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“Strategies” are very not my thing. So when I was asked to present my “reporting strategy” [...]]]> This is a guest post from the lovely Jennifer Day (i.e. Jenniferz done hacked my blogz).  Read what she has to say about reporting strategy and analytical philosophy let us know what you think.

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“Strategies” are very not my thing. So when I was asked to present my “reporting strategy” to my peers and management, I did the natural thing. I panicked. Then I asked Twitter to tell me what a strategy is.

I got a ton of great answers, but two that really got me moving were from two pretty different people. Ian Struckhoff (comics creator extraordinaire) gave me a whole hierarchy. The tweet is lost in the ether, but the key takeaway for me was that philosophy comes before strategy. I have a philosophy, so I was set there. My web analytics strategy applies to pretty much everything:

Philosophy: Make the machines do the brainless stuff.

Anything that has rules that a developer can write into a program ONCE rather than someone having to do it every time (every report, every page, every whatever) should be coded. It’s more up-front investment, but it’s the way to go for anything that will be done more than …. I don’t know … 3 times?

The other great response was among the many DMs of advice I got from the mysterious @PrinceofRazors (political analyst?). He gave me an analogy of revolutions. Even if people agree on the strategy, they don’t always agree on tactics. He talked about the strategy of taking a city versus the tactics used to take it. This led me to understand that a strategy is about where you want to END UP.

Here’s where I wanted to end up.

(bubble size is volume of reports)

However, I also knew that in this case my management wanted an idea of how or whether I’d be able to get there and some more specific analogies and examples. So I also went on to say what the heck each of those things are, what value they drive, and what outcomes we could expect. My original presentation had references to actual reports we create or propose, but that’s been removed here to protect privacy, just in case. If you don’t know what something here may mean, feel free to ask me.

Vital Signs Reports – These are the most common reports, and the most automatable, and should require minimal analyst involvement.

They tell us “what happened?” or “what’s going on?”

What happened during my campaign?

What happened with my pages?

What happened for my business unit on the web?

What’s going on in social media?

Is the website healthy?

Is the data clean and high quality?

Value: These reports are stakeholders’ lifeline to the activities on the website.

Outcomes: Observations made in these reports drive deeper analysis.

Effectiveness Reports – There are not very many individual ones of these required, but they have a very large amount of data in them. They are highly automatable, but will require some analysis.

Tell us “what works best?” “what’s most effective?”

What campaign/campaign type works best?

What content works best?

What social channels are working best?

What geographical region is performing best?

What governance items are being followed?

Value: help understand internal benchmarks, predict performance, and identify highest functioning efforts. Learnings from these reports can be applied to future decision-making.

Outcomes: observations from these reports drive informed decision-making and usable benchmarks.

Studies / Ad Hoc Analysis – There are few focused cases of these, driven by observations in the other report types. They are not automatable and require the most analysis skill.

Tell us “Why do we think this happened and what should we do about it?”

Why did sales spike or dive?

Why was this campaign so effective?

What can we do to drive more task completions?

Value: studies and ad hoc analysis are the most valuable of all reporting, driving specific recommendations and courses of action.

Outcomes: answers and recommendations based on data.

So now that you know how I did it – what did I miss? What is your reporting strategy? What’s your analytics philosophy?

I penned a post for the wonderful Online Behaviour.  Read an excerpt below and then click on the link to read more there!

***

Times have changed. My uncle is in his seventies, uses Facebook more than I do and is working as an extra in films and television commercials. My mother has retired and [...]]]>

I penned a post for the wonderful Online Behaviour.  Read an excerpt below and then click on the link to read more there!

***

Times have changed. My uncle is in his seventies, uses Facebook more than I do and is working as an extra in films and television commercials. My mother has retired and was discussing her modem with me last week. My other-half’s son communicates in some kind of complex code through instant messenger status updates. A dinner conversation between four can extend to thousands through the medium of a social network. Your online presence and privacy (even if you’ve never used the internet) tends to depend heavily on the privacy stance and sharing tendencies of those around you.

