Career in Web Analytics

Web Analytics is one of the hottest fields these days. A lot of people are planning to switch careers and many students are looking to start their career in Web Analytics but don’t know where to start. This article is for aspiring web analysts to help them make a transition into web analytics field.

Skills required to be a Web Analyst

First and foremost you need desire and passion to be a web analyst. Desire and passion will get you where you want to go. I believe (and this is my opinion only), if you have the desire and passion then you can acquire other skills. Not everybody will agree with me but again, that’s my view.

The other most important skill that you need is analytical skill. If you are a person who always looks at the problem from a different angle than most of the other people, you have what it takes. If you can put different pieces of the puzzle together to form a complete picture you have the skills to be a web analyst. If you can critically look at things, you have the skills.

Other skills and education that will come in handy are:
1. Business
2. Marketing
3. Statistics
4. Technical

You don’t need a college degree but a lot of employers look for it and I look at it when hiring a candidate. Business, Marketing, Accounting, Statistics and Technical degrees will be very helpful in getting you the job but I have seen Web Analysts with very diverse educational background.
I highly recommend reading the series of interviews I conducted with several web analysts. This will give you an idea of what they think are the skills required to be a web analyst. They also have advice for people who aspire to a career in this field.

Checkout what other web analysts think about the skills required to be a web analyst.

Learning about web analytics

There are several resources available to learn about Web Analytics. There are several blogs on Web Analytics where you can get all levels of information on this subject.

First and foremost you should join WebAnalytics group on Yahoo. This forum is a great source of information. You will find all levels of web analysts in this forum. This is a free for all forum, even if you want to stay on the sideline and just read messages, you can learn a lot. If you have any question on this subject, feel free to ask at this forum.

Buy a copy of Web Analytics Demystified by Eric Peterson and a copy of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushi. These are the two best resources for all levels of web analytics, especially for those who are just starting. Here is a list of books recommended by other web analysts

Online Course by University of British Columbia

If you are prefer to learn in formal way then I recommend the course offered by University of British Columbia. You can learn more about this course at http://www.tech.ubc.ca/metrics/curric.html. (Full Disclaimer: I am one of the associate instructors for this course). This course is offered in partnership with Web Analytics Association (WAA).

Online Reading

Reading blogs, articles and whitepapers is another way to expand your knowledge. There are several blogs out there which touch on various topics on Web Analytics and other related topics. I would recommend you familiarize yourself with the Web Analytics field (see above) before reading these blogs. Both of these blogs have a list of lots of other blogs on Web Analytics. I won’t give you a list of top 10, top 20 blogs because it all depends on what topic you are trying to learn more about. The more you read the better you will understand this field. If you do not have time to go to each and every blog every day you can setup blog alerts on Google for “Web Analytics”

Gaining Practical Experience

This is one of the biggest challenges facing people who want to start a career in Web Analytics. Employers don’t want to hire you if you don’t have experience and you can’t get experience if you don’t have job. (See Getting a Job for more information)

Google Analytics has made it really easy for anybody to get a web analytics tool. This tool is completely free with all the documentation to help you get rolling. If you have a website, deploy this tool and play with it. This will help you understand how web analytics tools and reports work. To gain further experience, tap into your network, I am sure somebody (a friend of a friend of a friend…) will allow you (especially if you are willing to do it for free) to provide reporting and analysis on their site (real site).

Getting a Job

Bloggers and analysts write about the shortage of Web Analysts all the time. There are plenty of companies who are looking for web analysts but are not able to fill the open positions. But when you look at open positions they all need at least 2+ year of experience in omniture, webtrend etc. So what do you do when all you have is some Google Analytics experience on your blog and a certificate from UBC?

As I said before, you don’t need any experience to find a job in this field, all you need is analytical mindset and desire to learn and grow. There are companies who will hire you, train you and provide the support to help you grow. Even though the job requirements asks for 2+ numbers of years in web analytics or web analytics tools, the fact is that there is indeed a shortage of experienced web analytics people. So the companies might be willing to settle for someone without any experience as long as the candidate can demonstrate analytical thinking, desire and passion, and of-course a certificate from UBC will help. Chances of you getting a job without any real experience are pretty good. However, keep in mind that these companies might not be able to relocate you, so you will be limited by the opportunities in the companies in your geographic area.

My advice is that if you see such a job opening, go ahead and apply. If the company has a senior analyst who is willing to teach then you will get a call.

During the interview process make sure that there will be someone who is willing to provide you on the job training. That will make your life easy. You will probably learn faster than those who don’t have that kind of support.

Also, make sure to understand what your role will be. I am amazed to see that some of the job postings want everything on the earth: Omniture, .Net, SQL, Marketing Analysis, Business Objects and the list goes on. If you do apply and get a call from these companies, make sure you clearly understand what you are getting into and that’s what you want to do.

Go ahead and email me (batraonline at gmail) your resume and I will see what I can do for you.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me or a leave a message with your contact information.

Note: This post is an updated version of the blog post that I wrote in 2006.

