Comments on: Building Your Personal Brand as an Expert http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/ Marketing Measurement, Site Optimization, Web Analytics, Omniture SiteCatalyst, Omniture Test&Target & Social Media Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:27:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jason Egan http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-18 Jason Egan Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:31:36 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-18 Jim, Web analytics here is actually part of a business intelligence team. We integrate a lot of offline TV data directly into our analytics tool (Omniture in this case). We also integrate a lot of the online data back into our Oracle databases. Offline and online data/information are both mingled here in a manner that most companies could only hope really. I've found that it is great to have the Web analytics role be a part of a business intelligence team. There are a lot of opportunities for learning on both sides. Jim, Web analytics here is actually part of a business intelligence team. We integrate a lot of offline TV data directly into our analytics tool (Omniture in this case). We also integrate a lot of the online data back into our Oracle databases. Offline and online data/information are both mingled here in a manner that most companies could only hope really. I’ve found that it is great to have the Web analytics role be a part of a business intelligence team. There are a lot of opportunities for learning on both sides.

]]> By: Jim Novo http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-17 Jim Novo Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:27:54 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-17 Jason - Yes, of course, as you pointed out, "culture skills" are important to success in any field... Interesting job path you've had in TV-related analytics! If you ever add offline analytics to your world at JTV let me know, I can tell you where the bodies are buried on the TV side of the business... Jason – Yes, of course, as you pointed out, “culture skills” are important to success in any field…

Interesting job path you’ve had in TV-related analytics!

If you ever add offline analytics to your world at JTV let me know, I can tell you where the bodies are buried on the TV side of the business…

]]> By: Kris G http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Kris G Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:02:16 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-16 Good summary Jason. Being extremely new to web analytics I find this very helpful. Where were you when I posted "furthering web analytics career"?? :) The communication piece to management is by far the most difficult challenge I have currently (next to being "technologically challenged", debugging... huh?) I find that the people you try to speak to are so wrapped up in their own beliefs/traditional education that they are very close minded to the new realms of web marketing and trends (very commonly talked about). Presenting stunning data is really my only hope right now. Plus being a baby-faced 27 year old online marketing specialist takes away from my perceived credibility! Another point I'd like to make for anybody else as rookie as me is that understanding general e-marketing is a big plus as well. Knowing what's going on and what customers are saying about you're brand can help answer "what happened" type questions that HIPPO's generally tend to ask. ie "Why is our overall traffic down" Good summary Jason. Being extremely new to web analytics I find this very helpful. Where were you when I posted “furthering web analytics career”?? :)

The communication piece to management is by far the most difficult challenge I have currently (next to being “technologically challenged”, debugging… huh?) I find that the people you try to speak to are so wrapped up in their own beliefs/traditional education that they are very close minded to the new realms of web marketing and trends (very commonly talked about). Presenting stunning data is really my only hope right now.
Plus being a baby-faced 27 year old online marketing specialist takes away from my perceived credibility!

Another point I’d like to make for anybody else as rookie as me is that understanding general e-marketing is a big plus as well. Knowing what’s going on and what customers are saying about you’re brand can help answer “what happened” type questions that HIPPO’s generally tend to ask. ie “Why is our overall traffic down”

]]> By: Jason Egan http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-15 Jason Egan Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:50:44 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-15 All good points, Jim. I've also found that while being able to challenge conventional wisdom is a good skill to have, you also need to have good communications skills in general when asserting your expertise. A little patience can help as well. I remember a specific instance myself of continually questioning a business owner as to what changes they could actually enact with the complex interactions that they wanted to track. It took having to ask several times in a row to get them to admit to themselves that they truly didn't know what they could actually change. No one likes being made to look foolish when you challenge their wisdom. So being able to change and train people and executives overtime is as much an art as a science. Of course, communications skills are of the utmost importance for success in any field. All good points, Jim. I’ve also found that while being able to challenge conventional wisdom is a good skill to have, you also need to have good communications skills in general when asserting your expertise. A little patience can help as well.

I remember a specific instance myself of continually questioning a business owner as to what changes they could actually enact with the complex interactions that they wanted to track. It took having to ask several times in a row to get them to admit to themselves that they truly didn’t know what they could actually change. No one likes being made to look foolish when you challenge their wisdom. So being able to change and train people and executives overtime is as much an art as a science.

Of course, communications skills are of the utmost importance for success in any field.

]]> By: Jim Novo http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Jim Novo Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:21:37 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-14 Having an internal belief system and confidence in your work that is so strong you can challenge conventional wisdom, even at the Senior levels of the company, is a characteristic of an analytical expert, inside or outside web analytics. 'Course, you have to be willing to get fired once in awhile too, but nothing wrong with that if you're really that good! Having an internal belief system and confidence in your work that is so strong you can challenge conventional wisdom, even at the Senior levels of the company, is a characteristic of an analytical expert, inside or outside web analytics.

