Archive for June, 2008

Those of you who have been following the Web Analytics Forum at Yahoo! groups will no doubt be as excited about this announcement as I am: I am delighted to let you know that Paul Holstein, co-founder, Vice President, and COO at CableOrganizer.com will be taking over for Daniel Shields here at the Web Analytics Demystified weblogs.  Paul has been a long-time contributor to the Forum, both in the conversation and behind the scenes, and despite the fact that he once told me that “web analytics was just a hobby” he has demonstrated his expertise time and time again.

What happened to Daniel?  Dan has taken a big step forward in his career, co-founding Wicked Business Sciences with Paul, and Nicolas Dubus and getting into the consulting game.  Given the list of service offerings these guys have already I have little doubt they’ll be hugely successful.

I will keep Dan’s posts up for the time being but they’ll be in Paul’s blog (although their original URLs should work just fine.)

Paul has indicated that his style will be short-and-sweet, touching on a relevant subjects as they creep up in his business, in the Forum, and at great conferences like the X Change (where you can meet Paul in person!)

Paul’s “welcome, Demystified” post is up and I would encourage you to check it out if for no other reason to add Paul’s blog to your RSS feeds.  (I have already added Paul to the “All Web Analytics Demystified Weblogs” super-feed, just in case you want to subscribe to our writing en masse … http://feeds.feedburner.com/AllWebAnalyticsDemystifiedBlogs)

If you’re considering coming to San Francisco for the X Change conference on August 17, 18, and 19 but are still wondering what the conference has to offer you may want to check out these interviews I did with Lars Johannson last week and Larry Freed this week.

Both guys asked good questions — my favorites were Lars asking “If someone only has the money and time to attend one conference, how should she choose between industry “default” event eMetrics and challenger X Change?” and Larry’s “With a “total absence of sales messaging and sponsored talks”, who will pick up the bar tab?”  Larry’s question reminded me that June, David, and I should probably start planning some kind of conference-associated Web Analytics Wednesday event since we had such a great turnout last time we were in San Francisco!

Check both posts out when you have a chance:

• Eric T. Peterson Answers Questions About X Change
• An X Change with Eric Peterson

If you’re interested in the conference, check out the official web site at Semphonic.

Two job related items worth noting, just in case you are either in the market for a new job or, perhaps more likely, are seeking smart folks to help you get your web analytics house in order.

First, the fine folks at Intuit in San Diego are looking for a Senior Manager for Web Analytics.  From a web analytics perspective Intuit is perhaps best known as the former home of web analytics super-star Avinash Kaushik and as a company that clearly understands the 10/20/70 rule for achievable web analytics success. While Avinash has moved on to Google, bright folks like my friend Dylan Lewis (who will be leading two great conversations at the X Change conference in San Francisco on August 17, 18, and 19!) and Jared Waxman (also leading huddles at the X Change!) are still making things happen at Intuit.

I traded email with Seth Greenberg at Intuit about the job and here’s what I learned:

Why apply for this position at Intuit?
The Senior Manager of Web Analytics position in the TurboTax division of Intuit is an amazing opportunity to help develop, optimize  and influence a multi-channel marketing mix backed by a substantial advertising budget.  The position will require the most qualified applicant to build on an already great process, and develop a methodology for incorporating multi-channel measurement into online advertising analytics.  In addition, the applicant will need to build a successful online advertising testing program that combines both website and offsite factors to optimize results.  Yes, this a lot, but if you are still reading then maybe this is for you.

Why make the move to San Diego?
Did you see the U.S. Open?  Do you like sunshine and paradise?  If so, then there is a lot of that in San Diego.  If you are a fan of outdoor activities, don’t like snow, and are not a big fan of rain, then maybe this is the best climate for you.  The cost of living is relatively high here on the coast, but many are willing to pay the sunshine tax.  It is as good as it looks on TV, and it can only be better if you are here.  We’ll also make your move easy with a nice relocation package.

What makes Intuit so special?
Intuit is a data driven company.  Intuit is also year-after-year one of the “Top 100  Best Places to Work”  There are many benefits to working here, including the ability to have a very focused tactical tax season, followed by a strategic period evaluating all the results and deciding what to do the next tax season.  It brings about some really great year over year improvements and lets you build on and prepare for success each year.

