Google Analytics & WebSideStory Make Announcements

There are quite a few interesting news in the world of Web Analytics these days. First their was the announcement last week of the new Google Analytics Interface, which is, in my opinion a significant improvement over the last interface. In a nutshell, the new Google Analytics interface is more graphical, faster, easier to use and allows you to have a greater level of customization and collaboration. I especially like how easy it is to compare data sets between different time periods as well as sharing web analytics reports through the new email feature. You can find all the information you need on the new Google Analytics Interface on the Google Analytics Blog. Contact me if you want me to hook you up with it or create a Google Analytics account yourself. Google Analytics is still available for free so there is no reason not to use it.

Here is a snapshot of the Google Analytics Dashboard:

Also, this week, WebSideStory and Visual Sciences have consolidated under the Visual Sciences brand with a unified mission: to deliver real-time analytics that enable business optimization through fast answers to hard questions. You can learn more about their new technologies on their website.

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Comments

1. Alex,

   I think the key feature with the new Analytics release is that you can create custom dashboards for each client, then schedule that dashboard to get sent out by email to the client on a regular basis. That, to me, is the big news. And the interface enhancements. Most clients are so immersed in their day-to-day work that remembering to log in to Google to check their stats is a big job. That, and there’s a flood of data in there. How do they make sense out of it? That’s why they hire people like you and me.

   I’ve pasted below the official news announcement from the Google with the details.

   ==

   The following resources are available to help you get the most from the new Google Analytics interface:

   - Report Finder Tool: will help you see where data from the previous interface is located within the new version (it is also linked to from within your reports on the left navigation menu): http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/static.py?page=v1v2map.cs

   - Product tour: http://services.google.com/analytics/tour/index_en-US.html

   - FAQs for more details about the new version: http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/static.py?page=FAQ.cs

   - Help Center: includes articles related to the new version: http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/

   - Support: if you encounter any issues with the new version that you can’t resolve with the help center, you can contact our support team through the Contact Us link at the bottom of the help center web page, or receive higher-touch support through a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant.

   Find one here: http://www.google.com/analytics/support_partner_provided.html

   - Analytics Help Forum: If you would like to discuss the new version or get tips from experienced users, please visit the Analytics Help Forum in English within Google Groups at: http://groups.google.com/group/analytics-help

   Posted by James on 05/17 at 01:16 PM

2. James, that is an interesting comment. I would not think the email feature is such a big deal as most clients would like to get access to it in the first place anyway. Because of the increased level of customization, everyone can use it differently I guess. 

   You know, if you “link” your Google Adwords account with your Google Analytics account, you can get a lot more information including an understanding on how many people click depending on the position on the paid search results. Some stuff in there are not as intuitive as you would think! It is pretty neat. Bottom line: try to link adwords account with GA account as much as possible in order the have access to the most advanced features and make sure the clients see and understand the reports. That is the way to show value (and potentially charge for the extra value). Adding the parameters: ?utm_source=google-adwords&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=film-magazine for instance is not ideal anymore under the new interface and limits the extra layers of report you could get access to.

   Posted by Alexandre Brabant on 05/17 at 01:21 PM