Web Analytics Rock Stars

Starting a New Business in the Business/Web Analytics Space
Mark Guenthner
President, Clicks, Etc. LLC
http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=5255253&trk=tab_pro

Starting a new business is something I have always wanted to do.  Last summer, as a pre-cursor to creating an official company, I began free lancing in the business/web analytics space.  After quite a few years of managing analytical groups, I felt I had reached the confidence level in my skills and business acumen to go off on my own.  In addition, based on my work experience, I knew there is growing demand for such services at companies of all sizes.  My initial target market, though, was and continues to be small-to-mid size companies who do not necessarily have large enough budgets to support an analytical team.

I recently created Clicks, Etc. LLC (www.clicksetc.com is under construction), a business/web analytics consulting firm, in the Seattle area.  Thus far, my clients have consisted of ecommerce companies in the Seattle market, but my service offerings are applicable to any business model.  Up to this point, my work has been generated using my own professional network.  Eventually, once my company is further along in its development, I will be expanding my advertising to other channels and supporting a larger geographic area.  My work, so far, has consisted of site behavioral testing and analysis, promotional analysis, contact strategy, program evaluation, customer segmentation, competitive intelligence, lifetime value analysis, dashboarding and data mining.  I also have spent time working on how to best integrate analytical tools, including web analytic solutions, competitive intelligence offerings, e-mail service providers, etc.  I have found that many of these tools, even in isolation, are not being fully utilized, which means many companies are not getting as great of a return on investment on these tools as they could.

Over the past year, I have learned a couple of important things.  First, ensure you effectively manage your bandwidth, especially if doing work for multiple clients at one time.  At the beginning, I spread myself out too thin across clients and had to make adjustments, in regard to the level of engagement.  Second, being free of a well-defined job description, I now realize I am much more of an entrepreneur than I ever knew.  I spend a lot more time now generating and thinking through new ideas, relating to how to optimize business performance.  Last, taking risks can be exciting.  Taking risks is not always comfortable, but it can be a really great motivator.

Posted in: Online Analytics by Mark Guenthener