Website analytics is sold as if it's a solution, but it's really a problem. Buying analytics software just means you have to install it, learn how to use it, figure out what reports you want, and the figure out what they mean. And while a good report or dashboard may answer a few questions, a really good one creates a lot more.

It's necessary. It's beneficial. It's useful. But it isn't easy.

Last week at the Omniture conference was incredibly motivating in terms of the potential of website analytics.

But it was also sobering in terms of how much there is to do to get even a fraction of the potential implemented and accurately reported on. Session after session covered big interesting topics filled with possibility that could barely have the surface of their surface scratched in 60 or 90 minutes. And even with a dozen or so sessions there were probably another 100 or so topics not even covered. This industry/technology and our collective expertise is at the 1 yard line with 99 yards to go.

And another interesting note; while all the best minds will tell you it's not about the reports but rather about the analysis, insights, and actions that follow - there wasn't to my knowledge a single session or organized discussion on anything near analysis or the 'process' of gaining insight from of all this tracking. Everything was implied - do this, you'll be able to track that, then "you'll know".

But we all know that the buzz from a new report only lasts a few minutes. Then you stare at it and wonder what you can do with that information, or think of 5-10 follow up questions and realize you can't think of an easy way to get at least a couple of those answers, or have some ideas and need to do some serious work to implement them to test them out. The report may have moved you forward but it didn't get you to any destination.

To be fair there just wasn't time. If you don't yet have the tagging right to even collect the data let alone format the basic reports, insights aren't your most pressing problem. And oh man is tagging and data collection and import still a problem. In fact, what led me to this cheery post is a great post on that subject from my new friend Gary Angel over at SemAngel.

Anyone want to buy an 'Analytics Isn't The Answer' t-shirt? Or have ideas for the clever punchline that should be printed on the back?