I’ve been promising this book review of “” by Avinash Kaushik for near six months and it has taken every week of six months to finally make it all the way through this book. I’ve spoken many times about Avinash and his wonderful blog “Occam’s Razor” which this book being the pinnacle piece of the writings on that blog. Avinash is an analytical genus and the knowledge and experience he pours into this book are unbelievably practical, but even more important downright effective.
As I mentioned it took me six months to make it through this whole book. The problem wasn’t the wealth of knowledge, but reading through it I constantly found myself stopping to take notes and try out things that are mentioned. Never have I read a book quite like this that packs so much knowledge in a way that I constantly find myself learning so much and wanting to make notes every few pages.
Avinash really strives for this book to be able to stand the harsh test of web time (where a year is an eternity) and does a surprising good job of making it practical even as it’s a few years old and will continue to be relevant going forward. The truth is this book is designed to be consumed over a long period of time as the chapters are broken down to be consumed one a month with actionable and learning assignments given throughout. The first few chapters focus on explaining how to build a successful strategy and the fundamental things you need to know about web analytics then dig right into monthly chapters starting with “Month 1: Diving Deep into Core Web Analytics Concepts” all the way through “Month 8 and Beyond: Shattering the Myths of Web Analytics”. This practical tomb packs so much punch into its pages that I’m sure it will stay on my desk for a long time as a great reference piece.
Be warned that “” is not a casual read nor is it for someone without a hunger for numbers and data. Bottom line is that if you are truly interested in the field of Web Analytics this tomb is your Holy Grail. I’ve already written quite a few posts simply from the applied knowledge I’ve learned from this book and I think anyone that chooses to read it will no doubt come away with tons of practical nuggets themselves.
Oh and did I mention the best part is that all proceeds for this book are donated to a couple charities that Avinash has choosen! So go get your learn on and feel good about donating to a good cause by buying this piece of work that will only make you a more intelligent and better informed individual.
This is hands down my favorite analytics book for just the reasons you mention. I carry it with me everyday. Seriously. I read it about a year ago and have referenced it repeatedly since. The pages are tattered, have notes and highlights, and are dog-eared - and that’s ok by me.
What I love about it is that it breaks things down into digestible chunks. It doesn’t make you feel like you have to do everything at once. Week 1, day 1, try this … and so on.
Thanks for the review, Kyle.
Great book - indeed. I’ve just started it, and I also had the chance to attend a webinar presented by Avinash.
Speaking of webinars, sorry Kyle, but I can’t resist the urge to plug the upcoming webinar series: Analytics 360 scheduled on March 24, 25 & 26,presented by Shelby Thayer, Joshua Ellis and one of your eduGurus, Head of Marketing .
This series is targeted to people with little or no knowledge of web and email analytics and will strive to bring them up to speed in just 3 hours.
More info about this professional development opportunity can be found at https://www.higheredexperts.com/analytics360
You speak my mind! This book sits on the corner of my desk everyday. It helped me establish the need for a enterprise level analytics suite.
As we launch a new site folks are looking for all the new bells and whistles. I’m looking for a larger and more accurate playground to try more of Kaushik’s examples
I agree with your comments on the book. I just picked it up last week and have been going through it. I also find myself looking up the references he has in the book and trying some of the ideas. I work at Lethbridge College and we haven’t really had any focus on web analytics, but with our upcoming major redesign, I wanted to put more importance to that area.
I’ve also picked up another book from the series “Search Engine Optimization - An Hour A Day” by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin. I have yet to break it open as I’ve got 3 books on the go right now and not sure what the results will be if I try to pack another book’s worth of knowledge into my head right now.
Anyway, great review!
Great review. I have been skeptical of buying books about the web because of the constant change. Based off your review, it seems both timely in that I can do these things now, and timeless that things in the book will be worthwhile for a long time. It’s also a bonus that some proceeds go to charities!
Nice article. I’m just getting into analytics and I loved the line “if you are truly interested in the field of Web Analytics this tomb is your Holy Grail”. Thanks for the info.
Reading it for the third time already
Simply the best analytics book EVER!
Got to be honest, bought the book last year and never got beyond the first chapter or so, very heavy reading. I’ll have to give it another go sometime. Tome rather than tomb?
Very useful, hands-on book about the fascinating topic of web analytics! Online marketers and business professionals alike have come to realize the importance of these metrics to determine their actions and results online.
Your good intention makes this book more appealing. My thumbs up!
Thanks to this book I was able to create a nice site and now make good money online with my new website hosting blog. I can only say one thing to Avinash and that is: THANK YOU!