Comments on: Is the Future of Web Analytics Horizontal or Vertical? http://www.alexlcohen.com/web-analytics/2008/07/07/is-the-future-of-web-analytics-horizontal-or-vertical/ Actionable Advice for Better Internet Marketing. A blog by Alex Cohen Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:21:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: DigitalAlexhttp://www.alexlcohen.com/web-analytics/2008/07/07/is-the-future-of-web-analytics-horizontal-or-vertical/comment-page-1/#comment-1489 DigitalAlex Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:04:05 +0000 http://www.alexlcohen.com/?p=300#comment-1489 Well, MeasureMap is for monitoring of your own blog. I'm not sure that Google would open up blog search to something like Technorati or TechMeme, though Google Trends for Websites is certainly a trend in the competitive data arena.My point is that we don't need more data, we need less. We need the right data at the right time.For some audiences, they need a larger universe to support broader analysis. The trade-off for that is often a.) time and money to get an integrated view and b.) fewer specialized metrics for specialized tasksOther audiences need a smaller universe of focused metrics for narrow, but deep analysis. The trade off for that is a siloed view of the data in exchange for easier and faster answers or ones not available in other tools.Time will tell. Well, MeasureMap is for monitoring of your own blog. I’m not sure that Google would open up blog search to something like Technorati or TechMeme, though Google Trends for Websites is certainly a trend in the competitive data arena.

My point is that we don’t need more data, we need less. We need the right data at the right time.

For some audiences, they need a larger universe to support broader analysis. The trade-off for that is often
a.) time and money to get an integrated view and
b.) fewer specialized metrics for specialized tasks

Other audiences need a smaller universe of focused metrics for narrow, but deep analysis. The trade off for that is a siloed view of the data in exchange for easier and faster answers or ones not available in other tools.

Time will tell.

]]> By: Minchin Webhttp://www.alexlcohen.com/web-analytics/2008/07/07/is-the-future-of-web-analytics-horizontal-or-vertical/comment-page-1/#comment-1487 Minchin Web Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:44:34 +0000 http://www.alexlcohen.com/?p=300#comment-1487 Is it possible to see a third option - a wide enough suite of vertical products that you get the richer abilities and data of the individual products, while still having the "more things" that a horizontal product has?For an example, look at Google Search. Their main search is a very 'horizontal' product that does a general search very well ("decent at more things"), but fails in certain cases. For those looking for a more 'vertical' ("great at a few things"), Google has added to their line-up products like Image Search, Blog Search, News, Video Search, and Google Scholar.So with Google owning both Urchin (now Google Analytics) and Measure Map, plus of host of other services (Feedburner and Blog Search come to mind), will we start to see a similar set of products emerge for 'Website (or Blog) Monitoring'? Is it possible to see a third option – a wide enough suite of vertical products that you get the richer abilities and data of the individual products, while still having the “more things” that a horizontal product has?

For an example, look at Google Search. Their main search is a very ‘horizontal’ product that does a general search very well (“decent at more things”), but fails in certain cases. For those looking for a more ‘vertical’ (“great at a few things”), Google has added to their line-up products like Image Search, Blog Search, News, Video Search, and Google Scholar.

So with Google owning both Urchin (now Google Analytics) and Measure Map, plus of host of other services (Feedburner and Blog Search come to mind), will we start to see a similar set of products emerge for ‘Website (or Blog) Monitoring’?

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