Having lived in paradiseSan Diego for three years while at WebSideStory and JupiterResearch I can vouch for what a great place San Diego is.  And as far as Intuit, from my perspective the high-quality people they are able to attract is testament enough to the opportunity.  If you have more questions about this job drop me a line and I’ll get you in touch with Seth or Dylan, or just review the job description and apply online today!

Second, and I feel a little bad for putting this below the fold, but international companies are now able to advertise on our job board!  Previously we weren’t able to offer listings to companies with non-U.S. addresses but our technology provider has given us a passable workaround that allows us to better serve the International job seeking and employee-seeking community.

If you’re outside of the U.S. and are interested in advertising on our job board, please drop me an email and I’ll explain the very easy process.

No, it’s really not, sorry.  But as long as I have your attention I wanted to talk about a thread developing at the Web Analytics Forum about IndexTools not yet being freely available to all that I think is pretty interesting.

Does anyone remember how long Google had Urchin before they gave away Google Analytics for free?  Eight months.  And everyone spent the entire time saying, “Naw, they’ll never give it away … it would be way too expensive!”  Then, remember when they did give Google Analytics away, they immediately had to stop.

So why would anyone expect Yahoo! to be giving IndexTools away for free to everyone barely two months after the acquisition?  Impatience?  Internet time?  An intense and building desire for really good tools for the best of all prices?!?

Eh?

I am very much in the “I bet it will be free” camp, but I suspect that in the midst of everything else Yahoo! has been dealing with lately that the acquisition and roll-out team will take a measured, thoughtful approach towards the next phase of IndexTools.

Based on the letter recently sent to existing partners, it kind of sounds like they want to build a few new data centers and make sure they can handle the needs of their existing customers and partners — nothing really wrong with that, is there?  I bet they’ll also take some time and think about how to avoid some of the problems the other guys had (rollout issues, service outages, extended betas, etc.)

I’ll go ahead and reiterate (and clarify) my original prediction: I think we’ll see free IndexTools for anyone and everyone sometime around Christmas 2008.  I know people around the world are still getting new IndexTools accounts through the partners — you can see that in my Vendor Discovery Tool — but Yahoo! has a lot to consider before they roll IndexTools out to the masses.  I mean, if you think web analytics is hard, you should try developing, maintaining, selling (or not selling), and supporting a web analytics application in this market …

I’ll also bet Yahoo is going to ask for something in return for the accounts as well: Agreeing to run ads on their sites, signing up for a developer account, allowing them use your data to improve their search engine, … something that justifies or offsets some of the cost associated with giving this fairly robust web analytics application away.

Finally, I suspect that Yahoo! will soft-peddle IndexTools when it is widely available.  What I’m hearing is that despite what a lot of people think, Yahoo! doesn’t really want to piss off Google, Omniture, WebTrends, or any of the existing web analytics providers.  But hey, why should they?  Why scream “AWESOME FREE WEB ANALYTICS SOLUTION!” when they can quietly release it and know that word will eventually get out?

Anyway, IndexTools is not free for all, at least not yet.  As Julien Coquet would likely say, c’est la vie!

As usual, Gary Angel has beaten me to the punch, this time with his great post about the conversation leaders we’ve announced for the 2008 X Change conference. The full line-up is included further down in this post, and you can read the press release in PDF format from the Semphonic site or download this PDF invitation to the conference more suitable for printing.

Since folks have been asking me via email what is really different about X Change, primarily to help make the case to management to attend the conference, and at the risk of sounding redundant, here are three great reasons to consider attending the conference:

1. X Change is an “expert user” conference, and we’re doing everything we can to create tremendous value for expert users. Everyone coming to the event — the conversation leader’s we’ve invited, the consulting and thought-leaders we’re bringing to the event, and the select list of senior people from the vendors — has years of experience in web analytics. Their experience, combined with those of the 100 attendees, is designed to help those of you working on the cutting edge in web analytics get your concerns addressed and your questions answered.
2. The conversational format is designed to allow every attendee share their ideas and ask their questions, making X Change a very participatory “Web 2.0″ conference. There is nothing wrong with sitting and listening — when you want to sit and listen. But the explosion of web analytics blogs, the growth of the Web Analytics Forum, and the number of web analytics folks on Twitter suggest that a bunch of us actually want to participate. X Change is the conference for the participants.
3. We have a plan to allow you to share the insights you gain with your team back home. One of the chief complaints at last year’s conference was “I wanted to attend every session!” To help share the insights gleaned in each conversation, and help paint a picture of the industry today and where it is heading, after the event we will be publishing the “Proceedings of the Second Annual X Change Conference” document, free to all conference attendees.

