Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success [Paperback]

Jim Sterne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2002

There now exists a wealth of tools and techniques that can determine if and how a Web site is providing business value to its owners. This book is a survey of those metrics and is as important to IT executives as it is to marketing professionals.

• Jim Sterne is recognized worldwide as a leading Internet business expert and is the author of several Wiley books, including WWW Marketing, Third Edition (0-471-41621-5)
• Explains the criteria for building a successful site, surveying the tools, services, techniques, and standards for Web measurement, and fully integrating those metrics with the customer experience
• Companion Web site contains links to online tools, resources, and white papers

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...A great book which actually manages to make a boring subject worth reading about..." (Internet News Bulletin, 18 September 2002)

"...if the book had been published earlier, perhaps there would have been less fallout from the dot.com bubble bursting..." (www. Suchmaschinen Optimierung (German), 17 September 2002)

"...innovative...provides you with everything you need to know to measure your online business strategy..." (www. Software Pro, 18 September 2002)

"...a useful book...useful to anyone in web development..." (Computer Bulletin, May 2003)

"...if you have lots of money and lots of staff, I would recommend you get this book..." (Cvu, June 2003)

"...the content is solid and valuable...a book worth buying..." (Performance Measurement and Metrics, August 03)

From the Back Cover

Learn how to determine whether a Web site is offering a competitive advantage

Despite the fact that numerous online ventures have recently fallen by the wayside, companies still realize that the Web plays an integral role in conducting business. They recognize the importance of measuring and analyzing the information gathered from their sites so they can find new ways to balance online and offline efforts. In this innovative book, leading Internet marketing expert Jim Sterne uncovers the latest tools and techniques that will help you determine if and how your Web site is adding value to your company. He clearly shows you how to use the range of available metrics to improve your Web marketing strategies. Incorporating his vast experience with clients such as Eastman Kodak, Ericsson, Sears Roebuck, and IBM, Sterne exposes the key issues facing corporate sites today. He then explains the role of Web metrics, detailing the criteria to follow in order to build a successful site and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Web Metrics provides you with everything you'll need to know to measure your online business strategy, including:
* Types of Web metrics tools, services, techniques, and standards for Web measurement
* Ways to fully integrate Web metrics with the customer experience
* Details on how to use metrics to meet specific business goals

The companion Web site includes links to online tools, resources, and white papers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471220728
• ISBN-13: 978-0471220725
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #838,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Computers & Technology > Web Development > Website Analytics

More About the Author

Jim Sterne is an international speaker on electronic marketing and customer interaction. A consultant to Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurs, Sterne focuses his twenty five years in sales and marketing on measuring the value of the Internet as a medium for creating and strengthening customer relationships.

Jim is the producer of the international eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summits www.emetrics.org and is the co-founder and current Chairman of the Web Analytics Association www.WebAnalyticsAssociation.org

Named one of the 50 most influential people in digital marketing by Revolution, the United Kingdom's premier interactive marketing magazine at the time, Jim was more recently was named one of the top 25 Hot Speakers by the National Speakers Association.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read" for marketing and CRM professionals, July 28, 2002

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success (Paperback)

One key phrase from this book sticks in my mind and summarizes the entire theme of the book, "You know your Web site is serving pages. But is it serving company?" Indeed, this is the most business-focused book among the ones I've read on web metrics. The author focuses on two major areas: marketing and customer relationship management metrics, which are closely related. If you're seeking a more technical book, I recommend "Scaling for E-Business: Technologies, Models, Performance, and Capacity Planning" by Daniel A. Menasce and Virgilio A. F. Almeida.

Not only does this book go deeply into the business-related metrics, but it also shows how select the most meaningful metrics (you cannot economically measure or understand everything). It also shows you how to develop a strategy for gathering and using the metrics, including convincing upper management of the need for the strategy.

Interestingly, you can also take the information provided in this book and use it as the basis for a competitive intelligence strategy, because the very metrics that are meaningful to your business are also key indicators for your competitors. You can either benchmark your competitors, or determine if their measurement strategy is as mature as yours. While the author didn't explicitly cover this, the material in the book certainly gives you the foundation for such a strategy.

If you work in marketing or are responsible for CRM you'll find that the book's approach and wealth of ideas and techniques can be put to immediate use. As a side note, if you are using this book in conjunction with a CRM strategy, you'll also want to read "The CRM Handbook: A Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management" by Jill Dyché, which touches upon the metrics aspects presented in this book, and goes deeper into CRM.

In addition to the material presented in the book, the accompanying web site is equally as valuable, especially the numerous links to related material that is grouped by book chapter.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a Keeper, July 26, 2002

By 

Jill H. Ellsworth (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success (Paperback)

This is *the* book to read about web metrics and measuring web site success.

I read much of this book in a couple of days and found it to be superb -- clear, to the point, funny and informative. A really excellent, useful book -- I rarely read whole e-marketing type books because, to be honest, most of them bore me to tears.

This is a winner.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything You Need to Know, July 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success (Paperback)

A complete how-to book to determine the success of a Web site. Sterne clearly explains how to use metrics to quantify business goals. The tools, services, and techniques for measurement described in the book will be helpful for any e-business or other company with an Internet presence. A must-read.