‘Course, you have to be willing to get fired once in awhile too, but nothing wrong with that if you’re really that good!

]]> By: Jason Egan http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Jason Egan Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:14:11 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-13 Darren, To elaborate on your first point, I also find it most useful to examine the "sticking points" and the sales funnel by segments of visitors. In most cases, you may not even be exposed to the "sticking points" in the funnel unless you look at how segments like "first time visits" or "visits from paid search." Just looking at "all visits" often meshes everything together so much that you can't see anything. THe forest for the trees so to speak. As for testing, I have a lot of thoughts on how testing alone should change how we evaluate our sites with analytics tools altogether. I'll save that for another post as I could go on and on here. Thanks for your thoughts! Darren,
To elaborate on your first point, I also find it most useful to examine the “sticking points” and the sales funnel by segments of visitors. In most cases, you may not even be exposed to the “sticking points” in the funnel unless you look at how segments like “first time visits” or “visits from paid search.” Just looking at “all visits” often meshes everything together so much that you can’t see anything. THe forest for the trees so to speak.

As for testing, I have a lot of thoughts on how testing alone should change how we evaluate our sites with analytics tools altogether. I’ll save that for another post as I could go on and on here. Thanks for your thoughts!

]]> By: Darren Shafae http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Darren Shafae Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:06:36 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-12 Hello, Jason, Shhhhh…you are going to give away the secrets to being a Web analytics guru. You have given some extremely helpful tips in a concise and well written article. I have a couple of other items you may want to consider: 1) Analyze the click stream of your prospective clients and understand what your prospects are trying to achieve. Take one more step, understand the click stream patterns, and remove the sticking points. The sales funnel should be easily understood by everyone. In my case, I always run my changes by Mom. If she can understand how to complete a sale, then I have done my job. It may just be as easy as showing a progress bar, and allowing the client to follow the sales process through completion. a. I am assuming that everyone understands that click stream is analyzed anonymously. It is crucial to value the privacy of Web visitors. 2) There is always room to improve the conversion rate. Learn how to use the Google Optimization tool. Keep your tests simple, and test more often instead of running a large multivariate test. This is a common mistake made by freshly minted Web analysts. a. Optimizing your Web site and increasing the conversion rate is the fastest way for management to take notice of your Web analytics skills. I really enjoy your articles. Keep them coming! -Darren Hello, Jason,

Shhhhh…you are going to give away the secrets to being a Web analytics guru. You have given some extremely helpful tips in a concise and well written article. I have a couple of other items you may want to consider:

1) Analyze the click stream of your prospective clients and understand what your prospects are trying to achieve. Take one more step, understand the click stream patterns, and remove the sticking points. The sales funnel should be easily understood by everyone. In my case, I always run my changes by Mom. If she can understand how to complete a sale, then I have done my job. It may just be as easy as showing a progress bar, and allowing the client to follow the sales process through completion.
a. I am assuming that everyone understands that click stream is analyzed anonymously. It is crucial to value the privacy of Web visitors.
2) There is always room to improve the conversion rate. Learn how to use the Google Optimization tool. Keep your tests simple, and test more often instead of running a large multivariate test. This is a common mistake made by freshly minted Web analysts.
a. Optimizing your Web site and increasing the conversion rate is the fastest way for management to take notice of your Web analytics skills.
I really enjoy your articles. Keep them coming!
-Darren

]]> By: Jason Egan http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Jason Egan Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:11:03 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-11 Thanks, Stéphane. Understanding how to debug Web analytics implementations is an overlooked skill. I was pleasantly surprised when I was interviewing for my current job, that the hiring manager actually asked, "How do you debug Web analytics?" A person very new to the field or one that was rather inexperienced would most likely not have known how to answer that question, even though it's not all that hard to answer. Thanks, Stéphane. Understanding how to debug Web analytics implementations is an overlooked skill. I was pleasantly surprised when I was interviewing for my current job, that the hiring manager actually asked, “How do you debug Web analytics?” A person very new to the field or one that was rather inexperienced would most likely not have known how to answer that question, even though it’s not all that hard to answer.

]]> By: S.Hamel http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-10 S.Hamel Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:24:09 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-10 Great article Jason! And I'm honorred you are mentionning WASP :) I'm watching my brand with Google Alert, which brought me to your blog. I've added it to the WAA Search Engine and the list of Web Analytics Conversations (more details on my blog). Stéphane Hamel http://immeria.net Great article Jason! And I’m honorred you are mentionning WASP :)

I’m watching my brand with Google Alert, which brought me to your blog. I’ve added it to the WAA Search Engine and the list of Web Analytics Conversations (more details on my blog).

Stéphane Hamel
http://immeria.net

]]> By: Randy Nichols http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/08/12/building-your-personal-brand-as-an-expert/comment-page-1/#comment-9 Randy Nichols Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:00:33 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=8#comment-9 I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work :) I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work :)

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