Just ten years ago, things were different. The internet was thought of as a young person’s playground and a risk-taker’s casino (or fool’s paradise, depending on your attitude towards starting a DotCom). The way in which people used the internet was also different. Visits were perceived as (and often were) a linear path through a set of pages until abandonment or conversion. Building an online brand was more corporate than personal and communication was much more of a one-way conversation. Figuring out how to bend the internet to a company’s will and gaining exposure was far more important than the individual personalities of internet users.  Go to Online Behavior to read more…

Recently, Jennifer Day, in an effort to flummox and bemuse incoming web analysts in job interviews, began to cast about looking for suitable questions to add to those she had come up with.  Below is the list of questions she arrived at and she has very kindly agreed to share them with the class.

She would [...]]]>

Recently, Jennifer Day, in an effort to flummox and bemuse incoming web analysts in job interviews, began to cast about looking for suitable questions to add to those she had come up with.  Below is the list of questions she arrived at and she has very kindly agreed to share them with the class.

She would like to thank Michele Hinojosa and Angie Brown for their help and also give a nod to this thread in the web analytics forum on Yahoo! Groups.

 

• What books, blogs, etc do you recommend to people who want to learn more about analytics?

 

• How do you describe what you do to friends with an average understanding of computers/math?

 

• What is the importance of social media to business?  Mobile?

 

• Why should companies do analytics?  What companies shouldn’t bother with analytics?

 

• Describe the most complex piece of analysis you’ve done.

 

• Describe the most valuable piece of analysis you’ve done (and what value it brought).

 

• Give an example of using data to propose some action to an executive?  To a content developer?  How do the presentations differ?

 

• IF COREMETRICS – tell me whether you’ve used and what you like most and least about Explore, Benchmark, LiveMail, Export, LiveView       [amend for tool of choice]

 

• What do you see / have you seen other analysts doing that they should do more of?  Less of?

 

• Tell us about two aspects of your current (or previous) job that motivate you. [motivational fit].

 

• What are two aspects of your current (or previous) job that annoy(ed) you?

 

• What are two aspects of your current job that you miss because they aren’t available?

 

• What are two job-related things (environments, tasks, etc) that you’d like to avoid?

 

• What strength does your previous experience bring to the team?

What do you think?  What questions would you ask?  What do you think is the most important nugget of information you can learn about a web analyst during a job interview?  Feel free to weigh in in the comments below.

Are you making plans for the rest of the year?  Perhaps deciding on what jolly web analytics events to attend?  Well, be the hokey, look no further!  Web Analytics Wednesday takes to Friday on July 22nd 2011 in the city of New Orleans.  Now, I know what you’re thinking [...]]]>

Are you making plans for the rest of the year?  Perhaps deciding on what jolly web analytics events to attend?  Well, be the hokey, look no further!  Web Analytics Wednesday takes to Friday on July 22nd 2011 in the city of New Orleans.  Now, I know what you’re thinking – it’s a combination of “Why should I go to this?” and “I like soup”.   Now, I don’t want you to hurt yourself by thinking, so I’ve created a short quiz to help make the decision for you.  Don’t worry, you can thank me later – perhaps in Nawlins.

Question 1:  Have you ever heard of New Orleans?
A:  No
B:  Yes

Question 2:  What is a Hurricane?
A: It’s an intense, rotating oceanic weather system
B: It’s a drink

Question 3:  Do you like to manipulate data?
A: Well, I do like to twist its words and make it apologise when I’m in the wrong.
B: Yes, I like to slice and dice data like it’s chicken on a sizzling Teppanyaki grill!

Qustion 4:  Do you like to meet colleagues in the same industry?
A:  No, they smell like feet.
B:  Yes, they amuse me – I like to make them dance like puppets on a string! (Or talk to them. Talking’s good too)

Count up the As and Bs of your responses.  For each answer A, you get a cherry.  For each answer B, you get a t-shirt.  If you have more cherries than t-shirts, perhaps this isn’t for you.  How did you even get here?  Do I need to call security?

If you have more t-shirts than cherries, register below, book your flight, book your hotel, dust off your favourite smock and I’ll see you in NOLA, cherie!

This Web Analytics Wednesday (on a Friday) is being hosted by the fabulous Jennifer Day and the far less fabulous Emer Kirrane.  It is very kindly sponsored by Yahoo! Web Analytics, Web Analytics Demystified and IQ Workforce.

You know you want to, right?  Go on, it’s ok, you’re safe here – we won’t judge.

The Details

The Venue:  Gordon Biersche, 200 Poydras Street, New Orleans Louisiana

The Date: July 22 2011

Register: http://bit.ly/kwpOlB

This time, it is time for Dave Chaffey, a writer of books, a runner of mountains.

