Measuring Success

For those that are interested e-books (great for copy & pasting code) there is a PDF version of the Google Analytics book – Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics book, purchasable from Wiley.

The second edition of Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics started shipping from Amazon last week – almost exactly two years since the first book. Like becoming a father (well not quite), it’s a proud moment and milestone for me. If you want to dive straight in, try one of these: Download sample book content: Intro, Table of Contents, Chapter 1 and the Index (1.88Mb PDF) or Read more about the book or Order from Amazon.com (.co.uk) or Barnes & Noble or buy the PDF ebook or leave me your feedback with a comment, retweet or rating… Here’s what industry movers and shakers think about the second edition: “If you’re looking for a practical, tactical guide in how to implement and think about web marketing optimization, look no further. Brian Clifton spells it out by industry, by job function, by Key Performance Indicator, and more.” —Jim Sterne, Founding Director and [...]

Seriously – don’t buy Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics (first edition)…. Why? Because there is a second edition just around the corner. In fact its due in March The first edition is nearly two years old – eons in Internet years (well probably equivalent to dog years). Those two years were a great success – both personally for me (reading reviews of your work form people you have never met before always brings a smile to my face and a glow to my cheeks – it’s a fantastic ego boost. So much so, I have to prick my head occasionally to prevent it getting oversized!) and for the publisher, who figured out the business of printing and distributing it was good enough to invite me to update the original. And that’s how it started out – an update. A few week’s work right, ten at tops. However, within 3 [...]

If you have a copy of Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics, or are a potential reader, would you prefer it in your local language? I have always assumed that a local language is preferred. However, I ask because when translated, I loose editorial control of the text and screenshots that can result in a degrade in book quality.

Many thanks to those who have provided feedback on the book so far. A couple of typos have slipped by me, so I wanted to post them here immediately. Please add if you find more. I will create a separate corrections page if needed. Note: this post is for the first edition of the book. The second edition (2010) errata post is part of the Pro Lounge. page 180, Differentiating Regional Search Engines: The placement of this code has had to change due to recent updates in the GATC. See the following post: www.advanced-web-metrics.com/blog/2009/12/15/customising-the-list-of-search-engines-in-google-analytics/ page 181/182: The code pageTracker._addOrganic(“images.google”, “prev”); should be placed just before the line pageTracker._initData(); – Not after, as mentioned on page 178 (grey box, positioning of GATC hacks). pageTracker._addOrganic(“images.google”, “prev”); pageTracker._initData(); page 191, point a (referring to Figure 9.8a): The regular expression pattern should be: (?|&)(q|p)=([^&]*) as shown in Figure 9.8a. Note the change in position [...]