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Looking to fill your Web Analytics or Online Marketing position? Try WebAnalytics Job Board
New Positions

• Mktg Web Analytics Manager at NetApp (Sunnyvale, California)
• Web Data Analyst at Alzheimer’s Association (Chicago, IL)

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Web Analytics Jobs

To post web analytics jobs visit Web Analytics Job Board

1. Director of Web/E-Commerce Analytics at World Wrestling Entertainment, INC (WWE)
   WWE is a Billion Dollar Sports & Entertainment Company located in Stamford, Connecticut.

   Job Responsibilities:

   • Serve as internal subject matter expert on the reporting tools and metrics by providing information on best practices, benchmarks, key performance indicators, etc.
   • Tracking and comparing traffic drivers and usage trends and recommending site enhancements where appropriate to improve user experience, increase traffic, online sales and overall value to marketing and advertising partners.
   • Work with marketing, e-commerce, business and creative teams to understand their reporting needs, design reports to meet the requirements and work with colleagues to make sure the reports are properly interpreted and used. Respond to ongoing internal customer requests for data and analysis.
   • Provide leadership in Search Marketing area.
   • Provide training on how to interpret and use data for business analysis.
   • Supervise up to 3 people

   See the complete details at http://webanalysis.jobamatic.com/a/jbb/job-details/23036

2. Sr. Web Analytics Manager at NY Times Company
   The New York Times Company located in New York is a leading media company with 2007 revenues of $3.2 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily Newspapers, WQXR-FM and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment

   Job Responsibilities:

   • Deeply understand the NYTimes.com audience and their behavior
   • Support the analytic needs of the company by using WebTrends and other analytical tools to understand trends in web traffic
   • Develop analysis that covers marketing campaigns, financial performance, marketing efforts and engagement
   • Be a thought leader; work with other groups to ensure best practices in metrics and decision making are available to website decision makers
   • Work with the NYT customer insight group to coordinate and focus quantitative and qualitative analysis related to audience behavior
   • Develop effective and persuasive presentations (verbal and written)
   • Work with our technology team to optimize data capture strategy and to collaboratively implement enhancements
   • Mentor junior members of the web analytics staff

   See the complete details at http://webanalysis.jobamatic.com/a/jbb/redirect/21516

To post web analytics jobs visit Web Analytics Job Board

Web Analyst Interview: Jacques Warren

Continuing my series of interviews with Web Analysts, here is an interview with Jacques Warren.

What is your current position and the name of the company you work for.

I am an independent consultant in Web Analytics. My company’s name is WAO Marketing, which stands for Web Analytics & Optimization (well, I guess I’m not so good at branding!), but it is in fact a one-man show. I intend it to stay that way.

How long have you been working in this fields.

I have been in Interactive Marketing for 12 years now, and I decided to focus all my time to Web Analytics 6 years ago. I knew then that it was impossible to be a good Web marketer without making use of all that data. I still strongly believe that analytics, not just Web Analytics, will deeply impact marketing, and how we do business in general.

Tell me about you Interactive Marketing experience, prior to web analytics.

I was in interactive marketing, mainly in agencies. I did have a small company in the 90’s specialized in localizing Web sites in Japanese, and promote them to that market. For many years, Japanese was the second most used language on the Web after English. I believe it lost this title to Chinese, but Japan is still by far the second largest economy. It made sense then to use the Web in the context of international business, although what I was doing was too niched to make a living. My academic background is Sociology. I did some graduate studies, but the desire to travel got into the way of my thesis, and I never finished it. However, I believe that background helps me a lot today, having trained my mind on abstract thought, analysis, and synthesis.

Why focus on Web Analytics?

How can you manage it if you don’t measure it? Back in 2002, after getting fired for not selling enough Web development projects (ah! Those darn 2000 – 2002 years!), I knew that companies could not keep indefinitely throwing money at the Web without starting the hard business questions about the value of all that. It was the beginning of the web normalization; it was time to treat it as another way of doing business. And if it was business, well, then it had to be accountable.

Tell me more about when and why you created your own company?

I actually created my company in April 2007 when I decided to leave Bell Business Solutions, a Bell Canada subsidiary, where I had started the Web Analytics service offer in 2002. We were working with external clients. I had a really good time then, because we were discovering this new field, trying to make it a revenue stream through consulting and reselling WebTrends, and just plainly educating Web managers about the benefits of Web Analytics. So you could say that I have always been on the consulting side of WA. I’m a consultant at heart. I believe I have the required qualities: expertise, communication skills, empathy, and a deep understanding of organizational contexts. If you can’t understand how well (or badly) a company can integrate what you bring it, chances are good that the project will fail. I will confess something to you: getting independent was the best decision I have made professionally in a very long time.

What are you responsibilities? Describe your typical work day.

