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What is Web Site Analytics? 

"Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage."
      - Web Analytics Association
        (More definitions from the WAA)

What is Internet data?  Internet data includes Web site traffic data as well as data from usability studies, transactional database systems, customer entered data, online surveys and Web server performance monitoring systems.  A common misunderstanding is that Web analytics is only about Web site traffic data, not surprising because Web traffic data is the backbone of a Web analytics program.

What is Web traffic data?  As people download, register, buy online, or simply surf Web pages, Web traffic data is continuously logged in the background on Web servers. 

What are Web analytic software tools?  There are roughly 80 vendors of Web analytic software tools.  The majority of these tools transform Web traffic data into more useful information through segmenting, filtering, summarizing and reporting.  Other tools enable more advanced testing and analytics techniques, such as real-time multivariate testing.  

Successful Web analytic programs are business programs.   No software tool is a silver bullet for success.  Organizations effectively using Web site analytics know the value of Web analytics comes from the actions taken based on the insight that's derived from the output of these tools.  Analysts (i.e. people, not tools) extract insight relevant to business goals.  Effective processes use this insight to drive meaningful change, iteratively ramping progress forward.

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