If you’re still wondering about the value of the conference, or need more ideas to sell a luxurious stay at San Francisco’s Ritz Carlton to your manager, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly and we can chat.

The conference theme this year is “People, Process, and Technology” — the three-legged stool that all of our web analytics efforts rest upon — and we’ve broken the conversations down into similar groupings. We will have full descriptions of the conversations available online very soon but here are the leaders, their companies, and the general topics they will be discussion.

PEOPLE

• Steve Bernstein (PayPal): Getting Analysts to Produce Analysis and Getting the Business to Listen
• Megan Burns (Forrester Research): Building the Business Case for Change
• Bill Gassman (Gartner): Evolving Your Use of Analytics
• John Lovett (JupiterResearch): Industry Standards or a Lack Thereof
• Bob Page (Yahoo!): Web Analytics and Data Privacy

PROCESS

• Steve Bernstein (PayPal): Driving Visitors Up the Value Chain
• Dennis Bradley (Charles Schwab): Bridging the Gap from Web Analytics to Marketing
• Marston Gould (Classmates.com): Where Does Web Analytics Stop and Customer Analytics Start?
• Linda Hetcher (Avaya): Searching for Success with SEO and SEM
• Dylan Lewis (Intuit): Campaign Analysis and Attribution Modeling: Dangerous Assumptions
• Dylan Lewis (Intuit): Establishing a Web Analytics Center of Excellence
• John Lovett (JupiterResearch): Data Integration: Myths and Realities
• John Rosato (IBM): B2B Analytics: Challenges and Opportunities
• Rachel Scotto (Sony Pictures Imageworks Interactive): Integrating Online and Offline (Market Research) Data
• Michael Wexler (Yahoo!): Web Analytics for Brand Marketers

TECHNOLOGY

• Dennis Bradley (Charles Schwab): Justifying the Need for Advanced Visualization Tools
• David Cronshaw (MSN/Microsoft): Emerging Trends in Online Video: Measurement, Monetization, and Mobilization
• David Cronshaw (MSN/Microsoft): The Metrics of Video: Cost per Engagement and Beyond!
• Jim Hassert (AOL): Analytics Across the Enterprise
• Jim Hassert (AOL): Managing Expectations: Panel-Based and Census-Based Methodologies
• Seth Holladay (Rodale Publishing): Slicing and Dicing Visitors: Segmentation Strategies
• Seth Holladay (Rodale Publishing): Tracking Non-Traditional Conversion Events
• Judah Phillips (Reed Business Interactive): Building a Successful Web Analytics Team
• Judah Phillips (Reed Business Interactive): Knowing When You’ve Outgrown Your Current Web Analytics Solution
• Ron Pinsky (AIG): Data Collection: Implementation, Utility, and Ongoing Integrity
• Ron Pinsky (AIG): Integrating Customer Experience and Marketing Data with Web Analytics
• Bob Schukai (Turner Broadcasting): The Mobile Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
• Bob Schuka (Turner Broadcasting)i: Mobile Technology: Development, Deployment, and Measurement
• Rachel Scotto (Sony Pictures Imageworks Interactive): Measuring Web 2.0: Widgets, Gadgets, and Social Networks
• Jared Waxman (Intuit): Using Real-time Survey to Improve the Customer Experience
• Jared Waxman (Intuit): Competitive Intelligence Tools and Methodologies
• Michael Wexler (Yahoo!): Mobile Marketing, Mobile Measurement
• David Yoakum (The Gap): Measuring Web 2.0: Interactions, Events, and Consumer Generated Content
• David Yoakum (The Gap): Using Web Analytics to Inform Personalization and Remarketing Efforts

If you’re a long-time reader of my blog and you’re really interested in web analytics I would very much encourage you to consider the conference: read Gary’s post, download this PDF invitation to the conference, or email me directly so we can talk about how the conference might benefit you and your organization.