The nice folks at CafePress are looking for a Director of Analytics and Planning and I have to say this is one of the best sounding jobs I have heard about in quite some time (and I hear about jobs all the time since it seems like every company that “gets it” is out there looking for web analytics talent these days.)

If you’re not familiar with CafePress you should check out their site. The long-story-short is that they are an extremely high-volume site with a B2B, a B2C, and a B2B2C business model all rolled into one. Books, t-shirts, buttons, fun stuff, you name it and CafePress is making it easy for individuals and businesses to make products on demand and sell them easily through their own sites and the CafePress Marketplace.

For some time now the company has been looking for a Director-level person who can report to the CFO to build out the company’s BI/CI capabilities. Part of the reason the search seems to be taking awhile (in my opinion) is that they’re looking for a certified data analytics superstar. Some of the listed requirements include:

• 7 to 10 years of experience in environments of excellence where modeling and analysis are fundamental to the business
• 5+ years of hands-on predictive modeling experience
• Have strong analytical experience coupled with direct experience with CRM systems and relational databases
• Demonstrated ability to hire, mentor and grow a team of business intelligence professionals
• Intellectual horsepower to comprehend the complex and synthesize into the simple

When I challenged the company on these requirements the response was brilliant: CafePress needs an extremely heavy hitter because this is an incredibly key position for them. The company is very successful but clearly recognizes that their long-term success depends not on just picking the low-hanging fruit but of getting deep into the data looking for opportunities that are otherwise painfully un-obvious.

I definitely wanted to help CafePress find someone for this position because, well, I wouldn’t be doing what I do today if it weren’t for their business model. Web Analytics Demystified, my first book recommended by industry giants like Bryan Eisenberg, Jim Sterne, and Avinash Kaushik, was originally published on demand through CafePress. In fact, I am absolutely confident in saying that if it weren’t for CafePress and the ability to publish a book w/o a publisher and w/o a substantial up-front financial commitment, I would never had published “Demystified” and would certainly not be writing this post today.

If you are a certified BI/CI superstar and are interested in being someone senior at CafePress please either email me or apply directly to the address listed in the job posting. The salary is very competitive for the Bay Area and it sounds like relocation is an option for the right candidate.  And, if you do apply, please mention to Summer and Doris that you read about this position at Web Analytics Demystified!

Check out this great sounding job at CafePress and apply today!

The blogger Avinash Kaushik recently won an award for his post that largely echoed the content of my first book, Web Analytics Demystified. While I have never heard of the award, I am happy for Mr. Kaushik and excited because his repeated mention of my book’s title is driving incremental sales. Thanks Avinash!While I’m happy for Avinash, I have to wonder about his repeated insistence that “web analytics is easy.” I wrote as much in a comment I posted to his blog. The comment has not yet appeared (not sure why, maybe Avinash is on vacation) but I’m interested in your reaction to my position so I figured “hey, I have a blog …” and have published the comment below.

Basically I think that web analytics is hard — not easy or necessarily complex — but I think that this is very good news! “Hard” is something that all of us can overcome with determination and effort, just like the New York Giants did this past Sunday … all we have to do is recognize the level of effort and determination that is required and set expectations accordingly.

The verbatim content of the (missing) comment follows:

Avinash,

Congratulations on your award. I’ve never heard of the award but I don’t work nearly has hard on SEM/SEO as you do. Regardless I’m sure winning this award is quite an important accomplishment for you.

I also wanted to thank you. As the author of “Web Analytics Demystified” — the classic work you say your post pays homage to — it was interesting to hear your take on the subject. More interesting was how your post positively impacted sales of the book — direct sales were up nearly 40% from the month previous!

Perhaps your post reminded people that some of us have been around “demystifying” web analytics for a long time.

Either way, despite some people’s complaints that you were inconsiderate in your attempt to game my brand and copyright, I can assure you that I do appreciate your willingness to continue to bring awareness to my work, both as an author and as a consultant. And I sincerely hope you didn’t mind my tongue-in-cheek title for my AMA presentation …

Still, I wanted to ask you one question: Do you think the Giant’s thought that winning the Super Bowl was complex? Or do you think they thought it was hard?

I ask because you seem hung-up on my assertion that “web analytics is hard”, going out of your way to try and convince people that it is “easy but complex, not hard” and that somehow complex is preferred.

And while I’m not sure why you’re so violently opposed to my assertion, I do disagree with you — web analytics is hard, and that is fantastically good news! Web analytics is hard just like an underdog with a young quarterback winning the Super Bowl is hard. Nothing good is easy, but anyone, anywhere can do something difficult simply by being dedicated to the end product.

• Sacking Tom Brady is hard (hell, very hard) but the Giants defense did it again and again and again
• Converting on third down is hard, but Eli Manning and his receivers did it when it counted the most

There is nothing particularly complex about football, perhaps save contract negotiations, and there is nothing overly-complex about web analytics. In my experience the complexity that does come up in web analytics usually comes from “over-promise, under-deliver” and end-user needs for basic tools like segmentation and data integration that are lacking in some of the most popular applications, not from the practice of web analytics itself.

• Web analytics is hard, but anyone with enough motivation can overcome this obstacle and, in your own words, create amazing, magnificent, and wonderful success!
• Web analytics is hard, but simply by recognizing this and moving beyond the “web analytics is easy” hyperbole companies are able to create the right expectation about the effort required to be successful.
• Web analytics is hard, and that is excellent, excellent news. Because if web analytics were impossible there would be no need for Google Analytics or any of the other great applications available today, but if web analytics was easy, most of us would be massively under-performing.
• Web analytics is hard, but just like the Giants and every other Cinderella team in the history of sports, hard can be overcome through sheer determination, effort, and a well-formed plan for success: often the result is greatness.

I hope you’ll print this comment, and I know my thoughts will do nothing to dissuade you from your “web analytics is easy” mantra, but I had some time (ironically waiting to fly to New York where I hope to catch a Giant ticker-tape parade this week) and wanted to comment.

Again, congrats on the prestigious award! I’m sure that Stephan Spencer and Tamar Weinberg were quite bummed to have been nominated against you — I know I would be!

Sincerely,

…

Some have accused me of “over-messaging” on this point and pointing out the obvious. Perhaps, but as long as I keep seeing the relieved look on my client’s and audience’s faces when I tell this simple truth, and as long as people continue to come up to me and thank me for clarifying expectations about their use of measurement technology, I’m going to stay on message. “Web analytics is hard” seems to match well with people’s experience, and more importantly, nobody appears too perturbed about this statement (except for perhaps Mr. Kaushik and his business partners.)

What do you think? Is web analytics easy? Is it complex? Is it hard? Does it matter? Are you perturbed by my assertion? If so, why? What am I missing?! I’d love to receive your feedback …