Tell us a little bit about all of Dave Chaffey.

If you don’t know me I love all of digital marketing which makes it fun and [...]]]> This is the Silly Series.  It is a series and it is silly, hence the name.

This time, it is time for Dave Chaffey, a writer of books, a runner of mountains.

Tell us a little bit about all of Dave Chaffey.

If you don’t know me I love all of digital marketing which makes it fun and challenging keeping up-to-date with what matters across all the channels. But it’s a pleasure mostly since I enjoy spotting trends and sharing what’s important with other people on Smart Insights Digital Marketing and when speaking at events or training.

What I love learning and sharing about most are Web Analytics, SEO, Conversion Optimisation and Email.  I enjoy these because the numbers tell a story from which you can get an instant return if you test, learn, refine.

Even if you do know me, you maybe don’t know I started out in the 1980s as a geochemist researching rocks from St.Helena created 2.5 billion years ago – Geology is good for field trips.

What hobby do you wish you had the money or the bravery to pursue?

It’s more about the bravery. I used to be a keen rock climber, but as I get older the risks seem to get bigger. We’re better at diminishing the risks when we’re smaller. So these days I content myself with running over the mountains – even I have to escape the digital world sometimes. I ran 42 miles yesterday on the High Peak Marathon route near where I live – but that’s not a normal day, not at all.

Do you write because you love it or write because you can make money out of it?  If it’s because you love it, does that mean I can have the money you make from it?

I love writing, sure, but really appreciate that I can be paid for it when many blog without getting paid.  I’m lucky in that I update my books every 2-3 years, so the money I earn from writing helps me justify time learning and sharing online.
That seems crazy writing “my books are updated every 2-3 years” digital marketing changes every 2 to 3 minutes – so I put a lot of effort into summarising the main changes on SmartInsights.com. It’s hard graft updating a 600 page book covering all of online marketing, so I’d be happy to pay you for you to Ghost Write it if no one could spot the difference!

Do you prefer learning or teaching web analytics practices?

You have to do both – I do a lot of training on how to get more out of Google Analytics, SEO, CRO and broader digital strategy. But you can’t train unless you’re actively working in this area which I do. Many of my projects are using Google Analytics or Site Catalyst to get more from a site or search marketing. If I had to pick one, I’d say learning.

Your company provides best practices.  What do you say to people who think that best practices in web analytics are simply there to stifle creativity, reactivity etc.?

Yeah, I hear that, many dislike the “best practice” label because they don’t apply to all and stop giving you an edge. But they’re definitely needed – many companies from small to large “data puke” and don’t customise their analytics – they badly need best practices IMO.

I know through training that many of the techniques that are the “bread and butter” of web analysts, like advanced segments or funnel reports, aren’t used at all.  Most haven’t customised Google Analytics for their businesses. Our most popular posts about analytics are often about best practices.

Who is your superhero-sans-cape in the web analytics community and why?

I learn from so many, it’s hard to say. I’m sure everyone mentions the legends like Avinash, Bryan, Brian, Jim, Eric at this point. But there are many whose day job is simply increasing profit for their clients who live and breathe this stuff far more than the legends who spend most of their time in the air. For example in the UK I’ve learned a lot from Dan Barker, Tim Leighton-Boyce, Dan Croxen-John and Craig Sullivan in the UK and I’m sure every country has their unsung analytics heroes.

Aside from the guys above, I’ve always liked the way that Jim Novo and Kevin Hillstrom tackle understanding of loyalty and profitability drivers – more should read and write about this!

What was your first job and what was the greatest life lesson you learned from it?

Not the best start, I got a job as a developer and found out my first job was to help design missile systems.  I thought there must be something more positive I could do, so I left after 3 days. Since then I worked for quite a few years pre-WWW as a coder and project manager building systems to help marketers. So the lesson was don’t be afraid to change horses mid-stream, go with the flow. There’s no such thing as career-planning for me!

Write a poem about web analytics that can be sung to the traditional tune of Happy Birthday.

Now that really is Silly, it would have to start Happy HiPPO, Happy HiPPO, MVT is good for you!

What is your wish for the remainder of 2011?

Same as all years, to help marketing folks do a better job, to help them look better to their colleagues. We’re relaunching our site  in a way which we hope gives much better insights than most blogs which are ephemeral, so I hope that works for us and the users.

