This lecture presents an overview of the Web analytics process with a focus on providing
insight and actionable outcomes from collecting and analyzing Internet data. The lecture first
provides an overview of Web analytics providing in essence a condensed version of the entire
lecture. The lecture then outlines the theoretical and methodological foundations of Web
analytics in order to make obvious the strengths and shortcomings of Web analytics as an
approach. These foundational elements include the psychological basis in behaviorism and
methodological underpinning of trace data as an empirical method. These foundational elements
are illuminated further through a brief history of Web analytics from the original transaction
log studies in the 1960s through the information science investigations of library systems to
the focus on Websites systems and applications. Following a discussion of on-going
interaction data within the clickstream created using log files and page tagging for analytics
of Website and search logs the lecture then presents a Web analytic process to convert these
basic data to meaningful key performance indicators in order to measure likely converts that
are tailored to the organizational goals or potential opportunities. Supplementary data
collection techniques are addressed including surveys and laboratory studies. The overall goal
of this lecture is to provide implementable information and a methodology for understanding Web
analytics in order to improve Web systems increase customer satisfaction and target revenue
through effective analysis of user-Website interactions. Table of Contents: Understanding Web
Analytics The Foundations of Web Analytics: Theory and Methods The History of Web Analytics
Data Collection for Web Analytics Web Analytics Fundamentals Web Analytics Strategy Web
Analytics as Competitive Intelligence Supplementary Methods for Augmenting Web Analytics
Search Log Analytics Conclusion Key Terms Blogs for Further Reading References
