Today I'm excited to bring you a short interview with two of the top web analytics professionals in the industry, Avinash Kaushik and Annie Cushing. Not only are they experts at leveraging data effectively, they’re incredible conference speakers who are returning to MozCon this year!
Avinash Kaushik is the digital marketing evangelist at Google and co-founder of Market Motive. He is also the author of two best-selling books, Web Analytics 2.0 and Web Analytics: An Hour A Day, and he writes a popular web analytics blog, Occam's Razor.
He’s an energetic speaker who delivers eye-opening insights about the power of data that you can put into action immediately. He gave an awesome presentation at MozCon 2011 which inspired a flood of tweets and ended with a standing ovation.
Annie Cushing is an SEO and analytics consultant. Her areas of expertise are analytics, technical SEO, and everything to do with data — collection, analysis, and beautification. She’s on a mission to rid the world of ugly data, one spreadsheet at a time.
If you don’t think analytics can be sexy, chances are Annie will change your mind. She shares practical, actionable information that revolves around one of her passions — making data sexy. At MozCon 2012, the audience at her amazing presentation left with tons of useful tips and tricks for creating Excel spreadsheets that are comprehensive, easy to understand, and compelling to decision-makers.
We are honored that Avinash and Annie are joining us again at MozCon, and we hope you will join us, too! Their talks will help you demystify analytics data the moment you get back to the office.
In his keynote, “Simplifying Complexity: Three Ideas For Higher ROI,” Avinash will apply Occam’s Razor to three user cases and share practical tips for dealing with complexity. Annie will show you how to separate the junk from the sound data when analyzing organic keyword data in her talk, “Breaking Up With Your Keyword-Based KPIs.”
Recently, Avinash and Annie were kind enough to answer a few questions about their upcoming MozCon presentations, must-know analytics information, and which technology would improve their lives.
Tell us about the presentation you have planned for MozCon.
Avinash: My plan is to share three stories that serve as an example of amplifying the awesomeness of any business not by focusing on doing one thing well. That seems like such an odd thing to say, but I've convinced that if we are to make incredible progress we need to solve for multiplicity.
Three simple examples, from our everyday lives, that the audience will be able to go back and implement in their day to day efforts.
Annie: I’m going to talk about breaking up with your organic keyword data. Many marketers (if not most) who focus on organic search are using junk data that does not stand up to scientific criteria. I’m going to talk about what data is junk, how to differentiate junk from sound data, and some alternatives to junk data that withstand statistical scrutiny.
What is something that all marketers should know about web analytics, but many don’t seem to know?
Avinash: My 10/90 rule. For every $100 you need to invest in making smarter decisions on the web, you need to invest $10 in tools and consultants to implement the tools, and you need to invest $90 in big brains to analyze the data and recommend actions.
People have this insane belief that data talks. No. Data does not talk; people make data talk.
The question to ask, hence, is not how much data you have. The question is how many big brains you have.
Annie: How to report on conversions in a way that gives all of the marketing channels credit for their contribution to the end goal(s). If coaches ran football teams the way marketers report on conversions, only the players who score the touchdowns would get paid.
What uninvented technology would improve your life the most?
Avinash: I know this seems silly, but I think I have all the technology I need in my life. Sure the batteries could last longer and my computer could just type in what I'm thinking - why do I need to physically type in a cramped plane seat?
There is an impressive amount of technology we need to deploy to ease human suffering. Those solutions, big and small, from smarter malaria nets to more precise lasers to target cancer, are the ones I'm rooting for.
Annie: A centralized financial system in the cloud that would enable me to manage all of my financial needs from one place — from investing to paying bills to paying my business quarterly taxes — with robust projection and budgeting data visualizations at my fingertips.
Thank you for speaking with us, Avinash and Annie!
If you would like to read more about Avinash, check out this great interview he did a couple years ago, which covers some of his views on social media, SEO, and why he is always looking for exceptional things. You can also follow Avinash on Twitter @avinash.
Learn more about Annie and web analytics by checking out her info-packed blog, Annielytics, her great posts on Search Engine Land, and by following her on Twitter @AnnieCushing.
Even better, get actionable analytics advice by joining us at MozCon and experiencing their awesome presentations!
Those will be two very useful presentations! I heard Avinash speak at SESNY last year. It was one of the best presentations I've ever seen; he has such amazing energy.
I wish I'll be a part of next MozCon.
Truly amazing interview.. Really liked the line of Avinash "For every $100 you need to invest in making smarter decisions on the web, you need to invest $10 in tools and consultants to implement the tools, and you need to invest $90 in big brains to analyze the data and recommend actions."
Lindsay@
Avinsah is an inspiration since the day when i got to know about him. I always desperately wait to get some news about Avinash always. And its an interview - off-course interview are the direct words comes from the person whom you admire. Both of them are legend as having huge experience in Web Analysis.
Really an useful data!! My techniques are really inspired by Avinash point of view. Totally agree with him!! As in real life also we have lot of things to grasp lot of information to follow and the person who follow the procedure only get the success. Insightful post!! Thanks for the interview!!
These 2 As (Avinash & Annie) can guide your business to A+. Really my strategy is greatly inspired by Avinash. I'm completely agree with him on data. Like in real life, where we've so many information around us but the person who utilizes these in the best way get success, in web also, you have the access to lots of data. But your success rate depends on how you study them and draw the right conclusion. As Annie mentioned, it is also very important to isolate the useful data from the junk to reduce the noise level from your data stream to see the problem clearly.
It's Lovely to hear Avinash a Web Analytic expert in Mozcon and Annie on breaking up with your organic keyword data at Mozcon. Happy to hear once again both of them at Mozcon. Thanks Lindsay for sharing such a wonderful interview with both of them
Stephen
I took Avinash's web analytics course and got Market Motive's Web Analytics Certification. The reason I took his course was that I felt I hit a ceiling when it came to SEO. My client's now LOVVVVVVEEEE me because I was able to increase conversions. These were hidden opportunities that I needed training in order to uncover. Our conversions went up from 10% to 17%. Then over time I got them up to around 22%. I could NOT have done this without having Avinash as my coach.
Learning a web analytics program like GA, SiteCatalyst (Adobe Analytics), or web Trends is not about point-and-click. It's about the way you think. THANKS to Avinash.
I was especially excited to see this post since I'm currently taking Market Motives Analytic's courses by Avanash. He really has a way in making the presentations make sense and his enthusiasm makes him so easy to listen to. It was great to learn more about two top web analytics professionals, Avanash and Annie -- unfortunately I won't be able to see them at MozCon, but I do look forward to hearing about their presentations!
The highlights of MozCon are making it seems more interesting, it is sad that I wouldn't be able to attend mozcon any sooner, so will probably wait for the videos to come by. As for Avinash he is indeed a genius and his blog has always been an explicit resource for some effective and very much actionable tips and tricks to help me at different stages of my career.
In all honesty I didn't know Annie before today but reading form her post that you have linked above, it is a shame that i never came across her before, can't wait to see what she have for us at this mozcon
With this MozCon, it will be my 5th time seeing Avinash talking in a conference.
And good luck to the one speaking after him - as it happened to me at an Italian conference this year - because it is a great challenge to maintain high the hipe he is able to create in the audience.
And I am really looking forward to the Annie speech, because I know already that she will make my mind explode in awesomeness.