cmf2007 - Web analytics meets web content management

Last week I was in Aarhus, Denmark for cmf2007, a great web conference put on by Janus Boye and his firm.

Janus was kind enough to invite me to give a tutorial about maximizing ROI from web analytics and present about Web 2.0 and web analytics.

This is the third year Janus and his team have put this conference on, and I'd have to say it's one of the best conferences I've ever attended...maybe second to our X Change conference. The reasons are easy to cite: smaller sessions, presentations that focused on creating an interaction with the audience, and great parties after each day that gave plenty of chance to talk, network, and relax.

Most of the 250 attendees were web content managers and web managers, with a number of Intranet managers thrown in. Analytics comprises only a part of their roles, which primarily center around content management activities.

Although there were many folks from Denmark, Finland and Sweden, there was also good representation from the UK and Germany.

While it makes a nice topic to discuss whether Europeans are ahead of North Americans in web analytics sophistication or vice versa, I found that people whom I spoke to have the same challenges as do web content managers and web site managers in the US: having the time and resources to figure out how to best use web analytics tools, trying to come up with metrics that help the business, and finding ways to show senior management that web analytics has a tactical and strategic business value.

The one difference I noted: a greater understanding and use of qualitative research, such as usability testing, surveys and focus groups by the Europeans.