Web Analytics Action Hero: Using Analysis to Gain Insight and Optimize Your Business

I'm newer to the Web Analytics Industry, but having listened to Brent describe his book and excerpts in a lecture, I decided to spring for a copy. You won't be disappointed. Always good to get seasoned expert analysis and tips on moving from a reporting monkey to a valuable company asset.

The author stresses the need to tell a story about the data. I have taken that to heart. Also, there is politics involved in publishing data - another good lesson to reflect on. Useful no matter what web analytics program you use.

That. If you're a web analyst, or if you want to be, this book should be in your library. It is one of the best books because the author is clear and precise.

Great book.

This book doesn't tell you how to use web analytics to get information for your business. There are plenty of books that do, though, so that's not a problem -- just something to know before you buy it. Those of us who use web analytics know that we can spend hours teasing important actionable information from mountains of data, present it to our boss or client, and see absolutely nothing happen. When you hear "All those numbers make my head feel like it's going to explode" or "Well, it's all pretty subjective" followed by failure to take any action, you can become frustrated, bitter, or -- worst of all -- lazy, as you begin churning out lots of uninterpreted charts that no one could take action on. This book details how to collect the data your people really want and need and how to present it in ways that will encourage them to take the action they should take. It describes the kinds of problems you're likely to encounter and how you can usefully resolve those problems. And it does it all in a fun way that lets you feel that you are not, as so many people might think, a geeky person chained to a computer, but instead that you are a ninja-like action hero. It's fun to read, and it'll improve your reports even if you aren't surrounded by comic book enemies. Nice graphs, too.

If you are a web analyst, or are seeking a job as one, you need to read "Web Analytics Action Hero: Using analysis to Gain Insight and Optimize Your Business" by Brent Dykes. In an interesting and engaging format, experienced web analytics consultant, Dykes, addresses topics that analysts and online marketers need to know to move beyond reporting and toward analysis to drive action and change within their businesses. Did you ever think you would be reading about Indiana Jones when reading about web analytics? In this book you do. That's what made this book more interesting and engaging than many dry business type books. The action hero slant was fun and worked at teaching the lessons the author wanted to make. Action hero and superhero jargon aside, this book really does address some serious issues regarding analysis, and using the action hero model just makes it easier to remember and identify with. I mean, what computer nerd doesn't dream of being an action hero? So now, you can be an action hero behind the computer screen doing analysis. The format and layout of the book also makes it easier to read and learn the information presented. There are interesting quotes throughout the text, graphs, charts, and side boxes illustrate key points and continue to make it an interesting read. (As interesting and analysis can get anyway.) Some of the side boxes are Insider Insights that provide tips from top people in the field. Others contain Villain Profiles that illustrate things to watch out for and how to defeat these "villains." The book will help someone become an analyst, and it will help analysts become better. It describes the best environment for analysts and provides a strategy for executing online analysis with a variety of techniques. I especially liked the call for "Action." Data is fine, but the real reason to analyze data is to provide recommendations to act, and to do so in a way that your recommendations are acted upon. So, while most of the book focuses on transforming data into business insights, the final chapter looks at what a company can do to be more agile and ready for action. I thought that was a very good way to finish the book. Granted, this book has a limited audience. But for those interested in the analyst field, either to enter it, or become better at it, this book is a great resource. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to become a Web Analytics Action Hero. Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of the "Tough Guy Wisdom" series.

I re-learned most of my 10 year career in the 2 hours spent reading this book. Web Analytics Action Hero delivers exactly on its promise. This book could also be called the web analyst survival guide as well as the web analyst success guide. This book reduces the vast complexity of web analytics into a set of clear and straight forward tasks and objectives. And no topic is left untouched which is great. Brent tackles web analytics from end-to-end. From the tools and techniques to the process and the people. What I enjoyed most is the way the book is written and how it tackles the topic. There isn't any nonsense or bragging. It's a straight forward guide on how to be successful whether you are a entry level analyst, director of a global analytics program, or a C-level executive trying to introduce a data driven mindset into the organization. Even if you think you know it all, you haven't put it all together like this. It takes a great deal of time, effort, and skill to tell the full story in a way that is enjoyable to read. As the previous reviewer mentioned, Brent does a great job verbalizing the dozens of small but important details that must be accounted for when trying to drive a data driven approach within an organization. I found myself agreeing over and over with each page, section, and chapter. The subtle difference between an action hero vs. super hero concept is a very important one. Most books focus on a superhero approach. This book was written for the other 99% of the workforce who are not already a web analytics genius with a world class program in place. Most folks are just looking to be successful in a career as a web analytics leader or hands on practitioner. And this book is the perfect guide for them. And I am sure the 1% will still learn some valuable ideas to be even more successful. What I found very useful was how the author called out and identified the different personalities that you must deal with and work with for you and your program to be successful. From my past experiences this is the most critical factor in your success and I am happy that Brent addresses this topic many times throughout the book. Perhaps the best way to describe this book...it's a great deep dive analysis on the question of "How to be successful in web analytics". In the end I gave this book 5 stars because it only delivered on my expectations. It was easy to read and the content was sold and the recommendations were good and realistic. Lastly, I've found myself reading this again and also using it as a quick reference for myself and my team.

