Web analytics, web metrics, and how to use them to track and improve conversions

This post is the last enhancement I'll report on today -but one of the most powerful to Omniture Site Catalyst that's just being announced. If you haven't read my three previous posts on

1. New Omniture Site Catalyst Enhancements part 1 - Video Segmentation and Measurement (you get the information in the same sequence it was shown to me).
2. New Omniture Site Catalyst Enhancements part 2 - Video Bubbles (this is actually a custom report).
3. Omniture Site Catalyst New Features - part 3 - Community and Social Media

In the past you could export a spreadsheet - but you could not import one.. with the formulas and macros, run it, then export it out to a spreadsheet with the Site Catalyst Plug-in and run your reports directly from Excel.   Now you can do that.

Here's the upshot - Omniture is moving away from being a stand alone Web Analytics Platform and becoming a "Web Service" that can be called upon by other applications - in situations where you want the data but don't want to or need to bring up Site Catalyst to get it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - too often you have expensive tools that are under utilized because people don't know how to set them up properly and the vendor (Omniture) is not familar enough with customer sites to be all that helpful.

But one thing can really help you deploy Omniture and know it's deployed correctly as best as it can be: 

The Implementation Toolkit for Omniture Site Catalyst is the first independent reference that ensures complete and accurate site data collection.

If you buy it using the link above, you get 10% off - Use code sponder1008

Brimming with guidance and best-practice advice for web analytics practitioners, web managers and developers, our Toolkit features:

• An 80-page SiteCatalyst Implementation Guide overflowing with invaluable insights and solutions that Semphonic uncovered during a decade of performing Omniture implementations.
• A 20 Point Quality Assurance Checklist that prevents data inaccuracies before they happen and troubleshoots any that slip through.
• An Implementation Project Plan Excel Template that puts all the SiteCatalyst implementation management tasks where they’re needed most: right in front of you in one easy-reference place!
• A Functional Specification Excel Template, the key documentation you need to map your custom requirements, metrics, and tag implementation.

Semphonic’s new Toolkit takes everything they’ve learned during hundreds of Omniture Site Catalyst implementations and countless audits of some of the world’s largest web sites and delivers it straight to your desktop.

That’s an important point as Semphonic has more hands on experience, I think, than any other vendor I’ve spoken to, on a wide variety of Web Analytics Tools and Methodologies - and is in a better position to come up with what is, essentially, an 80 page “cookbook” on how to deploy Site Catalyst.