Image by SESConferenceSeries via Flickr
Avinash Kaushik, author, blogger, and Analytics Evangelist for Google, is one of my heroes. And he's giving the morning keynote at SES London 2010 as well as one of the keynotes at SES New York 2010.
If you want to learn web analytics the right way, I strongly recommend that you read Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Kaushik (Sybex, 2007). His thought-provoking analysis of the challenges and opportunities facing today's web analytics challenges conventional wisdom and debunks popular myths.
And Kaushik has a new book that has just been published that is entitled Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity (Sybex, 2009). In this book, he lays out specific strategies and execution models to evolve from simply leveraging clickstream tools to incorporating the insightful elixir of qualitative data, experimentation and testing, and competitive intelligence tools.
If you like Kaushik's books, then you'll love his blog, Occam's Razor. He also has a day job as the analytics evangelist for Google. And on the swing shift, he's the cofounder and chief education officer for Market Motive, where I'm on the faculty.
I should disclose that we don't always see eye to eye. He is, regrettably, a Buckeye from The Ohio State University, while I am a Wolverine from the University of Michigan. However, I only hold that against him on one Saturday each November.
The other 364 days a year, I totally share his point of view.
As a thought leader, Kaushik puts a common sense framework around the often frenetic world of web research and analytics, and combines that with this philosophy that investing in talented analysts is the key to long term success. He is also a staunch advocate of listening to the consumer, and is committed to helping organizations unlock the value of web data.
If you want to learn how analytics has changed and what you need to do to keep up in 2010, register for the upcoming SES webcast with Kaushik, which will be held Tuesday, January 13, 2010, at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST. Mike Grehan, SES Advisory Board Co-Chair and VP, Global Content Director, Incisive Media, will kick things off by asking Kaushik some provocative questions before asking the audience to join in the Q&A. As a special promotion, Kaushik will give out six free copies of "Web Analytics 2.0" to the participants who ask the most compelling questions during the webcast!
And if you want to see what he has to say about web analytics, check out the two video interviews below. I conducted the first interview at SES New York 2008.
Web Analytics Recap with Avinash Kaushik at SES NY 2008
The next video interview with Kaushik was conducted by Bryan Eisenberg at SES San Jose 2008. Eisenberg will also be one of the keynote speakers at SES London 2010.
Avinash's Long Tail Terms, Bouncy Icebergs, and Analytics
So, run, don't walk, to the Search Engine Strategies conference nearest you. You'll want to hear everything that Kaushik has to say in his keynote...unless, of course, he gives a shout-out to the Buckeyes.