Which Lady Gaga song do you sing in the shower?

Pass – I just watch the videos! I don’t know the names of the songs, but my daughters certainly do. Alejandro springs to mind. Guitar bands are my main thing – my first records, yes that’s vinyl, were in the punk era and I still like being indie in outlook.

Survey Link: http://kulwebanalytics.autoempaques.com.mx/Fiche_personnelle.html

Four students at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Yury Ostashkov, Oscar Castillo Lara, Francisco Castillo Guerrero and Gayane Sedrakyan need your help with their Web Analytics project.  As part of their studies, they are working on a project to determine the current state of web analytics.  To take the survey, click on the link above. [...]]]>

Survey Link: http://kulwebanalytics.autoempaques.com.mx/Fiche_personnelle.html

Four students at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Yury Ostashkov, Oscar Castillo Lara, Francisco Castillo Guerrero and Gayane Sedrakyan need your help with their Web Analytics project.  As part of their studies, they are working on a project to determine the current state of web analytics.  To take the survey, click on the link above.  To read about their project and their intentions, see below for an interview with the students.

Why did you call your project “State of the Art of Web Analytics”?

Gayane >>   To capture the evolution peak in web analytics as things are currently

Oscar >> In order to represent the most current status, trends and evolving topics that this relatively new field of expertise is going through.

What other parts are there to your project besides the survey?

Gayane >>  History and development phases (possibly making prognoses for the future), web analytics in practice, analysis of challenges, the way they are addressed by various companies (may be extended), etc.

Francisco >>  We want to understand the challenges web analytics is confronting, but also understand how different companies do web analytics.

How do you plan to present your findings?

Gayane>>  By showing quantitative results and comparisons, along with a deeper qualitative analysis.

Francisco >> Publish the results on our website as well as include them as part of our research which will be available at the KULevuen.

How can readers help you with your research?

Gayane>>  By answering our questions preferably with illustrative specific examples

Do you think that the Web Analytics industry is well-developed in Europe?

Gayane >>  We think the field is still developing and many challenges still need to be addressed, such as recognizing visitors, respecting ethical and privacy aspects, integrating offline/online data, making the analytics more actionable (which means not only collecting but also taking effective actions upon the data)

Yury >>  We think that Web Analytics as an overall industry has not yet reached its maturity. There are still a lot of challenges that need to be addressed like privacy issues, cookies, noisy data etc. On top of this there are still a lot of companies which already present on the Web but do not understand importance of Web Analytics.

Are any of your fellow students also doing projects on Web Analytics?

Gayane >>  On social media analytics.

Francisco >> I think there are other web analytic projects but I don’t know anyone specific doing this kind of research right now

Do you hope to work in the Web Analytics industry in the future?

Gayane >>  It’s quite an exciting field to have a career in.

Francisco >>  I used to be part of a search team for General Electric, and part of the search implementation included Omniture web analytics.  These implementations were really simple, but I considered them really interesting, so I would like to get more into this field, learning to use different tools, and helping different companies to select the best product for their needs.

Oscar >> I would like to get deeper knowledge within the field and in some point set up a Consultant Company

Yury >> I have found Web Analytics to be an interesting field with a lot of potential and I’ll be happy if I can be useful.

Who are the students?

My name is Francisco Castilloand. I was born in Mexico City, but later on, I moved with my family to Querétaro, Mexico, where I got my title as Computer Systems Engineer.

During my early stages of my career, I worked as DBA in the Finance Department of the State Government, where I collaborated on the creation of a tool capable of calculating the budget to be given to different municipal entities. Later on, I worked on another Governmental entity doing assessment systems in order to evaluate the new persons joining the dependency.

It was after 1 year, when I moved to Aguascalientes Mexico to be part of Softtek, one of the biggest outsourcing companies in Latin America. Here, I worked as consultant for a General Electric Project, by being part of a search team. During this time, I had the opportunity to collaborate with people from different countries: India, China, Mexico, US, and also, I worked during 9 months on a project in Connecticut, US.  Here, in the search team I gained experience on the search engines area, by being exposed to Microsoft Fast, Google Search Appliance, and also, some research on IBM Yahoo Omnifind and Apache Solr.