This book can be useful to people in many careers, not just the career of Web Analyst. That statement might seem odd, considering that the title and subtitle say nothing about the Web Analyst career. So before I talk about where this book excels, let's look at where it has some problems. The target reader of this book is the Web Analyst who works in a large corporation. Most of the text is devoted to the theme of making your case to executives and other stakeholders, so that action can come from your analysis. Thus, the subtitle should be changed to "How to Be a Successful Analyst in a Corporate Environment." The current subtitle implies that the book is targeted to the typical small business that can't afford to hire a Web Analyst except maybe on the occasional special project basis. The phrase "your business" does not apply to people who are not business owners. It makes sense that Dyke, who works for Adobe, would have this big company perspective. For the small business, this book is not appropriate. The bulk of this book pertains to any technical department head, albeit with the backdrop being the Web Analyst. When I was a plant engineer, I knew some of these principles at the start, but had to learn many of them as I went along. They are universal principles that any technical department head or manager should know and practice (emphasizing "should," here). What this means is if your job involves interacting with senior management, you can disregard the relatively small part of this book that's about analytics and use this book as a framework for better dealing with your management. When Dyke strays from the career advice and actually "talks shop" about analytics, there is some good information. But anyone with formal training in analysis already knows this stuff. I'm an MBA and found nothing new here, other than specific examples. Someone who's working as a Web Analyst and doesn't yet know this information is probably in the wrong line of work. Another problem with this book was it needs proofreading. The text contains numerous gaffes in grammar, along with compositional errors that force the reader into "decipher" mode around strangled syntax and other problems. I noted I found nothing new in the analysis part. That's the same technical stuff that all MBAs learn, unless they go to really bad schools or don't pay attention. In fact, what Dykes presents about analysis isn't even complete; it leaves out many standard tools and techniques. I think if he wants to write a book on analysis, then he should do that. This is not that book. If he did write such a book, it would not be merely a rewarming of Google's tutorials on Google Analytics. As good as those tutorial are, they don't teach analysis. They teach how to use the tool itself, the same way an Excel tutorial shows you how to use this or that feature of Excel but not how to create a casino scenario with it or analyze the trend in stock price movements with it. In this book, the reader gets a teasing insight into Dykes' high level of analysis competence. A book that focused on developing this would be most welcome. The career advice is excellent. I have seen far too many (as in, nearly all) technical folks in all specialties lack the ability to properly articulate the problem, the recommended solution, and the need for action. The standard approach is to hide weak analysis behind jargon. Many even go so far as to totally alienate managers via a condition called Powerpointlessness. This involves convincing people to gather into a room, where they sleep while you drone on and read PowerPoint slides. Why people do this instead of trying to actually communicate, I am not sure. Maybe it's a fear of rejection thing, so they don't even try to communicate. Something that happens in niche technical areas is the technical experts expend so much effort developing their technical skills that they neglect developing the really important assets that can make them far more effective in their own companies and far more marketable when a recruiter seeks to get them a hefty raise by placing them with another employer. Those are assets such as company contacts (for getting the job done right in your own company), industry contacts (vital to the max), interpersonal skills, presentation skills, and listening skills. And quite often, they have good technical problem solving skills but can't apply them appropriately because they are deaf to context. Dykes addresses these issues in this book. For the technical expert who reads Dykes' advice and takes it to heart, the book easily pays for itself. That's true whether the reader is a Web Analyst or not. I hope now it's clear that my problem isn't with the content of the book, but with the marketing of it. The Action Hero part of the title does match the metaphor used throughout, but the book really isn't about Web Analytics. Nor does the subtitle apply to this book. If properly titled and subtitled, this book would deliver on its promise. This book consists of an introduction and eight chapters spanning 223 pages.