15 Reasons Why You Should Take the Certified Web Analyst Test

As of August 2, 2010, the Web Analytics Association (WAA) has launched it’s formal Web Analyst Certification Program™. It is a voluntary certification program that is offered worldwide at 60 testing centers. The purpose of the program is to provide a mechanism for individuals to obtain professional recognition after demonstrating their knowledge of and competency within the web analytics industry. Certification will be issued to each qualified person upon meeting WAA’s required education, experience, and examination requirements.

I am a huge fan of the certification test and just registered myself. I am waiting for confirmation back to when my test date will be (I’m hoping in September).

Update Sept 9th, 2010 - I have officially passed the exam and now a Certified Web Analyst (The very first person in Western Canada – how sweet is that!). View the list of Web Certified Analyst here.

Here Are 15 Reasons Why You Should Take The Certified Web Analyst Test:

1. You really know advanced web analytics – but everyone and their nephew says they do to. And you want to prove it somehow.
2. You want to compliment and formalize the Web Analytics Award of Acheivement or the Certificate in Web Intelligence courses you recently completed.
3. You want some sort of a leverage for a raise at your current job.
4. You want to pay the government the least possible at tax time, so you need another tax right-off.
5. You cringe when you see job opportunities that say “must be a Google Analytics guru” and you are pretty sure there must be millions of users that fit into that category and it definitely does does not equate to “web analytics professional” – at least in your perspective. You also believe that who ever uses “guru” in any job description, should really be shot!
6. On the other side, you dislike when you see organizations post positions up that say “must know Omniture”. You know they are “fixated” on the tool and not the skill-set. Your baffled, because you may have experience with 3 other web analytics tools, architected code for advanced tracking, read extensively, learned the ins and outs from the Yahoo Web analytics groups,  became an excel master with KPI dashboards and consulted extensively with the marketing and executive team on how to optimize online ROI. You wonder why these organizations don’t understand that learning a different tool is actually the easy part.
7. You want to be  a part of a movement that educates potential employers that it is all about the knowledge, experience and expertise of best practices of web analytics and it’s not about the tools. And you know that the certification backs up that argument.
8. You want to understand what you don’t know about Analytics. (I bet you won’t come out with a 100%, as it is tough. Trust me, I already took the ‘test of the test” back in April, 2010. And now I am signed up for the real thing and know I have to brush up in some areas.)
9. Your company pays for certification tests – you need to take advantage of it.
10. You’re a lifetime student and a tad bored. You feel the need to do another certification test.
11. You want to complete Avinash Kaushik’s  “Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity” or Jim Sterne’s “Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment” or Brian Cliftons “Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics“, but somehow haven’t had the time to do so yet, so you want to use something as an excuse as a deadline to complete it (them) by.
12. You need something new to talk about with your colleagues.
13. You want to stand out of the crowd and be part of a high demand area of expertise in near future. (I truly believe that there is going to be a shortage of this skill-set in near future. )
14. You want to get listed on the Web Analytics Association website as a Certified Web Analysts™, but at the same time you are curious why they don’t offer links to your personal blog or your LinkedIn profile for your personal branding if you are listed on the site.
15. You want to eventually migrate to a job with more focus and pay. Even though today, some small-mid sized organizations ask for you to be a jack of all trades (in charge of SEO, SEM, social media, as well as web analytics). Some will branch out those roles sooner or later you’re hoping (if their model is scalable). You might as well be the web analytics expert. It will be easier to replace the SEM and SEO manager (in-house or outsourced) but not the web analytics role, because it is a niche skill in demand -  so in the end, it will be more pay.

So are you up for to the challenge yourself? Find out what knowledge is required for the certification test here and register.

Want to share your take on why you should take the Certified Web Analyst Test? Feel free to comment below!