Well, of course, finding work is, in theory, a good part of what preoccupies me. I say in theory, because my only merit since I left Bell has been to answer the phone. I am amazingly lucky that work comes to me.
So, my main responsibility is to bring maximum value in usually very short time to organizations who need to evolve in Web Analytics. I do a lot of consulting in KPI, dashboard, analysis work, and WebTrends implementation and training. I work with other applications (Google Analytics, Omniture), but only do sophisticated implementations with WebTrends. I was a Premier Reseller at Bell for several years, and although I am not a technical guy, I had to deeply learn
the product. Without my planning it when I started, I turned out to be one of the top WebTrends people here in Canada.

Besides doing the work I am paid for, I spend a good part of my time in meetings, and interacting with managers. Web Analytics is now understood as being crucial, and people want to learn as much as they can, and understand how they can make it a part of their daily practices.

What, in your opinion, are the skills that you think are important for a web
analyst?

Having an analytical mind? Yes, sure, of course. But a “synthetical” one too, although that word doesn’t exist. Interpretation resides at that level; the big picture that is constructed through all that slice and dice. You must master your framework, here Web marketing. I believe I am an excellent web analyst because I am first and foremost a great Web marketer. Well, this is not the most humble thing I have muttered in years… But it’s true!

Do I need to stress the importance of communications skills? Analytics is done in such context, politics, ambitious people, P&L obsession, etc., that what you communicate is never purely objective, even though “I’m not saying it; the numbers are!”. You will expose people, plans, projects. Sure, you will as well demonstrate success, but companies are run by humans, who have a strong tendency to like status quo, and status.

What, if any, education or work experience helped you in your job.

I am of course an avid reader in everything Web Analytics, but also in business, marketing, etc. I also attend training, such as Stephen Few’s workshop on data visualization. That was Stephen first public class last June, and it had a big impact on my work. As for work experience, well, I had dozens of projects done when I decided to fly solo; that of course made the decision way easier, since I was offering deep expertise and experience to the market from day one.

What education is lacking, education or experience that would have helped?

More statistics.

What web analytics/online-marketing books have you read and/or own?

All of them, and most white papers out there. Of course, one needs to read
outside one’s field to find stuff that could be applied. Recent readings are:

The Power to Predict,

Fooled by Randomness,

The Black Swan,

Super Crunchers, and

Competing on Analytics.

What were the major challenges you faced or are facing in this industry?

Adoption, adoption, adoption. I have been at it for six years now, and doing a lot of education here in my market (Province of Quebec in particular, but everywhere I go). Although I am very happy about how much awareness our field is getting these days, I am still amazed at how little still many companies do with the information they get. Acting upon the findings remains what it is all about.

How do you make sure you are learning and growing in this field.

I read a lot of books as I mentioned before. I also read all the blogs (but not always all the posts) in the field. I also watch for conferences and seminar that will help me grow. Paying for all that with my own money, I am very discriminating, and choosey; I wish I could go to more. If you happen to work for a company that gives you a good budget for that, don’t hesitate to use it
all!

Do you have blog? If yes, what kind of article do you write.

I actually have several, Analytics Notes (http://www.waomarketing.com/blog/) in English where I am more interested in the relationships between analytics and marketing culture.
Web Analytique & Optimisation (http://www.waomarketing.com/blogFR/wordpress/) in French, where I discuss the more basic stuff. The Big Integration (http://www.thebigintegration.com/blog/) in English about the data integration stuff. It’s also got a Forum (http://www.thebigintegration.com/forum/) WebKaiseki no Kiso (http://www.waomarketing.com/blogJP/) in Japanese about basic stuff. But I have neglected that one for a while, since writing in that language demands me a lot of time.

What is your advice to aspiring web analysts?

Understand the web and Interactive marketing first and foremost.

Thank you Warren.

Skills required for a Web Analyst – Part II

Over the past year or so I interviewed a few web analytics professionals. In the interviews one of the questions I asked them was about the skills that they think are important for a web analyst. In this 2 part series I have compiled their responses to that question.
If you are a hiring manager looking for web analyst or somebody who wants to start a career in web analytics then this article is for you.

This is the second part in the two part series of “Skills required for a Web Analyst”. You can read the first part at http://webanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/02/skills-required-for-web-analyst.html.

So here are some of the responses:

“To me, the Web needs three ingredients: clear business objectives, a communication strategy and the technology to support them. The best web analyst would be savvy and top of the line in all three… which is probably impossible to find. But everyone can rate himself on a virtual scale and see where they stand and where they want to be.”
Stephane Hamel, Web Analytics freelancer and creator of WASP tool

Curiosity and enthusiasm. I know these aren’t skills so much as innate qualities, but I believe if you can go a long way as a web analyst with curiosity and enthusiasm. If you are genuinely interested in what you’re doing, it shows.”
June Dershewitz, Vice President Semphonic

“Analysts work at various levels — the most fundamental level requires some understanding of basic statistics, such as linear regression, seasonality, and simple trend forecasting, combined with an understanding of how the web “works.” In other words, what do we know about browsing behavior, combined with cookie deletion probabilities, web server caching, and other artifacts of the web experience, to put our data into a reasonable context, from which we can draw useful conclusions?

