As a Northern Californian surfer I have spent many a day in
bad waves. I’d retire (and do pro bono
web analytics) if I had a buck for every
time I could describe a surf session’s waves as blown out, chop, slop, ankle
biters, flat or close out. I could turn
around at the site of bad waves, but I rather surf in slop than not at
all. Keeping my expectations low on bad
days makes just getting in the ocean and getting a few short, unimpressive
rides enough to make me happy. I’ve
leaned, the hard way; the same cannot be said for those who don’t understand
the challenges crappy waves present. In
the background of an infamous homemade surf video my girlfriend can be heard
saying, “Jesse sucks a surfing.”
As a Semphonic web analyst I have spent many days with poorly
implemented web analytics tools, and really they aren’t so different from
waves. Not much can be done with a weak
web analytics tool implementation. As an
experienced tool user I can recognize an implementation’s limitations, but the
untrained eye often expect more than is possible. Similar to how it is impossible to get a 15
second ride when the waves last three, you cannot report on a metric you didn’t
implement.
There is one big difference between Nor Cal waves and your
web analytics tool -- control. I can forgive the powers that be when bad waves roll
through, but for a company that is serious about web analysis a bad
implementation is unforgivable.
But wait…assuming you’re implementing Omniture SiteCatalyst, (and my not
so psychic prediction says you are) Semphonic has a product that can help. Our recently revamped Getting Started Toolkit
will walk you thorough developing, deploying, and testing your Omniture
implementation.
Semphonic has approached writing this document first and
foremost as web analysts and secondarily as Omniture experts, a perspective you
will not get purely using Omniture implementation engineers. By building or crosschecking your implementation
with the Toolkit you can be assured your implementation will be rich and full
of analytic possibilities. Even if you
are already using Omniture implementation engineers (and one again my not so physic
prediction says you are) the Toolkit can give your piece of mind and save you
money. With the document you should be able to more clearly understand what
pieces of the implementation your staff can handle, keeping the number of
Omniture consulting hours you use down.
For example, the QA checklist within the Toolkit will make it easier for
comprehensive QA to be done in house.
You should avoid explaining why you aren’t capturing an
essential metric at all costs, so buying copy of the $895 Getting Started
Toolkit should be a no brainier. Take
control of your implementation and you’ll never get the sinking feeling of a surfer
staring down blown out, sloppy, close out, ankle biters.
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