Web Log Analysis

From what I've looked at by digging through Wikipedia, web log analysis tools are basically simple web analytics tools. Having used SiteCatalyst in the BYU Web Analytics Competition, sponsored by Omniture, I have a pretty good understanding of what a quality web analytics software package can do.

Web logs work a little differently than the method SiteCatalyst uses to grab it's information. A log file is created directly on the server that hosts the website, and those files contain information about the http request and the machine, browser, etc... that made the request. SiteCatalyst works by embedding some javascript into a page that creates an image with a few pixels of data (I'm pretty sure, I could be way wrong on this) that is sent directly to a server owned and operated by Omniture. To keep the story short, it sounds like web logs work in a very similar way, but there must be some sort of limitation to their use that encourages companies like Omniture and other analytics service providers (ASPs) to grab a little more information than just the basic log.

To be honest, I'm not terribly interested in some of the really technical details of HTTP and web logs, but I find the high level usage of the tools to be relatively interesting.

E-Biz Wiki

I've spent a ton of time over the last few days researching emerging technologies and their impact on the future of e-business. Honestly, there is a ton of stuff going on but it was difficult for me to dig through some of the articles I was reading to find technology that would really make an impact on how business is done.

The area I ended up spending a lot of time learning about was wireless technology. I was very unfamiliar with WiMAX before I started, but I feel like I have a pretty good handle on it right now and the possibilities that it provides seem endless. I really think that it will change a lot of the things we do in the business world and will greatly increase the speed of communication that we will have available to us! I guess I just have to hope that the specs are right and that it will deliver as promised.

After my research, I modified some articles on the BYU E-Business Wiki. The pages I modified are as follows:

• Wireless
• Emerging Technologies

I also plan on doing a broader treatment of WiMAX on the WiMAX page, but I will need to do a bit more research before I can do that. I would also like to do some more research on the future of internet security, which I started delving into before I became super busy with other things today.

This is my first experience with a Wiki as well, so I was pretty proud of myself for being able to figure out the formatting quickly. I really enjoyed myself... I enjoy researching technologies and envisioning what they can do for us in the future, so I'm sure I will continue contributing to the E-Business wiki for a while.

Video Sweet Video

I've been reading about the phenomenon of internet video the last few days and I suppose I should comment on the issue (links to the articles can be found below). There are a couple different topics I'd like to touch on in this post...

The real secret ingredient to successful online video advertising is similar to Metcalf's Law in that as you increase the amount of locations that host your content you are thus increasing the power of your message. Think about it, if you have a really clever advertisement that is playing on half a dozen different websites that all receive a decent amount of daily traffic, you have a pretty strong network working for you. Users begin to take ownership of some of these great videos that are available because they found them on their favorite site, or because they can download the content to their local machine for later playback. Sharing on-demand content with your friends is much easier than trying to find when it will be replayed on television; by creating quality, on-demand media that can spread throughout the internet you are increasing the total number of "views" you get for little to no marginal cost.

One of the keys, in my opinion, to a successful marketing campaign is being able to select a target market (or two) and successfully drive your advertising and other marketing efforts towards those people. By creating video content (or any content, really) that is posted online, you can more easily advertise to those who you are looking to target. MySpace and YouTube have become extremely large online communities where mass amounts of younger generation users spend a lot of their time. By creating quality content with the target audience in mind, you can now specifically place your ads on YouTube, MySpace, or on another online community that specifically caters to your desired market and thus increase the effectiveness of reaching your target audience.

The creation of online content is also fairly cheap. By comparison to a television or print media ad, your costs to post some of these videos around the internet are extremely cheap or, in a lot of cases, free! It is no longer true that you need to spend millions of dollars on an ad campaign because television advertising means high costs if you want a quality time slot; in the current market you can develop an ad spot or short film for as little as a couple thousand dollars, and then have the ability to post it online for free at several video hosting sites. Even to post videos on a corporate or personal website if fairly cheap considering the plummeting costs of bandwidth. Though television and print media ads have their place, anyone can diversify their marketing efforts to the web and thus save money while increasing brand awareness and attitude.

The most curious thing, which wasn't directly talked about in the articles I read, but was implied. If an organization wants to create a great following and truly have successful marketing on the web, they need to create a community that users will want to be a member of. This goes back to the whole Web 2.0 concept that has been all the buzz over the last year or so, and the validity behind all of it is becoming more and more obvious. Think of some of the more successful web organizations out there and you'll quickly come up with a list that includes MySpace, YouTube, and Amazon. One of the things that each of these sites have in common is their feeling of community and the fact that any registered user can create and contribute content to the site. MySpace gives you a page online where you can communicate with friends and create a customized page for yourself. YouTube gives each user the ability to upload and rate content. Amazon creates a community by allowing everyone to review products and make recommendations to others who may have similar tastes and preferences. As people become more attached to their online community, they spend more time on the site and become viral marketers to the world about the things they love online. I don't necessarily endorse any of these services (you can read my rant about MySpace on my more relaxed blog here), but you have to concede that these companies have done something right that the rest of the world is trying to emulate or take advantage of (evidenced by the insane amount of money YouTube and MySpace sold for over the last year).

BTW, the sources I read can be found at the following locations:

• Blending Video and E-Commerce
• Business Goes Straight to Video
  

Course Expectations

Well, I guess it's time to get started on my analytics blog, yeah? This blog will basically serve the purpose of fulfilling a requirement for my I Sys 590R Web Analytics class, but I hope it's a lot of fun as well.

I don't know if I have super specific expectations for this class, but basic enjoyment is the key. I really enjoyed participating in the Web Analytics competition in the Fall, and I think analytics might be right up my alley. I don't do much web development, but I find the study of how people use technology to be very fascinating. I've always been really interested in the user experience, and I hope a better understanding of web analytics will help me understand the user experience even more.

I've found a couple of different blogs that I've added to my RSS reader. I've already been reading Matt Belkin's blog (from Omniture), but I found two others that look pretty good. One is at http://www.epikone.com/blog/ and it looks like a pretty good source for information on using Google Analytics specifically, but going into detail on how to use the info that the software provides. The other is found at http://web-analytics.webera.info/ and looks like a pretty good place to dig in and find a LOT of information at one spot.

I'll be interested to see what some of the others in the class find. Hopefully we can put together a pretty solid listing of analytics resources.