"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics" – Mark Twain
Ok, forgive the hyperbolic headline, But Omniture’s proving insatiable of late. Last month it gobbled up Instadia; yesterday it announced it was acquiring Touch Clarity, UK-based provider of behaviorally-targeted content delivery systems. In contrast to the Instadia acquisition, Omniture’s press release on the Touch Clarity deal focuses on the complementary nature of the two companies’ … Read more
You might imagine that after seven years in the web analytics industry I would have worked out what a third-party cookie was. But it turns out that my thinking on this is fuzzy (like so much in my life), or at least incomplete. Let me explain. When asked what a third-party cookie is, most people … Read more
Further to my previous poll question, here’s another. Overlay reports: an innovative way of visualizing traffic data, or pointless eye-candy with no analytical usefulness? You be the judge. Results once I have enough responses not to be too embarrassed. If you have other thoughts about overlay reports, I’d love to hear them – comment away.
My fragile ego is salved by the news that a full sixty-two people responded to my poll question about whether power or simplicity was more important in a web analytics product. Here are the results: So the power-hungry outnumbered the simpletons by nearly two to one. I think this reflects the relatively sophisticated nature of … Read more
I’m always amazed by the economic niches that grow up around the periphery of big companies and industries. It’s a great demonstration of the Darwinian roots of capitalism. So I was delighted to discover (in a purely academic sense, of course) via GoogleWatch that a little industry has grown up around the business of managing … Read more
The latest news from the carnivorous world of web analytics is that Omniture has snapped up Instadia, a Scandinavian web analytics firm. Instadia’s main claim to fame is that their web analytics solution features integrated survey capability – a lead that the rest of the industry has been slow to follow, perhaps for fear of souring … Read more
In an effort to add a little interactivity to this blog (and now that I have a reasonable number of visitors, following last week’s kiss-and-tell revelations), I’m going to be running an occasional poll on this site, for my (and hopefully, your) edification. Today’s inaugural poll asks the time-worn question: in a web analytics tool, … Read more
Amusingly, some of the blogs and newswire services that are reporting on our Gatineau alpha have the project name down as Gastineau. Perhaps the confusion is caused by a hankering for the glory days of the New York Jets and their legendary defensive end Mark Gastineau. Or perhaps it springs from a deep and abiding … Read more
There’s a good post over on Avinash’s blog with 9 tips for getting JavaScript tagging right on your website. There’s not much for me to add except to say that you should click the link above and read his advice; but I do have one thing to add about redirects (point 7 in Avinash’s post). … Read more
I should know by now that you can’t hide anything from the Internet. So it doesn’t come as any great surprise to me that blog posts are starting to appear that have spotted that there is now something live on the Internet under the name of ‘Gatineau’. As the observant amongst you will know, Gatineau … Read more