Beyond that basic level, though, is an understanding of organizational politics, and some fluency in “managing your message” so that the analysis you’ve worked hard at creating actually influences managers in making better decisions. Otherwise, you’re just creating “doorstop reports,” that don’t help your organization, and don’t really justify your efforts.”
WDave Rhee, Analytics Country Manager, Germany, OX2 / LBi Group

“I think 2 of the biggest skills required to be a web analyst is to be able combine technical skills along with business/marketing skills in order to understand your customer’s goals and provide value to them. Secondly you have to be passionate about what you do, if you don’t like what you’re doing you will not give 100% effort.”
Manoj Jasra, Director of Technology at Enquiro

Do you agree with these Web Analytics professionals? What skills do you think are important? Let me know and I will add them to my next post.

Skills required for a Web Analyst – Part I

Web Analytics has become one of the hottest career fields and it is becoming hard to find people with web analytics experience. So if you can’t find people with web analytics experience then what do you do? Well, I interviewed a few of web analytics professionals and one of the questions I asked them was regarding the skills they think were important for a web analyst. In this 2 part series I have compiled their responses to that question, which should help you in understand what skills you should look for when hiring a web analyst.
If you are a hiring manager looking for web analyst or somebody who wants to start a career in web analytics, this article is for you.
So here are some of the responses:

I believe that an ideal Web Analyst should poses blend of Business and Technical skills. He should be articulate and understand the online business quickly.
-Trinadh Rao, Country Manager Web Analytics Association, India Web Analytics Manager at Franklin Templeton

A great deal of tenacity and, being sharp enough to make the connection between right and left brain items.
-Daniel Shields, Web Analyst at CableOrganizer.com

In my opinion a web analyst needs to understand the data and site dynamics of their particular website. Should have decent technical knowledge, good customer focus and attention to details. Should intuitively pick insight from an otherwise burgeoning deluge of data.
-Jaisiri Chetty, Asst. Manager (Insight), Tesco.com

In terms of education any advanced course in statistics should work as a passport to Web Analyst job. He/She should be genuinely good at collating different industry information.
-Apurba Sen, Product Manager at Rediff.com India Ltd

A sense of abstract thinking and Art (seeing the whole picture at once) is important for Web Analytics work.

I think what a lot of companies are asking for has nothing much to do with what is needed to be truly effective. In order to be effective as a Web Analyst you don’t usually need a degree in statistics or be trained as a rocket scientist (yet that is what all the job descriptions I’ve seen ask for – like a big long laundry list) you need the ability to understand what some one needs to measure, what the goals are, and a technical mastery to the tools, the web analytics platforms being used. The least important thing is to know the tools beforehand – because anyone can learn them fairly quickly who is not brain dead (yet this is precisely what most interviewers ask for first – knowledge of the tools)

The most important thing, in any job, is being effective in the job you’ll be hired for –being trusted, that you can deliver what say you can deliver on…and a lot of that is based on trust, on conveying confidence, conveying authority. The technical part is more like the icing the cake, as far as I’m concerned. I go for rapport, gut feeling, intuitive knowledge and visualization of what my clients want and need, and even what they don’t know to ask for, but which they still need…I try to give them…and this is not just at IBM, but all my work is done like this.

You know you’re effective when you’re allowed to work on the “big problems” in your organization. It’s a feedback loop. You need to get trust of higher ups so they’ll let you get the relevant experience that actually makes you valuable in the marketplace (so that you can “move up”). The paradox is, believing in your self first, is necessary in order to get any kind of trust and buy in so that you’ll be allowed to work on the big stuff.

You also need people to like you – and for some people, that’s easier to achieve than others. I won’t say that people that are disliked are not effective – they can be also, but they’re probably miserable and less effective than if they were liked.

But none of these skills is actually what is asked of you in an interview – yet some interviewers will make note of them, nonetheless and the one’s that do are the one’s to work for.
-Marshall Sponder, Blogger at Webmetricsguru.com

More to come in part II.

You might also want to check my blog post titled “Starting a career in web analytics“, that I wrote more than an year ago.

What skills do you think are important? Let me know and I will add them to my next post.

Web Analyst Interview: June Dershewitz

Continuing my series of interviews with Web Analysts, here is an interview with June Dershewitz.

What is your current position and the name of the company you work for?

VP Analytics at Semphonic, a leading web analytics consultancy based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

How long have you been working in this field?

9 years.

Tell me about your work, education prior to entering Web Analytics.

I have a BA in Mathematics from Reed College in Portland, OR. After college I spent 4 years as a research assistant for a mathematician at Swarthmore College in Philadelphia, PA. In 1999 I moved to San Francisco and got my first job as a web analyst at a startup. I’ve worked in web analytics ever since. Most recently I spent 3 1/2 yearsas an independent consultant, taking project-based assignments at companies throughout the Bay Area. I started a new chapter 5 months ago when I joined Semphonic as a salaried employee.

Why did you decided to move to Web Analytics?

It was a brand-new field when I fell into it in 1999. Back then I aspired to be a web developer, but my future employer saw my affinity for data analysis and offered me a position as a web analyst. I took the leap, and I’m so glad I did.

