Comments on: 2006 Web Analytics in Review http://www.ga-experts.com/blog/2007/01/2006-web-analytics-in-review/ Google Analytics Experts with Brian Clifton, author of Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics and former Head of Web Analytics for Google Europe Middle East & Africa Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:00:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: GA Experts http://www.ga-experts.com/blog/2007/01/2006-web-analytics-in-review/comment-page-1/#comment-46 GA Experts Sat, 13 Jan 2007 17:13:45 +0000 http://www.ga-experts.co.uk/wp/?p=25#comment-46 Lars: yes, the market definately has room for niche players - especially tools that can be fully customised. After all no one WA tool can do everything. My question would be how big is that niche market and can it sustain the R&D required to keep it viable? I am not sure it is now (certainly not in Europe), but if such vendors can stick around for a year or two, may be it will.<br/><br/>Jeff: I don't think choosing GA (or MS - assuming it will be free) is a question of size of company/web site or the cost of the tool, though being free is an obvious USP that is hard to beat. I feel it is more to do with the level of bespoke custom installation of the tool required for the site in question and the large cost of that.<br/><br/>For example, some small sites (i.e. number of pages) can be very complex at gleaning a story and therefore require a complex bespoke tool with lots of engineer man hours to get the product implemented. The beauty of GA is that the setup is just so damn simple. So the question for the complex sites as to which vendor to choose is, does the effort of the complex implementation and on-going maintenance justify the benefits and insights gained compared to a tool such as Google Analytics? Of course for some sites that may be yes, but our experience in Europe would suggest that this is avery small number indeed. Lars: yes, the market definately has room for niche players – especially tools that can be fully customised. After all no one WA tool can do everything. My question would be how big is that niche market and can it sustain the R&D required to keep it viable? I am not sure it is now (certainly not in Europe), but if such vendors can stick around for a year or two, may be it will.

Jeff: I don’t think choosing GA (or MS – assuming it will be free) is a question of size of company/web site or the cost of the tool, though being free is an obvious USP that is hard to beat. I feel it is more to do with the level of bespoke custom installation of the tool required for the site in question and the large cost of that.

For example, some small sites (i.e. number of pages) can be very complex at gleaning a story and therefore require a complex bespoke tool with lots of engineer man hours to get the product implemented. The beauty of GA is that the setup is just so damn simple. So the question for the complex sites as to which vendor to choose is, does the effort of the complex implementation and on-going maintenance justify the benefits and insights gained compared to a tool such as Google Analytics? Of course for some sites that may be yes, but our experience in Europe would suggest that this is avery small number indeed.

]]> By: Jeff Lawrence http://www.ga-experts.com/blog/2007/01/2006-web-analytics-in-review/comment-page-1/#comment-45 Jeff Lawrence Sat, 13 Jan 2007 16:50:49 +0000 http://www.ga-experts.co.uk/wp/?p=25#comment-45 I like your predictions for 2007. I would also be interested to see what kind of impact this (Google and Microsoft) will have on HitBox and Omniture when it comes to renewals. Will large corporations absorb the costs and what they know with their existing web analytics tool, or will some simply migrate over to the free tools. My guess is that the small guys, and most new sites will go with the free tools out there, while some of the larger sites will stick with what they know. I like your predictions for 2007. I would also be interested to see what kind of impact this (Google and Microsoft) will have on HitBox and Omniture when it comes to renewals. Will large corporations absorb the costs and what they know with their existing web analytics tool, or will some simply migrate over to the free tools. My guess is that the small guys, and most new sites will go with the free tools out there, while some of the larger sites will stick with what they know.

]]> By: Lars http://www.ga-experts.com/blog/2007/01/2006-web-analytics-in-review/comment-page-1/#comment-44 Lars Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:09:00 +0000 http://www.ga-experts.co.uk/wp/?p=25#comment-44 It will be interesting to see if some of the smaller vendors will merge. Not with major vendors, but a smaller (less established) vendor merging with another smaller vendor. I can think of at least one good match. I can definitely still see a market for niche vendors or vendors that offer competitive pricing models or local offers. It will be interesting to see if some of the smaller vendors will merge. Not with major vendors, but a smaller (less established) vendor merging with another smaller vendor. I can think of at least one good match. I can definitely still see a market for niche vendors or vendors that offer competitive pricing models or local offers.

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