Introduction Web analytics can help businesses or organizations with a web presence stay competitive, leading to profitability. The use of analytics can be a powerful tool in a company’s strategic approach that can be used to differentiate it from its competitors and serve as a form of competitive advantage for the organization in competing in this twenty first century. In this essay, various definitions of web analytics and other key terms used in this field will be examined. Definitions According to on online-behavior.com, analytics is defined as the “process of obtaining an optimal or realistic decision based on existing data.” [1]. Davenport and Harris (2007) defined analytics, as the “extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions.” [2]. Web analytics is defined, according to a document from Clark University, as the “practice of measuring, collecting, analyzing and reporting on internet data for the purposes of understanding how a website is used by its audience and how to optimize its usage.” [3]. The same document gives a much more simple definition of web analytics, as the “study of visitor, navigation, and traffic patterns to determine the success of a given website.” [3]. The document states further that “web analytics does not purely focus on the amount of traffic which might only be helpful in evaluating your bandwidth usage and server capabilities. Instead
Taking careers such as web design and analytics, there are numerous studies that have been conducted about how fortune 500 companies invest in web analytics (Chaffey, D., & Patron, M. (2012)). Despite these skyrocketed investments on web analytics, they still find it difficult to make meaningful
And yes, this information is valuable. But these analytics tools alone can’t offer the insights that drive successful business decisions. This level of analysis has to come from a certified “analytics ninja,” a person or team of people that can dig through the haystack to find the insights that move the needle. Even if you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the best analytics products out there, if you don’t have some certified analytics ninjas on your team, you’re just blindly wasting your cash. Essentially, your Web analytics tool is only as powerful as the person using it.
Organizations have incredible interests in "Web Analytics", yet regardless they can't make suitable business arrangements. The fundamental target of this standard is to execute web investigation instruments to most astounding worth. In the present procedure numerous huge undertaking organizations spend more than a large portion of a-million dollars a year on costly Web Analytics arrangements as opposed to spending even 50% of that cash on qualified web examiners. Because you are huge and have entry to colossal assets, does not imply that you should go for costly arrangements when there are scarcely any qualified heads to handle web examination in the association. Keeping in mind the end goal to separate themselves from free web investigation
In the world of technology that we live in today has forced companies in almost every industry to use whatever tools that are available to help them be competitive in their business industry. There are a few ways to do this, one of those ways is the use of Web analytics, which is the collection of raw data from users browsing habits and then taking the raw data and assemble the data into clear comprehensive results. This type of analysis is very useful for companies, as it helps them learn what users are doing and their habits and the best way to target these users.
In spite of very huge data, reports, files, large investments made in web analytics, firms find it difficult to make business decisions. Many business leaders underlined the need to invest in people, but none have spelled it how much could be invested on the tools and people. Kaushik (Blog at kaushik.net) found and developed a rule for investment on tools and analyst to solve the problems in arriving at business decisions to become successful in business. He named it as 10/90 rule for web analytics success.
In the New Science of Winning book, (Davenport & Harris, 2007, p.7) analytics is defined as “the extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions.” [1]. To be successful in today’s competition, my current employer, DLL Financial Solutions Partner (DLL), is competing on analytics and fully aligned its core strategies to be supported by extensive statistical and computer based decisions. DLL is a global financial services company with operation in 36 countries, and its main focus is in the commercial equipment finance sector. In the following paragraph, I will explain DLL’s position in the industry and its ability to successfully compete on analytics with regards to its core business functions.