How did you like being an Independent Consultant?

I loved being independent. I worked 8 months a year and made enough money to afford to live in San Francisco which wasn’t bad. I did a lot of traveling, volunteer work and homemaking, on the other hand there was no stability, I was constantly job-hunting, and I was completely alone. At Semphonic I have a whole team to work with, and I love that aspect of the work I do now

How did you find your job at Semphonic?

I met Gary Angel in May 2007 at eMetrics in San Francisco and I joined his team at Semphonic 3 months later, in August. I think we both knew from the start that I’d be a great fit at Semphonic; it was just a matter of getting the ball rolling. My path to Semphonic was not your typical, “see job posting, write cover letter, get interview” progression. I’ve found that, as I continue to build experience and connections in this field, my approach to career growth is evolving. I’m not going to say it’s all about who you know, but I’m definitely in favor of leveraging connections to make progress.

What are you responsibilities in your current position? Describe your typical work day.

I live for variety, and I certainly get that variety at Semphonic. I am fortunate enough to work with a great set of clients; every day I talk to one or more clients about the work at hand. Depending on the size of the project I’ll work with a team or on my own to keep everything moving in the right direction. My current projects span the gamut of data analysis, measurement strategy definition, report development/automation, etc. I also talk to prospective customers now and then, write project proposals, write for my blog, and confer with my Semphonic colleagues. One of main reasons I joined Semphonic was so I’d have the chance to work collaboratively with other top-notch analysts, and I have found that opportunity very fulfilling.

What are the skills that you think are important for a web analyst?

Curiosity and enthusiasm. I know these aren’t skills so much as innate qualities, but I believe if you can go a long way as a web analyst with curiosity and enthusiasm. If you are genuinely interested in what you’re doing, it shows.

What, if any, education or work experience helped you in Web Analytics?

As much as I love the study of mathematics, I don’t often put my academic background to use in any direct sense. On the other hand I know that math has given me a good analytical foundation: a general level of comfort with numbers, solid problem-solving skills, a fine sense of logic. On paper I believe it’s helped me get ahead a few times during the job-hunting process; a number of interviewers have mentioned that I’d been given preference because of my math degree. I feel lucky but I also find this frustrating because I know that great web analysts come from a diverse array of educational backgrounds.

What education you feel is lacking, education or experience that would have helped in Web Analytics?

When I entered the field of web analytics it was squarely planted in the technical realm, and over time it’s become part of marketing. I’ve picked up quite a bit through real-world experience, but if I was starting over from scratch I’d definitely take formal coursework in marketing.

What web analytics/online-marketing books have you read and/or own?

Actually, these days I prefer to do my reading online rather than in print. I am drawn to blogs because they’re so fresh, candid and diverse in opinion. I have about 80 blogs in my feed reader right now; some are specific to web analytics, others are in related specializations, and some cover the web industry in general. I try to keep up with my reading every day, but if I get behind I’ll skim the content from frequent posters and focus on the bloggers who post just a few high-quality articles a month. Also, I’ve just started using the Google Reader Shared Items feature and I’ve found that it’s a great way to discover new blogs that my friends are reading.

How do you make sure you are learning and growing in this field?

I face the challenge of wanting to be a specialist and a generalist at the same time. I think, as a consultant, it’s desirable to have a broad range of skills, but I also know that it can be valuable to pick a specialty and stick with it. I believe you’ve done a great job of it, Anil, with your specialization on behavioral targeting. Naturally I focus my learning on topics I find personally intriguing, but I’m also on the lookout for areas of study that will open up new career opportunities in the future. Ultimately I intend to have my skills evolve in the direction I want my career to go.

Tell me about your blog. What kind of article do you write? How much time do you spend? How do you measure success of your blog?

I started my blog a few months ago; you can find it at http://june.typepad.com/. My cardinal rule is that I’ll write about whatever I find interesting as long as it can be directly related to web analytics. Last month I posted a picture of my family’s pet chicken – but really, it was still on-topic. As a new blogger I had no idea how much fun it would be to get comments on my blog posts.
The comments, the personal feedback, the new connections – that’s how I gauge success and that’s what keeps me going.

What do you look for in a candidate when you hire?

As I mentioned earlier, curiosity and enthusiasm. Show me that you really want to be here, that you’re truly interested, that you’re motivated by more than just a paycheck.

What is your advice to aspiring web analysts?

If you’re not yet certain you’d enjoy the work, conduct informational interviews with people who are in positions you’d like to attain. Ask them about their career, what they like about it, what they don’t, what they think is challenging, etc. By all means read the interviews Anil has compiled here – but also be sure to talk to people on your own. You’ll wind up with valuable insight and new friends, too.

Thank you June.

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Web Analyst Interview: Wandering Dave Rhee

Continuing my series of interviews with Web Analyst, here is an interview with Wandering Dave Rhee also known as WDave.

What is your current position and the name of the company you work for?

