Web Analytics News & Articles

What is perhaps an attempt to save a little face after several privacy disasters, Google has announced they’re working on a tool that will let users opt-out of being tracked by Google Analytics.  

Web analytics company Omniture (news, site) bets that your brand has a Facebook application, and that you’d love to know how it’s performing.  

As the quest to understand Web analytics continues, Omniture (news, site) is doing what they can to provide the answers. Their recent partnership with Kampyle, a company specializing in customer feedback, is one of the latest attempts.  

A lot of people were excited to learn that Sitecore (news, site) grew 40 percent in 2009, so we’re happy to report that the Web CMS provider is spreading its services even further by opening a new office in Japan—their first location in the Asia region.

Ever wonder what your Facebook campaigns are doing for you? Well, today Webtrends (news, site) attempts to answer that question with their new Facebook measurement capabilities. 

Well, it looks like Web analytics is making the headlines just about everywhere this year. Australian startup Effective Measure, for example, just raised US$ 4 million in a first round of funding from Rho Ventures.  

Our latest poll showed that while web analytics usage by our readership was strong for a good number of you, more than 65% of respondents have significant work to do.  Here's a review of the results peppered with the opinions and commentary of some experts in the analytics space.

There has been a lot of discussion around what is better, integrated analytics or third party analytics solutions. But the discussion doesn't start there. It should start with just how well you use your analytics to drive your business decisions and user experience improvement decisions.

And thus our question for you this week is this:

The poll will be open through Sunday, February 14th, so have your say now. Stay tuned for the results of our Top DAM Challenges poll from last week.

If you don’t remember when CrownPeak (news, site) added their own testing, targeting and measurement tools last November, then don’t worry. They’re adding similar tools -- again -- but this time it’s via integration with Omniture (news, site).
 

Webtrends (news, site) made a double-whammy announcement at this year’s Engage 2010 conference. The Web analytics solution provider released both advanced targeting capabilities and Webtrends Mobile Analytics. Heads up marketers, this one’s for you.

Wouldn't it be nice if analytics were easier to understand? Quantivo thinks so, and their missing-link type solution – Quantivo 4 – attempts to achieve this by reducing data down to child’s play. 

Web content management got a lot of attention in 2009. The old way of doing things was declared over and a new way of thinking declared necessary. Many things changed, from the economic environment to the way Web CMS products are being built and deployed.

What we started seeing is that systems can't just slide by with basic functionality, or traditional deployment models. And one of the things we did before skipping out for our holiday break was to talk about the current trends in web content management.

Here's a recap:

• Platform vs Specialization: We are seeing the division of WCM platforms and vendors offering specialized WCM point solutions. We are also having great discussions on the beloved WCM acronym and where its future lies.
• Integration of Web Analytics: The needs to provide engaging user experiences is more important than ever before. But do we really need our analytics solutions to be tightly integrated? The debate is on.
• Tightly Integrated Search: We've always had some kind of search within our WCMs -- or at least we should have -- whether it was part of the solution or third party. But now the move towards tighter integration is upon us.
• Cloud Hosted vs SaaS: The battle for the cloud: is the best approach cloud hosted or SaaS? Some vendors will straddle the fence, while others will stand their ground.
• Integration of Social Media: Lots of social media functionality in WCM systems, a little bit of WCM in social computing apps. Are the two converging? Or just battling for prime time real estate?

You can read the full article Emerging Trends in Web Content Management to get more detail, but we are curious to know:

In a recent survey conducted by Sitecore (news, site), the .NET Web Content Management software company discovered that the number of organizations implementing Web analytics has risen to nearly 90 percent. For a market that’s expected to hit US$ 953 mil by 2014, we can’t say we’re surprised.  

Web analytics is a hot discussion topic these days -- you can't move forward and embrace your customers if you can't measure the choices they are making. One area of this industry that is taking on a major role is the mobile web. And Semphonic, an independent web analytics consultancy firm, is demonstrating just how important is has become.

The company has hired former Nokia Head of Analytics, Greg Dowling, to be their new Vice President. Dowling, a fifteen year industry veteran, has extensive experience in mobile measurements and enterprise analytics. Not only has he worked for Nokia, he was also Vice President of Strategy & Analysis for Digitas and worked as a senior analyst with JupiterResearch.

Dowling will head up Semphonic's office in New York and take the lead with their mobile strategy and measurement practice. Gary Angel, Semphonic's President had this to say about Dowling joining the company:

Semphonic is committed to being the leader in mobile measurement consulting. Many of our clients are still struggling with what to do about mobile and Greg’s deep knowledge in this area will create a significant advantage for all Semphonic clients.

The explosive growth of mobile device usage has definitely lead to a strong need for organizations to both develop their mobile strategy (because they need one) and measurement tactics. It's not as simple as using the tools and strategies that apply to the web itself, there's a little more to it.

How much more? Stay tuned here as we dig deeper into this topic.

If coffee is for closers, then Sitecore (news, site) is certainly jacked up on caffeine. The .NET Web CMS software company had a superb 2009, with more than 40 percent revenue growth resulting from developments such as the release of their Online Marketing Suite, an updated Intranet Portal, and much global expansion.