Web Analytics, Magicians of Metrics
Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage.
Jim Sterne, founder of the Web Analytics Association, said it well in a recent article: “Between the technical expert and the business managers are a new breed: the analysts. An analyst must have technical skills and knowledge as well as management skills and knowledge. They are a mixture of statistical mathematician, technical tactician, business physician, insight generation magician, and master of communication.”
Web analysts make web data into actionable insights and transform marketing performance based on a set of client set KPI’s.
Google analytycs is very good. You can integrate Analytics with Adsense and Adwords if you want, but after that there are a bunch of really great paid services to check out.
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Coremetrics offers only the hosted (client-side) web metrics solution, which can simplify the choices your organization must consider. They offer a special version of their system for each of these vertical markets: retail, financial, and travel services.
- Go to theCoremetricswebsite
- Read a product review on Infoworld
- Read a case study and interview on a biz that chose Coremetrics.
One of the biggest names in web analytics, Omniture offers a variety of comprehensive web analytics packages.
- Go to the Omniture website
- Read a product review on Infoworld
- Read a 2009 review in PC Mag
- Look at all of their industry awards
Read a white paper comparing HBX and Omniture’s SIteCatalyst
WebTrends is one of the best-known names in web analytics, offering comprehensive tools that can be deployed as client-side (they call this “on-demand”) or server-side (they call this “software”) options. WebTrends is known for being high-end (ie, expensive) but has a variety of packages available.
- Go to the WebTrends website
- Read a 2009 review on CNET
- Read WebTrends Small Business Reviewed on Atlas-Tuesday IT blog
- Read an infoworld review.
- Read 2009 info about various Web Stats Packages on webmasterworld forum.
Unica NetTracker offers client-side (they call it on-demand) and server-side (they call it software) solutions.
- Go to the Unica website
- Read “12 Cool Things You Can Do With Unica’s Netracker Insight”
- Read a customer review of a biz that chose NetTracker
- Read Aug, 2005 info about various Web Stats Packages including NetTracker on webmasterworld forum.