I’ve been OX2′s Analytics Country Manager for Germany since September, 2007,
before which I directed the business and web analytics group for Gateway
Computer in Irvine, California. (http://www.ox2.be/)

How long have you been working in this field?

I’ve been involved with Web Analytics directly for a few years now, before which I was working on creating new metrics for the financial valuation of social networks. Discussion boards and other online communities, specifically.

Tell us about your work, education prior to making a switch.

I’ve held various positions in IT strategy consulting, network engineering, and a handful of other varied roles — check my LinkedIn profile if you’re really curious. (http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdave) My background includes a bachelor’s degree in computer science and organic chemistry, an executive MBA, and a Ph.D. in MIS (that I’m still working on — my dissertation topic focuses on social networks, as mentioned above).

Why did you decided to switch to Web Analytics?

Web analytics was a natural extension of my earlier research — how do people behave on the web, and what methods or processes are available to influence that behavior for a given purpose, such as eCommerce or online marketing? Most social network products and services today are about generating buzz or “viral” marketing (which is a widely mis-used term), but I believe that as the true value of social marketing emerges, the demand for solid, actionable metrics will also increase. And I think web analytics is the most likely place for that need to emerge.

How did you find your new job? How long did it take? Did you interview a lot?

Like most people in most circumstances, I found my first job in WA through various social networks, and just searching job boards. At the time, I knew little about web analytics, but was fortunate to have been “found” by a manager who recognized that I could be “trained” for the role quickly and easily, so it worked out well for everyone involved.

My current position I found through meeting people at Jim Sterne’s eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summits(http://emterics.org/) — there is no better place to meet prospective employers or employees in our field, I’m quite certain.

What are you responsibilities in your current job? Describe your typical work
day.

As country manager, I assist with business development, but also help other team members in other countries with their ongoing consulting engagements. This means assisting our clients who could be anywhere in the WA lifecycle — from those just beginning their needs analysis, to those looking to change analytics service providers for various reasons, to those who are trying to get to “the next level” of really managing their online spend as one aspect of their overall marketing portfolio. Web analytics seems to be the cornerstone of marketing optimization, and with good reason. Web analysts generally have the right mindset to ask questions based on business goals, not merely on gathering data for its own sake.

What are the skills that you think are important for a web analyst?

Analysts work at various levels — the most fundamental level requires some understanding of basic statistics, such as linear regression, seasonality, and simple trend forecasting, combined with an understanding of how the web “works.” In other words, what do we know about browsing behavior, combined with cookie deletion probabilities, web server caching, and other artifacts of the web experience, to put our data into a reasonable context, from which we can draw useful conclusions?

Beyond that basic level, though, is an understanding of organizational politics, and some fluency in “managing your message” so that the analysis you’ve worked hard at creating actually influences managers in making better decisions. Otherwise, you’re just creating “doorstop reports,” that don’t help your organization, and don’t really justify your efforts.

What, if any, education or work experience helped you in making the
transition to Web Analytics?

Like most people in the field, I discovered it accidentally – only in the last couple of years has web analytics become a recognized

position for which there are training programs, reasonably standard job descriptions, and expectations which are fairly common to measure an analyst’s success in an organization. As recently as a couple years ago, these weren’t really in place, nor was it clear which job boards were the best for new opportunities. Today, I’d say Eric T. Peterson’s board at Web Analytics
Demystified (http://webanalyticsdemystified.com/job_list.asp and the Web Analytics Association’s own job board (http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/en/jobs/search.asp) are the two best places for those on either side of a job search.

What web analytics/online-marketing books have you read and/or own?

All the “classics” — but the ones I refer to most are actually ones with Excel tips and tricks. Analytics is a mindset, and a set of lenses through which to view business data. Once you’ve learned to look through those different lenses, and had your “Aha!” moments, you continue to hone your analysis in other ways — creating more compelling presentations, for example, to increase the decision-making influence of your analysis.

What are the major challenges you are facing in this industry?

I think the entire industry is at a point where our ability to analyze goes beyond the ability of the tools to deliver unified data in a cost-effective manner. In other words, we can imagine many different data sets we’d like to correlate, but only very few of us can get the various data sources to play nicely with each other without spending an inordinate amount of time, effort, and money, most of which we don’t have access to.

Beyond that, most organizations aren’t yet at the point where they know how to take advantage of the insights web analytics, or rather, an analytics-framed mindset, can offer. As a consultant, I see mos firms struggling to implement a tool correctly, and after that, maybe to figure out some truly useful KPIs, then do some basic campaign analysis. Few organizations are at the point where multi-channel measurement is common, or where web analytics is used to help allocate marketing spend most effectively, or where true ROI is being captured, and good business decisions made accordingly.

Web analytics will mature as an industry, but part of that means that the skill sets will become better defined and more widespread, so that any firm that really needs an analyst will be able to hire one. Beyond that, web analytics and business intelligence will merge in terms of an aggressive approach to data analysis being applied to many areas of an organization — not just their web site, or even their online marketing, but all of the marketing, production, sales, and other operations. It’s neither easy nor cheap to get there, but I’m sure that those firms which can execute well on an analytics vision will certainly see unparalleled success.