In parallel to my consultantactivities, I also had some tasks assigned from my company, Softtek, where I couched team members, and also I was in charge of a Technical Committee, in charge of proposing and creating new tools for the team, as well as define standards to be used for documenting the systems, doing the testing, and also the guidelines to follow during the requirements assessment for new systems. On this stage, I realized that I would be a good manager, since I already had good technical skills, but one part was missing, which were managerial skills.

Therefore, I made a thorough research on all the universities having a managerial program, which combined the ICT part, and it was K.U.Leuven with the Master of Information Management, the perfect program for me, since I would be able to acquire that missing part I was looking for, in order to become a successful manager.

As part of my Information Management program, I started working with my team on a research on Web Analytics as part of our thesis. I find really interesting this field since it has a big future, especially in the European market, which is still evolving on this area. Once this research is finished, we will publish it in the university and will be available later for all the persons interested on it.

Oscar Castillo Lara is currently a Master student at KU Leuven, Belgium in the Information Management Program. A former BSc Industrial Engineer, he graduated with honors at ITESM, Mexico. He has had international exposures in Canada (Nipissing University, ON)  as well as in Belgium (UCL) during his Bachelor Studies. Also acted as a Management Trainee within the oil industry in a transnational company at Mexico, besides participating on Entrepreneur Accelerator Program at ITESM and multiple Industry-Academia related projects.

Gayane Sedrakyan, is doing a Master in MIS in KUL, Leuven, Belgium.  She is currently working as a researcher in the Department of Decision Sciences and Information Management of the Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences at KUL  with a focus on automation of the platform generation based on the modeling tool output.

Prior to that she completed the following programs:  1. Master of Computer& Information Science with minor in Business Administration at the American University of Armenia 2. Master of Philosophy & Logic at the Faculty of Psychology, Philosophy & Sociology, Yerevan State University 3.Territorial Governance & Local Self-Government at thePublic Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia

In 2007, she was awarded by the President of Armenia sponsored by Synopsis Armenia in the nomination of Best Master’s student in the field of IT.

She has published several papers and articles, presented at conferences and she is the author of the book “Nederlands Basis” – a self-tutorial with audio content included.

Have worked in a variety of fields such as banking, government infrastructure, taught philosophy to foreign undergraduate students at Yerevan Engineering University.

Gayane also worked as a contractor for the World Bank and Eurasia Foundation projects, such as Assistant Chief Editor for the magazine FORUM Armenian Business Review, acting as responsible for the material preparation for government delegations and prior to that as an External relations coordinator in a NGO sector.

For the last 4 years has been working in the IT sector;  first as a Technical writer and later as a Software Developer (3+ years of experience in soft/web development)

Other interests – musical composition: Winner of the Prize in the Nomination of Children Author’s Song

Composition – 3rd place, International Nile Song Festival(Organized by the First Ladies of Armenia and Egypt, under patronageof the President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, Cairo, Egypt 2008)

Yury Ostashkov is an aeronautic engineer, with 10+ years experience in the large international company, who has been busy with development, deployment and daily usage of various Marketing, Sales Management and other computer based information systems.

A brief history of June Dershewitz:

Today, it’s the turn of the very lovely, and frankly hilarious, Bob Page.

Good day to you Bob.  Please provide us with some salient facts about you.

I’m a Cancer or Leo, and suddenly confused about the difference.   I am tattoo-free. [...]]]>

Blah blah Silly Series.  Blah blah web analytics people.  Blah blah read them all.  Blah blah fabulous.

Today, it’s the turn of the very lovely, and frankly hilarious, Bob Page.

Today, it’s web analytics’ cheerful chappie, John Lovett – a man who likes a good metric of a morning.

John, tell the lads and ladies about yourself.

I’m a [...]]]> It’s a new year, and it’s time to clear the cobwebs and begin as you mean to go on by learning more about your colleagues in the web analytics industry.

Today, it’s web analytics’ cheerful chappie, John Lovett – a man who likes a good metric of a morning.

John, tell the lads and ladies about yourself.

I’m a Boston native who arrived at web analytics via English Literature, marketing, performance management, and industry analysis.  Roughly in that order.  My biggest accomplishments, besides paddling class V whitewater when I was a younger man, include helping companies realize the potential of the Internet.  I was fortunate to work at research firms like Gomez.com (yes it was a research firm in 1999), Aberdeen, Jupiter and Forrester, which allowed me to talk to lots of people and vendors in the #measure industry and formulate my own opinions.  Now I back those opinions with experience.

