Announcing a New Free Primer on Web Analytics
Oct 4, 2014
When I was preparing to write my first book, Web Analytics Action Hero, I decided to focus on material that I felt was underemphasized or missing from the existing literature on web analytics. I wanted to help transform the industry’s reporting-centered mindset to one focused on analysis and driving action from digital data. At the time, I didn’t feel the need to re-hash what other web analytics authors had already covered. Essentially, I focused on Web Analytics 201, not Web Analytics 101.
However, since publishing my book, I’ve found there’s still a healthy appetite for basic information on web analytics–not necessarily from analytics practitioners but from the growing number of executives, digital marketers, online merchandisers, journalists, creatives, and other professionals who now rely on digital data in their roles. Even though web analytics has become table stakes for most businesses with any kind of online presence, it’s still a marketing technology that is vastly underutilized, often misused, and frequently misunderstood. I felt it was time to return and take a fresh look at the fundamentals of digital analytics—which have evolved significantly over the years—to help close this persisting knowledge gap.
I’m happy to announce that I’ve finished a new 150+ page ebook, Web Analytics Kick Start Guide: A Primer on the Fundamentals of Digital Analytics, which is now available as a free download from Adobe Press (PDF or ePUB formats). Yes, you read that right – 100% gratis.
While my first book presumed its readers were somewhat familiar with web analytics, I make no such assumption in this new ebook. It actually serves as a prequel or supplement to my Web Analytics Action Hero book. It is intended for individuals who want to gain a better understanding of the technology that supplies most of the online metrics they see in their dashboards, weekly reports, and internal presentations. With most organizations investing more and more in digital, the audience for this 101-level content will continue to expand.
In Web Analytics Kick Start Guide, I start by exploring the evolution of the web analytics industry and then I dive into the business, technical, and process essentials that all aspiring data-driven professionals should know. To prepare you for what’s covered in this new primer, I thought it would be helpful to share a brief overview of the four main sections:
1. The Definition and Evolution of Web Analytics
What web analytics is and what it can do for your business
The origins of web analytics and how it has matured as a technology over time
2. The Business Essentials of Web Analytics
How your online business strategy and goals define what should be measured
Definitions and gotchas for commonly-used web metrics
Business model-specific KPIs
3. The Technical Essentials of Web Analytics (for the Non-Technical)
Data collection overview for page tagging
Overview of cookies and reporting architecture
Deep dives into key areas such as interaction/event tracking, campaign tracking, mobile/cross-device measurement, data enrichment, and tag management
4. The Process of Digital Measurement
The steps involved in an effective digital measurement process (data collection through data usage)
Organizational maturity levels for digital measurement
I want to highlight this book is not intended to be a product guide or manual for any particular product. In the technical section, I do map technical concepts to actual product capabilities so readers have a contextual reference to help them grasp the information. While I did this explicitly for Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics, the book’s core concepts should be readily transferable to similar features across most other web analytics tools.
For analytics practitioners, this primer will be a helpful tool for getting your internal customers or stakeholders to up to speed on the field of web analytics. Obviously it doesn’t focus solely on your unique business model or the details of your particular implementation, but it can lay a useful foundation of knowledge to build upon. Even seasoned digital analysts might learn something new from this book. I know I learned during the process of writing it as I identified and filled gaps in my own knowledge.
I want to thank everyone who contributed to this primer—in particular those who shared their valuable insights and feedback with me. I look forward to hearing from you after you’ve had an opportunity to read this new book too. My expectation is that this primer will help you to better understand this exciting area of analytics and help improve the return you receive from it. Kick start your digital analytics proficiency by downloading my free ebook today!