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I have just completed my presentation for the Chartered Institute of Marketing at Sheffield Hallam University which will be given tomorrow evening [Wednesday 23rd April 2008].
The lecture is entitled "Understand Your Website Statistics & Make the Search Engines Work For You" and a copy of my slides from the presentation is available to anyone who would like to drop me an email. I can supply a PDF file or for those who prefer who run Mac OS X.5 Leopard, I can supply the original file in Keynote.
I start by taking a look at Web Analytics in general and then focus on Google Analytics before looking at some of the alternative paid-for solutions. I then look at Web Analytics and SEO before concluding with information about how attendees proceed with links to useful blogs and interesting books on the topic.
Yahoo has announced that it is to purchase IndexTools and subsequently Dennis Mortensen has waived all fees for existing clients and current partners can deploy new implementations without charge. Those interested in using IndexTools cannot sign-up at present as registrations have been suspended and so the situation is very reminiscent of 2005 when Google acquired Urchin and waited before releasing it into the wild without charge under the Google Analytics brand.
This is an industry changing move and really should be seen as a wake up call by competitors in this space whether they are free [Google Analytics] or paid for [Omniture]. Thousands of organisations given the chance will now move up to using IndexTools if and when they can sign up for free.
To date the logical progression for many small to medium size companies has been that they historically have never run any web analytics software but may have had access to server logs through something like AWStats. They then decide to implement Google Analytics as it can be rapidly deployed and once the data starts to build they can then begin to see what data gaps they need to fill if they are serious about analytics. There choice until now has been influenced by available budget in many cases and so a powerful solution such as IndexTools that no longer has a fee attached is a certain winner as it really is one of the best tools available and its existing client base is proof of that.
The moment IndexTools allows me access to their solution for free they can count me in!
According to Avinash Kaushik [author, Analytics Evangelist for Google & board member of the Web Analytics Association] "web analytics is good at the 'What'. It is not good at the 'Why'. The 'Why' can only come from the customer."
iPerceptions, with input from Avinash, have created 4Q [a free service] that allows anyone with a web site to run a permission based on-exit survey that is simple to deploy, simple to use and very easy to analyze the resulting data.
You need to know why people visited your site rather than guessing why they came. You also need to know whether they were able to complete the task(s) they wanted to while on your site and finally, if they didn't complete their task(s) then you need to know why they didn't.
Check out what Avinash has to say in detail about 4Q on his blog posting.
A special Web Analytics Wednesday was staged in the city of London on Monday 31st March. Sponsored by SCL Analytics the guest speaker was Eric T. Peterson who authors the WebAnalyticsDemystified site & blog.
Eric's presentation was packed with interesting and useful information and predictions for the future of web analytics in the next couple of years. I don't don't his prediction that the number of solution vendors will decrease as the market continues to develop and mature but I do feel that there are thousands of organisations who have yet to do anything with web analytics and many have no form of analytics running on their site despite the fact that Google's offering is free and extremely simple to implement in just a few minutes.
Those who choose to implement Google Analytics can then seek advice and consultancy from someone like myself or alternatively attend one of my Google Analytics training courses which will not only show them how simple the solution is to implement but also how powerful it can be. Of course, if after 6 to 12 months there are other questions they would like answering they can then begin to evaluate other solutions in what may well be an even more competitive marketplace by then.
