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Rachel Finley
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Brigham Young University
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prspecialist@byu.edu

Omniture to Increase Prizes for this Semester’s Web Analytics Competition

Omniture has decided to up the ante for this semester’s installment of their Omniture Web Analytics Competition (OWAC). The winning team will not only be awarded the $5,000 cash prize, but each team member will also take home an HDTV. Additional prizes will also be given to the second through fourth place teams.

For the fifth time since its inception in fall 2005, the competition, which is co-sponsored by the Rollins Center for eBusiness, will allow students to learn how to use web analytics to maximize a web site’s performance. Omniture, a world leader in online optimization for many high profile businesses such as HP, Wal-Mart and Ford, will train students on its flagship software, SiteCatalyst. Student teams will take these skills and analyze one of Omniture’s actual client’s web sites in an effort to make it more user friendly and effective.

After the analysis, teams will present their findings and recommendations to a panel of Omniture judges who will in turn choose four teams to present at the competition’s final event on Friday, Feb. 29. The finalists will be vying for more than $10,000 in cash and prizes. There will also be a raffle for those in attendance at the final event for prizes including an Xbox 360, iPod Nanos and iPod Shuffles

The competition is open to all BYU students.

“The best part about this competition is that you don’t have to have any prior experience to enter,” says Jeff Brown, program manager of the Rollins Center. “In fact, most of our past winners have had very little if any experience in the field of web analytics.”

An OWAC kickoff event will be held Thursday, Jan. 31, at 11 a.m. in 280 Tanner Building. The meeting will provide a brief overview of the company whose web site will be analyzed and what Omniture consultants are looking for when judging the competition.

This event will also provide an opportunity for students to find teammates.

“If you don’t have a team, don’t worry,” Brown says. “That’s what the competition kickoff meeting is for. If you don’t decide to join a team we’ve had single-member teams do very well in the past—even win!”

Following the kickoff, student teams can sign up for the competition via the eBusiness Center web site at ebusiness.byu.edu until the deadline on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 5 p.m.

Many students in past OWAC events have learned a lot from their experience. Jon Chin, a member of last semester’s second-place team, enjoyed his involvement in the competition.

“By competing, I learned web site analysis skills and learned how to measure and analyze key performance indicators,” Chin says. “I would recommend that future participants perform their analysis from the position of a potential consumer to the site.”

Thomas Gosney, the student leader in charge of the competition, hopes students understand the opportunity and significance of the event.

“The Omniture Web Analytics Competition is unlike any other competition on campus,” Gosney says. “Where else can you get free training on a topic that is so relevant and valuable in today’s business world? Students go to school to learn things that will help them get a job; this is one of those things that will set them apart from the rest of the field come interview time.”