How do you make sure you are learning and growing in this field?

I’m a little biased here, but as someone who reads nearly every message in the Web Analytics Forum (the free Yahoo! Group that Eric T. Peterson founded, and which I now serve as the primary moderator (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/webanalytics), I’d have to say it’s one of the best ways to stay abreast of what’s going on.

Membership in the Web Analytics Association (http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/) is critical too, of course, as is attendance at at least one of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summits a year. (http://emterics.org/ — I prefer the big one in San Francisco, but regional ones also make sense for many analysts closer to DC, London, Germany, or any of the other venues, as networking with peers is one very valuable way to keep current.)

Do you have blog? If yes, what kind of article do you write?

I write occasionally at the OX2 site, http://webanalytics.wordpress.com/, about industry trends, advice to new analysts, and respond to interesting points raised by others, either on our
blog, their blogs, or in the Web Analytics Forum. Some things also get posted to my personal blog, http://influenceanalytics.com/, particularly analytics for social networks.

What is your advice to aspiring web analysts?

Join the Web Analytics Forum, read the archives, and keep current with what people are asking about. Join the Web Analytics Association, and support your professional community by volunteering for a committee — there’s no better way to get to know some of the most influential people in the industry than by working on a project with them.

And of course, attend an eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit (http://emterics.org/), get to know your peers, chat with some of the brightest minds in the industry, share your fresh perspectives with others, and quite possibly, walk away with a dream job.

Thank you for your time.

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Web Analytics Salary Survey 2007

Web Analytics has become one of the hottest career fields in past year. This is exactly what I predicted in January of 2007 when I made the predictions for 2007

Recently an article on WISTV.com says
Companies everywhere are allocating resources to developing effective Web sites, says O’Donnell. [GL1] She points to Web analytics as a specific, cutting-edge job choice. “Companies need people who can make their sites easy to navigate and visually impactful, so Web analysts need to understand human psychology and also be slightly obsessed with the Web,” she says.

As people make a decision about their career one of the questions that everybody has on their mind is “What can expect in terms of money?” To answer this question I conducted a salary survey a few months back. In this post I am going to post the result of that survey. I would like to thank all of you who participated in this survey.

I had total of 102 responses from web analysts around the world. I did not have enough data to show salary results for any other country except US. In future I will conduct a survey for a longer period of time to get more data from other countries as well. Every position except the Director had siginificant number of respondents. So when you look at these numbers keep that in mind that salary for Director level might not be a true representation of the actual salaries.

Average and Median Salary by Title

Average salaries and bonus for web analytics positions ranged from $31,000 to $212,000. Most of the people with Analyst titled had 0-2 years of experience. It appears that as these Analysts get more experience and transition into Sr. Analyst their salaries jump significantly (+42% on average).

Base Salary by Job Title

Base Salary and Bonus by Job Title

Average Base Salary and Bonus by Job Title

Over 57% of the respondent had bonus along with the base salaries. Bonus was a component of total package at all the positions.
Sr. Managers seem to have higher bonus than people with Director Title. Since there were very few “Directors” who participated in the survey I am not confident that these numbers truly represent the current market salaries. (I encourage you to participate in next survey that I will conduct to make sure we have enough data points).

Salary based on Total years of Experience

Base Salary by total years of experience

As expected salaries increased with the years of experience. Median salary of “7 and Above” year was below median salary of 5-7 year of experience. I think the cause of this was that a lot of people with experience in other fields made a move to Web Analytics. Their salary in web analytics is higher than what they were making in their previous jobs but still below that of others who have been working in web analytics or marketing fields.

Base Salary and Bonus by total years of experience

Average Base Salary and Bonus by total years of experience

% of compensation in bonus grows with the number of years of experience.
People with 0-2 years of experience make an average of 6% of their base in bonus
People with 2 -5 years of experience make an average of 13% of their base in bonus
People with 5-7 years of experience make an average of 16.5% of their base in bonus
People with 7 and above years of experience make an average of 17.9% of their base in bonus

So do you fall in this range? What would you like to see in future surveys? Leave anonymous comments if you don’t want to disclose your name?

Please contact me at batraonline at gmail.com to get a PDF copy of this report.

Web Analytics Jobs Trends – 2007

Web Analytics is one of the hottest career fields these days. Organizations are realizing that web analytics can no longer be a part time work and requires full time dedicated staff thus pushing the demand for web analysts.

This year, since making my Web Analytics jobs predictions in Januray, I reported on open job positions every month till August of this year. After August I stopped reporting on the jobs because I did not see any major changes and there was nothing exciting to report. Since the year is coming to an end, I thought I will close out the year with another report to show where we are and what to expect in 2008.

Before we look at the numbers please note that the Dec numbers are taken today i.e. 28th while the rest of the number reported were taken on the 1st of the month. As you know I use two job aggregator sites Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com for the data. Both of these sites collect open job positions from individual company sites and from job boards such as HotJobs.com. SimplyHired.com also provides job boards called job-a-matic, like the Job Board I have on my blog. SimplyHired.com job board allows individual bloggers or site owners to quickly create a job board specific to their site’s content.
Note: Those who are curious to know what to expect in terms of salary, I will be posting the results of Job Survey on 1st of Jan 2008.