When I’m not scheming up brilliant analytics strategies, I love spending time with my wife and growing family, road cycling and fly fishing.

It’s the end of the world and you and Eric Peterson have to fight it out for the last place on the rescue shuttle to Plaxus Z10-b.  Who wins?

Oh, I would definitely win. On the way to the shuttle, Eric would stop to talk to about a hundred people – he’d set up a mini-group that’s focused on calculating the trajectories of interplanetary space travel and he’d build an analysis tool so that we could all understand how people communicate using PlaxusHTML.  But of course, by the time that Eric got to the shuttle, he’d have so many people following him that they’d rally for another shuttle.

You’re currently writing a book on Social Media Metrics.  What’s the 5th word on page 80 and how does it make you feel about cake?

It’s DATA.  I actually did a word cloud and a really ugly spreadsheet of all the words I used in Chapter 2 to exemplify that visualizing your social media data can be very productive.  Data turned out to be the most frequently used word.  When I finished, I ate carrot cake. Yummmm.

You recently had another baby (with just a little help from your other half) – would you be happy for your sons to follow in your career footsteps?

My oldest son (5 yrs) told me yesterday that he wanted to be a paleontologist, which when I think about it isn’t all too different from what I do.  While I don’t dig in dirt, I do dig around in data to find interesting things.  So I’d be ecstatic if he followed my footsteps, but I seriously doubt that web analysts will be around in the same capacity that we know it today when my kids enter the workforce.  It will however be about being able to find interesting things in the data.

Who is your superhero-sans-cape in the web analytics community and why?

I really believe that the unsung heroes are the analysts that toil everyday to make sense of analytics and explain it to their organizations while continually demonstrating value.  We have plenty of rock stars in web analytics, but it’s the people who do the real work that have super powers.

What do you say to people who think website tracking is an evil task by evil people for evil purposes?

I say you’re absolutely right, and you shouldn’t be visiting so many dubious web sites.  C’mon…that’s preposterous!  I argue till I’m blue in the face that analytics and tracking is about making the Internets a better place.  I pontificate about the incredible value of cookies and targeted advertising with elegant descriptors, colorful adjectives and apple-pie clichés.  When I finally climb off my soapbox, most people usually walk away muttering…yep, that’s spyware!

What is your wish for 2011?

I would really like to get out in front of privacy regulation and illustrate to consumers, institutions and governments that what we do is ethical.  I’m hoping that web analysts across the globe will pledge to our soon-to-be-published Code of Ethics to demonstrate that we are accountable for holding the data we collect safe and secure.

If you could go to dinner with two members of the web analytics community, who would they be and to what would you toast?

Wow, this is a really tough question. There’s so many people that I have shared – and would like to share – dinner with that it’s tough to answer. So, I’m gonna cheat this one: I’d bring in David McCandless of Information is Beautiful, Albert Lai of Kontagent and Guy Kawasaki.  We’d be toasting our new idea for the most powerful and intuitive analysis tool ever created.  Which of course, we hatched over appetizers, developed during dinner and sold by the time we ate dessert.

You’ve done quite a bit of public speaking in your time.  Do you picture the audience naked or get rip-roaringly drunk to handle your nerves in front of a crowd?

Well, I was only drunk that one time… Ha, not true. I typically just look out at the crowd to see who’s nodding vigorously, who looks unconvinced and who’s sleeping.  I try to get the sleepers and the unconvinced to come around

What’s the strangest request you’ve ever had from a customer?

Hmmm… My client requests are typically pretty orthodox.  My son however did ask me if I would build a tank in our backyard so he could keep sea turtles.

Check out the full list of interviews in the Silly Series here!

Today, it’s time to talk to Tim Wilson, a man who’s not [...]]]> Think you know all you need to know about the people in the web analytics industry?  I beg to differ.  I guarantee you will find things you didn’t know and things you didn’t want to know in this set of silly-season profiles.

Today, it’s time to talk to Tim Wilson, a man who’s not afraid to work a jester’s hat.

Tim, how would you describe yourself if you were asked to provide a short biography.

