Analysis Paralysis

There are several ways of analyzing your website traffic; Google Analytics (my preferred), having your "log.file" read and interpreted by any number of commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) software programs, and others.

I have a little bit of experience in analytics, somewhere around 37 years worth. It's the experience and the methods and knowing how to "read" the numbers to tell the story that makes a good analyst. Being able to dig in and find the really important things and never being satisfied, that's what makes a really good one.

There is one pitfall, or trap that one can get into, and that is what we call "analysis paralysis." This phenomena happens to every analyst at some time or other in their life time, more than most want to admit. It can best be described as being frozen in time and space, unable to move your eyes, limbs, speech is lost and the brain stops working. Typically it occurs after staring at numbers, figures and data for extended periods of time without getting up and separating yourself from the work. It can be compared to "writer's block."

One thing you learn and I can vouch for is that you can take 2 data points or 2 sets of numbers and make them represent anything you need. Seriously, manipulating figures is something that is part of the job.

Key thing is to know what you are looking for and then identifying the data that best represents it. One of the big points everyone is business is looking for is return on investment, or ROI. Essentially you want to know how much bang you are getting for the buck. I had a client once who would not spend a cent on certain Internet marketing if he could not get a minimum of a 300% ROI.  There are 2 formula's, the simplest is Revenue divided by Cost. So, define what you need in terms of return n your investment and play with that for a while.

"Inquiring Minds Want to Know"
Doug
www.JDKellyJewelry.com