only my third week and already I’m engaged in helping our clients improve their overall use of our technology by applying a business objectives + activities + indicators approach.

Heh, I’m such a geek!

If you’re a Visual Sciences client and would like to know more about what I’m doing, feel free to contact your PM and ask him or her to set up a call. I’ll be in Virginia next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and perhaps we can carve out some time to sit down together or get on the phone.

Wow. First Bob, then Sam, then me, now Xavier Casanova, a founder of Fireclick. It seems like these days all of the heavy hitters in the analytics industry are shuffling about looking for the next big thing!

While Xavier seems pretty excited about Perenety I have to say I’m bummed that he’s now only going to be peripherally involved in web analytics. Now that he’s not a competitor anymore (again) I can say that Mr. Casanova is without a doubt one of the brightest minds in our space. Back when I was writing Web Analytics Demystified in the wee-hours of the morning, Xavier constantly challenged my assumptions about data, how it was collected and how it ultimately is used in large organizations. When I make a list of “guys who get it”, Xavier is very near the top.

I wish you all the best, Xavier.

Marco Derksen from Upstream BV just sent me this announcement he’d posted about The Big Book of Key Performaance Indictors but it’s all in Dutch. I assume it’s good news and since I can see he’s tracking comments I’m going to have to dust off my Dutch-to-English translator’s guide and see what people are saying.

Thanks Marco!