Customer Reviews

Web Site Analysis and Reporting

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you ever felt totally overwhelmed about how to write a compelling title tag, non-spamming meta tags and how to make your web site search engine friendly without paying mega bucks to someone else to optimize it for you then this book is for you. It is to the point, easy to understand, has tons of great examples and yet is detailed and innovative enough for even the pros to learn new tricks. I liked it so much that a bought a copy for work and one for home too. Save yourself a lot of frustration and buy this book. You won't be disappointed.

This book has a misleading title. It is more about running a website in general rather than specifically about analysis and reporting. Also it is definetely geared towards individuals who are new to the field and running their own small website.

The cd-rom comes with the book is not complete, the most important file - The Checklist (appendix) are missing and appear as a broken link in the cd-rom. What a disappointment.

This book has a wealth of knowledge that the title does not accurately capture. This is a must have resource for anyone even thinking about starting a website to the most seasoned web masters. Topics include usability, security issues, web site design, and effectiveness. The book even contains a checklist in the appendix for those of us who like to write in our books! The CD contains the checklist and the links mentioned in the book. The question today is not if you have a website, but how effective is it. Order it from your online book seller of choice or go to your local bookstore, but make sure you have this resource on your bookshelf.

Web Site Analysis and Reporting is right on target. It contains a lot of useful facts, and is well-organized. The chapter on optimizing your web page for search engines is particularly useful. I also agree with the authors' advice on keeping your web pages simple and avoiding annoying features like popup JavaScript windows, splash screens, and useless graphics--I wish more web sites followed this advice.

This book has a lot of information about running a successful website. It is full of ideas on how to get visitors and once you have them, to give them a reason to come back. Much of it is common sense. There are links at the end of most chapters that provide websites that provide valuable services or expound on the data just given.

There is quite a bit of data on the search engines and what it takes to get good listings (hard work and persistance and of course knowledge on how each engine will index pages).

I found a great deal of agreement with the ideas set forth. It is easy to read, well-organized and covers a lot of topics. The title didn't provide me with an accurate idea of what was inside. Part of that is because there is quite a breadth of topics covered that I suppose a general title was required. It's a very good book and if you find one or two worthwhile ideas, techniques, or data that can be applied, it will more than pay for itself. I have found much more than that.

I do business on the Web, so when I saw this book on ways to analyze my business to make it more productive, I immediately bought it from Amazon. I'm really glad I did -- it's comprehensive, yet written in a relaxed easy to read/understand way. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or expert Web designer to learn from this book. Even average online business owners like me can benefit from it.

This book effectively outlines the essential steps to assure the effectiveness of your e-commerce web site. It considers various aspects of a small commercial site beginning with site design, security measures, transaction methods and tracking options to branding and marketing strategies, search engine visibility, user-friendliness and interactivity.
Even if the information available in this book can be obtained elsewhere (or you can hire a professional to deal with the all the little details) this book is a handy guide and time saving tool to make sure you are not missing any of the important points. It would also be useful for those who are designing an e-commerce site from the ground up to assure a smoother workflow. If you like things organized so it is easier to troubleshoot later on, you would appreciate a reference like this. I especially appreciated the checklists which outline the suggested analysis process. The accompanying CD is a nice addition since it is easier to access the links featured in the book even if the trial versions of some of the software mentioned were not particularly useful for me. Overall, I would consider this a very good buy.

I must admit I was teased by the reviews. 5 stars! Must be good... NOT! What a disappointment. I've read two thirds of the book and I've yet to find something about either "analysis" or "reporting". Most of the content is a rehash of well-known facts or factoids, poorly exposed. Most of the text is made up of bullet lists, maybe the authors aren't able to put together more than two paragraphs in a row. The subject matter is treated superficially, they give you just some hints about languages and tools and a list of URLs. If I wanted a list of URLs, I'd have used Google and saved $45.
I don't know what the other reviewers found good about this book. There are many books on creating effective commerce sites that are much better than this one. Sure, some of the reviews look highly suspicious. 5 stars from everyone? Aw, come on!

Despite some contrary comments, this book does live up to its title. The 32 chapters and three appendices, divided into eight parts, cover the full spectrum of web site analysis. The "Analysis" part of the title is addressed in the following parts of the book: (I - Web Site Design) in which you're shown how to analyze your own site for page effectiveness and accessibility, (III - The Web Engineering Process) that provides guidelinees for evaluating your internal processes and your site's projected ethics and trustworthiness, (V - Creating Engine-Friendly Web Sites) in which you're stepped through both competitive analysis and technology selection techniques, and (VII - Tracking Traffic to Benefit Your Site) that covers log analysis.

What I especially like about this book, and what sets it apart from other excellent books on the topic, is the part on security - a rare topic that needs to be highlighted in more such books, and Part II, which provides techniques and advice for capitalizing on return traffic.

Overall, this book may fall short of your expectations if you're looking for in-depth treatment of how to mine, analyze and report traffic data. However, for the big picture this book stands out as one of the most complete and comprehensive I've read.