When his co-workers have no alternative other than to put him in front of a client, Tim is introduced as a Director of Measurement and Analytics at Resource Interactive, a truly kick-ass digital agency that does a lot of great work for a lot of top consumer brands. His internal title is Data-Geek-Smartass-Who-Seems-Able-to-Make-His-Superiors-Laugh-Just-Enough-When-He-Daily-Crosses-Various-Lines-of-Propriety-that-He-Hasn’-t-Gotten-Himself-Fired-(Yet). He gets really excited when he foils Facebook’s never-ending attempts to thwart web analysts’ ability to optimize and improve brands’ fan pages by deploying web analytics on them. Once a month, he co-hosts Geeks Gone Wild (aka, Web Analytics Wednesday) in Columbus. He blogs when he can at Gilligan on Data, which has a wholly unintended acronym that he didn’t even notice until a year ago; he can be oblivious that way.

You’ve claimed to have herded cats in a previous post at Bulldog Solutions.  How many cats does it take before you officially have a clowder on your hands?

It depends on to how many people you will be serving clowder chowder at your dinner party, and when, exactly, PETA learns of the planned menu.

If I have 15 apples and Billy has 22 pears, how many bicycles can you get in a clown car?

That’s IT! THAT’s the actual Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything!!! The answer, of course, we’ve known for years: 42.

Your name is Tim, but your blog is called Gilligan on Data.  Who is Gilligan and what have you done with the body?

The last I heard, he went on a 3-hour tour and hasn’t been seen since. I have no further comment.

Who is your superhero-sans-cape in the web analytics community and why?

I’m going to go with a Time-circa-2006 copout, Chuck. The #measure hashtag gets my vote. I’m still a little bitter at the entire state of Washington from when some pesky folk up there wound up usurping #wa, which was what we started with. At this point, though,  #measure is sufficiently superhero-ish that, if the professional musician community starts tweeting about 4/4 time and slapping #measure on their tweets, they won’t stand a chance.

Do you sometimes think that advertising targeting and on-site tracking is just a little bit dirty?

I can’t answer that question without sounding like an intellectual elitist. Which, of course, will not stop me from answering! I will die a happy man if I never get presented with an online ad for pie chart creation software, a Glenn Beck TV special, a sale on yoga mats, or the latest Xbox game. Targeting and tracking is good for the consumer because it leads to more relevant content being presented to them! Dammit, ye’ commoners, all this tracking makes your online experience BETTER!!!

Can we take a break for a few minutes? I need to get some fresh air and calm down before we continue. I don’t know why you interviewers have to go after sore spots just to get a reaction!!!

<Editor’s note: At this point, Tim removed his microphone, punched a cameraman in the face, and stormed outside. He was back in 10 minutes and apologized for his behavior. The cameraman responded with, “That was a punch? Wow. You data guys really are lightweight nerds! I thought a butterfly had landed on my nose.”>

What is your wish for 2011?

I wish someone would legally change her name to Jojoba. If not her legal name, then at least her Twitter username. Let’s be honest, she’s eating up a ridiculous number of my 140 chars any time I reply to her. I would also be totally “demystified” if a certain author/consultant/global-WAW-cofounder found a way to get his username shorter, too, but I don’t want to sound greedy.

If you were to write a song about web analytics, what would be the title and who would play the leading role in the video?

I grew up in Sour Lake, Texas, so this video is only going to get shown on CMT.

The song: “All My Referral Traffic Is from Me (and My Wife Ran Off with a Guy Who Claimed to Know the ROI of Twitter)”

The leading role: Kim Kardashian (the video would be highly artistic interpretation of the song)

Tell us about your favourite web analytics book.

Can’t. Answer. In. The. Singular!

Stephen Few’s Information Dashboard Design – because too many analyses fall flat when the analyst doesn’t present the information effectively. After conducting a sophisticated attribution analysis, I’m claiming credit for the sale of 20 copies of the book (oh, and I stuck my affiliate tag on the end of the hyperlink to the book – some time in the next 4 years I’m utterly convinced I’ll cross the Amazon minimum threshold and get a kickback for the tens of dollars of revenue I’ve generated for them).

John Medina’s Brain Rules – consumer behavior and cognitive processing; there’s a lot of stuff we don’t know, but there’s a lot of stuff we do. Having some basic understanding there is a handy lens to be able to look through as marketers and analysts. Plus, it’s cool to sit in a coffee shop reading a book that has a big picture of a brain on the front.

What is your favourite type of graph and why?

That would be the pie chart. Why? Because, at my core, I’m a hater, and pie charts are sooooo easy to hate.

Check out the full list of interviews in the Silly Series here!