Customer Reviews
A must have for anyone who's serious about web analytics - By: B. Adams, 25 Sep 2008 
Web analytics isn't about numbers, page views, hits & sessions. It's about discovering what your users want, what they're doing on your website, & how you can help them get to where they want to be. Avinash does a superb job of explaining thisin his book, & if you'rein any way serious about doing web analytics the right way, you need to get this book.
The best guide to actionable insights from data - By: Lorenz Lammens, 02 Nov 2007 Web Analytics is a must read because it learns you how to view analytics the right way.
One of the hardest part when first diving into analytics is figuring out how to focus on the right data - the data that tells you what is happening with your site.
One of the first questions Avinash gets you to focus on is: "What's the purpose of your web site?" Your analytics strategy should be very much aligned with the answer to this question.
With this attitude towards the data, we can "infer the intent" of the user - ultimately, inferring is the best you can do with this type of data. Inferences are important, as they will inform strategy. If the strategy is then met with improved performance of the site, your confidencein the data & its interpretation grows. If not, you should re-analyze & re-strategize. Earlyin the book, Avinash identifies this as your top priorityin analytics. In fact, he says, "Is it a bit extreme to dump clickstreamin favor of measuring outcomes first? Yes. Necessary? You bet."
The challenge is that the quality of the information available from your traditional web analytics tools is too poor for you to analyze outcome. In order to make sense of the data, we need broader research & analysis, so that we can find relationships between the different types of data, & infer meaning from them.
To achieve this, Avinash enriches the data with Focus group analysis, continuous surveys, multivariate testing, etc.
Avinash also integrates competitive intelligencein his interpretation of the data. Services such as comScore & Hitwise can provide direct information about what your customers are doing.
It is a great book that teaches you all this from the ground up, & goes into amazing detail. I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Excelent book on on line marketing and web analitycs - By: Fernando Ortega, 22 Sep 2007 Avinash has written a book that coversin depth everything related with web analytics from the perspective of an user centered web management & marketing. Excelent reference book to undestand what are users doingin your webin qualitative terms not just as a "clickstream" of numbersin a list.
A must if you want to learn what web analytics really is.
More than just analytics, this is a manual for customer focused web marketing - By: Mr. T. Leighton-Boyce, 24 Aug 2007 This is the best hands-on guide to web analytics & the importance of analytics to any on-line marketing project I have yet found.
The book balances both the high-level aspects of web analytics -- the philosophy, if you like -- with a huge amount of specific, practical, how-to information. It may seem like a big book, but I don't see how it could have been any shorter & still delivered so much.
Fortunately, it's an extremely readable book. I like the language & the style of the book. Avinash's enthusiasm for the subject comes singing out of the pages. He makes the subject seem fun & he sustains that over hundreds of pages. That's a remarkable achievement when you consider the length.
I have a shelf full of business or self-improvement books which try to make themselves readable & accessible by interjecting folksy anecdotes full of people with made up names every few pages. It's a very common approach. The result is often repetitious fluff. This book is very different. There is no padding of that kind: the examples given are all very clearly based on personal experience & are there for good reason. They are informative. They are not simply structural devices.
The language itself is also distinctive & entertaining. I believe that Avinash grew up listening to the BBC World Service. Although it's an American book, there are notesin the language which echoe a different worldin a way which I find refreshing.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. One of my colleagues has a copy where most of the pages are thick with highlighter ink. The quality of information is that high. It really is that good. If you can buy only one book on the subject, this is the one to get.
Web Analytics: A must for ever web team - By: Lucy Spence, 01 Aug 2007 I'm not a web analyst. Nor am I a statistician. However I've just finished reading `Web Analytics: An Hour a Day' & I feel like I could do a pretty good job of the former without being daunted by the latter.
It all comes down to one concept - that of a data driven decision making culture. Or put another way, how to maximise the return on all your hard work. Avinash describes it wonderfully & provides lots of useful advice about how to achieve it.
If that sounds dull, fear not - Avinash does a much better job of making it interesting & exciting.
If you're a web analyst, you shouldn't need this review to convince you to buy the book - read some of Avinash's blog posts & you'll soon work it out for yourself. If you're not an analyst but you're involvedin managing a website or sites you'll find it incredibly refreshing & useful (failing that make sure at least one person one your web team has read it).
Personally I can't recommend it highly enough. You don't have to read it cover to cover, & even the most experienced web professionals should find plenty to think about.
