Customer Reviews

Web Analytics Demystified: A Marketer's Guide to Understanding How Your Web Site Affects Your Business

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've read the 'classics' by Sterne and Inan, as well as some other good and bad books on web analytics, and this one is among the best.

What I especially like is the way each approach to analytics is thoroughly examined, and the strengths and weaknesses objectively discussed. Some books are dogmatic in their approach, locking the reader into the author's view of analytics. This one differs by giving readers enough information with examples, clearly articulated factors, and other identified best practices to accept compromise solutions based on budget, level of in-house expertise and other considerations.

Another aspect of this book is the way the author cuts through ambiguous terminology that is rampant in the web analytics discipline, which does demystify. The comprehensive discussion of tools, classified by type, is another area where this book shines. There is too much vendor hype that promotes fear, confusion and doubt, and this book cuts through the hype and uncovers what is and is not important, as well as sets realistic expectations.

Using the same comprehensive approach as in other parts of this book, the author covers metrics in great detail. This is, afterall, the essence of web analytics, and the thoroughness and scope of metrics make this book an invaluable resource.

If you need to learn web analytics, select tools to support it, or are a practicing web analytics analyst this book is one which should be on your desk - and given to other team members and stakeholders. It raises the bar in books on the subject and is destined to become a classic.

In this book, Eric Peterson describes the basics of Web Analytics in a story-kind way. The text is very accurate, easy-to-read, and interesting. It is surely a good buy.

However, I prefer by far his book "Web Site Measurement Hacks" (I also wrote a review there), it is much more complete. Additionally, the Hacks are organized in a better way, more web analytics' friendly; I believe that it is more helpful to have a book divided in many subjects and not in an ongoing narrative, that's the way I practice Web Analytics, and I like to refer to a book as my doubts appear (though both styles are valid and important).

I bought both and I like both. But if I had to choose, I would go for the Hacks.

If you are doing Web Analytics already and use tools like Google Analytics, Web Trends, Web Position Pro, Clicktracks or similar products today, grab this book and get a deeper understanding of the various metrics you have already seen or ignored to this day, because you were not able to apply the results to your business.

If you are not doing Web Analytics, but have an online business and even use methods like PPC Advertisement and/or Search Engine Optimization to promote your products or services, get a copy of the book today and a Web Analytics Solution implemented into you Website "tomorrow".

You are throwing money out of the window every day you wait to get proper tracking and analytics in place. Read this book and you will understand why.

Web analytics is probably one of the most boring topics you could read about. I think i would rather read a book on the history of the pencil. But if you are going to read a book on web analytics, this is the one. There are only a few books out there on web analytics and if i remember right, Eric Peterson wrote half of them. He knows his stuff and has the goods to back it up. Over and over again what he says makes sense, no matter how many times you have to re-read the line after dozing off. Not only does it make sense, it works. He gives examples of what works, what doesn't, and why. Which is critical information if you are one of the really boring people like me who's job is web analytics.

Forgive me for making fun of this book. It really is a good book. I HIGHLY suggest it. And if you suffer from sleeping problems, it's a must.

I have been involved with numerous web analytics initiatives as a vendor, consultant and business user. Unfortunately, all too many deployed web analytics reporting projects have the following characteristics: sporadic insights separated by long periods of inactivity and inattention. Furthermore, the choice of tools and the size of the reporting budget often have little or no bearing on the likelihood of success. Eric Peterson's book goes right to the heart of how to make web analytics consistently actionable and profitable. In a remarkably straightforward manner he helps you determine the limited number of key metrics you must follow assiduously in order to track the performance of your web site based on the business model (Online Commerce, Advertising, Lead Generation, and Customer Support). This book offers immediate relief to anyone who has felt the pain of staring into yet another set of canned traffic reports overloaded with superfluous charts, tables and graphs, wondering just where they should begin.

The literature on web analytics is sparse. There are only a handful of titles and they all belong on the bookshelf of anyone responsible for understanding and interpreting results on the Web. Web Analytics Demystified, however, is the one destined to sit open on your desk, become dog-eared from use and accumulate coffee stains, doughnut crumbs and margin notes. If your business involves making or saving money on the Web, then you need this book.

Eric does a fantastic job of making sense of a complex subject and providing real context for all the web data available for analysis. If you are serious about truly being successful online, Website Analytics Demystified demonstrates how to move away from "reporting on yesterdays results" to providing real insight into online consumer behavior. If you are going to buy only one book on website analytics, this is the must have bible on the topic.

I gained knowledge from reading "Web Analytics Demystified", which moved me from 'clueless' to fairly competent in regards to the basics of web analytics. My expectations were met and I am pleased with the purchase. The book balanced the technical details with a user friendly reading format.

As a practitioner of web analytics and process management I have almost always had to forage knowledge where there was often none. Finally, a book arrives that neither dumbs down information nor makes it too simple for an experienced marketer. I think the author was most successful in providing the guts of web analytics to generalists, and practitioners alike while maintaining an almost journal like approach to providing details about improving web site performance -- from the preplanning stages - onward. That day-to-day perspective is helpful, as many books in the field of Internet Marketing are flat and anecdotal at best. I think this is a very welcome addition in the academic world of web analytics and is more than meaty enough to refer to often. There are clearly many years of insight that are relevant to the work of the web here.

Eric Peterson has done a great job at making web analytics accessible to everyone from executives and marketing professionals who are responsible for the success of their websites, to web designers and IT professionals responsible for implementing solutions and optimizing their results. With a solid blend of technical and marketing information, Web Analytics Demystified is THE book to read on the subject today.

It's amazing how quickly a book written in 2004 can be outdated (bought this in 2007). It's really just scratching the surface of what you can learn from reading a blog on web analytics. Not worth the money.