Let’s take a look at the numbers.

When I first reported the open Jobs in January, there were 1024 open positions that had the word “Web Analytics” in them. In the very first month the open jobs were up to 1711, a jump of 67%. It is quite possible that due to holidays not many positions were advertised and when people were back from holidays they started advertising open positions and hence we saw this big jump. Well this year, as of Dec 28th, there are 2068 open positions, that is 102% increase from January this year. I don’t see much change happening in next 3-4 days so January 1st numbers will be about at the same level.
Looking at the trend in 2007, we can expect a big increase in open positions in February and the whole year

Note: Month in the above graph represents the month when the data was gathered. A lot of job positions are never listed on any job board or company sites. These jobs are filled by networking and referrals. So key to finding a job is increasing your network. Let people know that you are interested in Web Analytics.

If you want to start a career in web analytics and don’t know where to start, check out my article starting a career in Web Analytics and my Web Analyst interview series to see how others got started in web analytics.

Which tool experience is in demand?

Omniture remains the most sought after tool experience, followed by WebTrends.
In this month, Google Analytics displaced Coremetrics from 3rd spot and is behind Omniture and WebTrends.

In 2008 I expect Google Analytics to be in hot demand. As Google releases new features and opens up the APIs it will become more complicated to implement and use.

Stay tuned for the Salary Survey results to be published on January 1st.

Interview with Manoj Jasra

Continuing my series of interviews with Web Analyst, here is an interview with Manoj Jasra.

What is your current position and the name of the company you work for?

Director of Technology, Enquiro Search Solutions

How long have you been working in web analytics field?

Since 2002

Tell me about your work and education prior to starting in Web Analytics?

I was actually a university student at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia – I joined Enquiro pretty much right out of school

How did you choose a career in Web Analytics?

Enquiro had a need for a person dedicated to analytics so that we could offer our clients more value in our service offerings. Personally I don’t think I ever permanently switched to analytics, rather expanded my search marketing skill set with that knowledge.

How did you find your job at Enquiro? How long did it take?

I think it was a little bit of luck, fate, skills/education and timing. A friend of mine was actually applying to work at Enquiro and I was just coming along for the ride, however I ended up submitting my resume and beat him out for the position. At that time it was a fairly quick interview process with only 1 interview.

What are you responsibilities? Describe your typical work day.

I wear a couple of hats at Enquiro. As the Director of Technology it’s my job to establish relationships with other vendors to help find the best of breed tools to integrate into our services. I also handle many strategic tasks related to Web Analytics ranging from analysis to implementation. Originally my background was in Software development therefore I am always providing consultation on technical SEO tasks as well.

What, if any, education or work experience helped you in making this role?

I think the best way to understand this role is to get your hands dirty with data analysis and implementation manuals. I started by testing on Enquiro’s own site using Omniture’s SiteCatalyst.

What education is lacking, education or experience that would have helped?

There are many good courses and seminars offered by the Vendors and the Web Analytics Association and I am sure if took more of those they would have helped me progress quicker.
What web analytics/online-marketing books have you read and/or own?
I have Eric Peterson’s Big Book of KPIs and Web Analytics Demystified, Actionable Web Analytics (Jason Burby/Shane Atchison) and would love to read Avinash’s Web Analytics: An Hour a Day. I am currently reading Chris Anderson’s, The Long Tail.

Which book(s) helped in you in starting in your job?

Web Analytics Demystified was a good place to start.

What were the major challenges you faced or are facing in this industry?

I think one of the biggest challenges is organizing and prioritizing all the new information that is thrown at you each day – it’s difficult to keep on top of it all

How do you make sure you are learning and growing in this field?

From an SEM and not just Web Analytics perspective, I try to take 45 min to an hour a day to read blogs and news portals. I also try to attend webinars whenever I can to help me leverage new technology/tactics/strategies

Tell me about your blog.

I write Web Analytics World, http://manojjasra.blogspot.com/. 50% is dedicated to Web Analytics and 50% is dedicated to SEM/Technology/SEO/SMO. I provide insight on the latest news in the industry; I conduct interviews/podcasts and provide strategic recommendations for online marketing.

What are the skills that you think are important for a web analyst?

I think 2 of the biggest skills required to be a web analyst is to be able combine technical skills along with business/marketing skills in order to understand your customer’s goals and provide value to them. Secondly you have to be passionate about what you do, if you don’t like what you’re doing you will not give 100% effort.

What is your advice to aspiring web analysts?

Theoretical skills are important but will only get you so far therefore it’s important to get “hands-on” experience right away.

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If you want to see what books other web analysts recommend, check out http://webanalysis.blogspot.com/2007/04/books-recommended-by-web-analysts.html

If you are in web analytics field and would like to interview for my blog please contact me at batraonline at gmail.com.