If you were to simply google the term “web analytics” and search for a definition, the ge-neric answer you would find is something along the lines of: the measurement, collection, and analysis of web data to study the impact of a website on its users. You might even find a more specific definition listing the types of metrics commonly measured such as how many people visited a certain site, how many of these people were unique visitors, and even how they got to this site. This view of the term “web analytics” is one that is all too prevalent but is outdated and incomplete. These definitions all focus on the “what” dimension of web analytics, the quantitative metrics and statistics acquired from collecting and analyzing clickstream data. When all you focus on in web analytics is the “what,” you find yourself with an abundance of data, but an extremely minimal amount of useful, actionable insight. And it is this insight, this unique perspective that web analytics has the ability to offer, that makes this tool such an exciting and innovative one. So, if web analytics is not so much about the “what,” what is it about? The answer, of course, is the “why.” It is infinitely more useful to know why people do the things they do on your site, as opposed to just knowing that they did. In addition to the “why,” it is also helpful to know answers to the questions “how much” and “what else.” So now, instead of just analyzing the clickstream to determine the
Web Analytics is a relatively new phenomenon in the business world, and while it is not a mandatory requirement for organizations to compete in today’s marketplace it is becoming increasingly important as organizations strive to optimize their web presence. So what is web analytics and how can it help companies achieve a better web presence? Web Analytics is defined by the Web Analytics Association as, “The practice of measuring, collecting, analyzing and reporting on Internet data for the purposes of understanding how a web site is used by its audience and how to optimize its usage.” (ClarkU, p. 1) To simplify this definition we can say that web analytics is the process of determining how your website most effectively turns site visitors into customers.
[2] Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. However, Web analytics is not just a process for measuring web traffic but can be used as a tool for business and market research, and to assess and improve the effectiveness of a website. - Wikipedia
Business analytics is different to Business intelligence which also uses statistical methods. Business analytics uses statistical methods and data to arrive at fresh understanding and illumination of a situation, whereas business intelligence uses statical data to serve as querying, reporting or alerts. Business analytics, therefore, is, one may say, the detective side of business using the statistics to develop and progress the business or direct it in new directions rather than revamping it with existent and supportive data. Business intelligence, in other words, uses the data to inform stakeholders and others what is occurring with the business, what the action is, and what steps are being taken.
Electrical commerce, commonly abbreviated to e-commerce, generally consists of the developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing, and paying for products and services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. With widespread Internet usage, the amount of U.S. e-commerce growth has dramatically increased in last decade. In today’s competitive jungle, providers of any kind and consumers with any need are utilizing the growing
Web analytics is the study of the impact of a website on its users. Ecommerce companies and other website publishers often use Web analytics software is to measure how many people visited their site, how many of those visitors were unique visitors, how they came to the site (i.e., if they followed a link to get to the site or came there directly), what keywords they searched with on the site 's search engine, how long they stayed on a given page or on the entire site and what links they clicked on and when they left the site. Web analytics software is used to check whether the site pages are working properly or not.
An Analytics software is a key requirement for any small business which is dependent on an online presence to maximize its reach. The analytics software helps one understand the best ways to reach ones customers and draw more traffic and hence business. Google Analytics helps with the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from a website and the competition to drive continual improvement of the online experience that customers and potential customers have, which translates into desired outcome. Google analytics is also one of the easiest ways to enable a small business to attract more visitors, retain or attract new customers for goods or services, or to increase the dollar volume each customer spends.
Web analytics essentially involves data collection and data can be collected in two ways, the traditional method is a web server log file analysis and the second method is page tagging, which uses JavaScript embedded in the web page. The collected data is processed to produce web traffic reports. The companies use different web analytics softwares like Google Analytics, Omniture, Coremetrics etc. to find out information about their visitors, including how they interact with the pages in a site, how long they stay on their site, how many people visited their site, how many of those visitors were unique visitors, how they came to the site and what links they clicked on and when they left the site. Web analytics can give a significant competitive advantage to a company; one of the best examples is ‘Amazon’. Amazon uses analytics at every level and scale. Amazon has it’s own analytics tool called ‘Amazon Web Services’, which collects the data about the customers who visit their site, analyzes the data collected to uncover the buying patterns of different customers
Web analysts can reign in data from “big” to “good,” and make sense of it all. They sort the real-time data into good metrics, useful metrics. They organize it into reports and analyze those reports to find insights to improve their online marketing efforts and increase ROI. Web analytics can lead to a deeper understanding of your target audience. Tracking and analyzing the behavior of consumer traffic on your website paints a more insightful picture of how to build relationships with your audience. If you have solid, accurate data to back up your strategies and decisions, then your chances of creating and executing successful marketing campaigns increase exponentially. Web analytics is the study of visitor, navigation, and traffic patterns to determine the success of a given web site. Focusing only on the amount of traffic might only be helpful in evaluating your bandwidth usage and server’s capabilities, which is not its only purpose. Web analytics focuses on in-depth comparison of available visitor data, referral data, and site navigation patterns. It also tells us the amount of traffic we