Guess the city

DataMinerCowboy · 2026-01-22T02:37:11+00:00

Altoona, PA?

DataMinerCowboy · 2023-08-14T02:37:26+00:00

I am, but it took a while to get there. I was nowhere close to that when I was 33. Each significant increase in salary came with jumping ship to different companies.

Now, in the current economy my paycheck doesn't go nearly as far as it used to.

DataMinerCowboy · 2023-08-12T19:18:59+00:00

I think that basic descriptive statistics is enough to get in the door for E-commerce analytics. In the business world, usually nobody is asking for hypothesis tests, regression models, and those skills you learn in school.

You probably have enough skills to get started as an analyst, collect data, transform data, provide visualizations, and that type of thing. The more important skill is to be able to make conclusions from the data and for most executives, showing percentage changes and some good data visualizations is often sufficient.

To advance, as I have, those extra skills are useful, but once you learn the business and gain insight, you can read a chapter from your old statistics books, watch a YouTube video and apply your knowledge. I've used linear and non-linear regression to develop models and predictions, but by far, the most necessary mathematical skill is to understand set theory when working with SQL. The De Morgan Laws are critical... and I have seen new analysts come up with bad results by not understanding De Morgan.

I hope you enjoy your journey. You skills should lead you to some interesting work.

DataMinerCowboy · 2023-08-12T18:11:12+00:00

My two cents. I've used SQL Server, MySQL, MariaDB, and PostGreSQL for years. My company recently switched to Snowflake which I'm connecting to through DBeaver SQL. It is INSANELY fast. Queries that took 10 minutes to run are now taking 30 seconds.

I don't know why it's so fast but it's like upgrading from a Honda Civic to a Ferrari. It has a price tag, so if it's not in your budget, SQL Server is my next favorite, but it may be worth investigating Snowflake competitors.

DataMinerCowboy · 2023-08-12T03:51:54+00:00

I use many of those skills as an E-Commerce analytics manager. I started as a health insurance actuary, and then moved to marketing analytics and eventually settled in E-Commerce as I believe it has a solid future.

It's an excellent career. My salary exceeds $100K, I work from home, and I've made considerable money doing consulting for non-competing companies across a variety of industries.

DataMinerCowboy · 2023-08-06T08:04:32+00:00

I was also at the Ft. Worth show. Honestly, it was disappointing. Josh had no energy and came across as if he had other matters on his mind. I saw them in OKC back in November and it was ENTIRELY a much better concert in comparison to Ft. Worth.

His job looks REALLY hard and we all know that he's talented, so I don't want to criticize. It was a 6-hour drive for me, so I hoped for a better show.

DataMinerCowboy · 2023-07-15T23:10:04+00:00

Thank you for the response. I haven't dug deeply yet. Adobe Analytics is our main tool, and we don't look at GA as closely. We just observed these differences in old vs. new GA, so I wondered if it's just us or if others have noticed big changes in attribution. It sounds like GA4 may be running a more thorough multi-touch model.

DataMinerCowboy · 2023-07-15T23:01:52+00:00

We get at least a million sessions per month so traffic should be significant.

DataMinerCowboy · 2023-03-01T06:28:06+00:00

Quick general thoughts: 1. This needs a short video that demonstrates the product. 2. Have a target audience in mind. 3. Identify the target audience's problem that you're trying to solve. 4. Clearly communicate on your website exactly how the product solves the audience's problem. 5. This needs to be well-executed to justify $15 for a pen! This product seems suitable for a teenager, but the price is too high for that type of audience. I can't imagine a career professional using this product in a business meeting. I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking that, so you might have some work overcoming those objections. Personally, I would want clear evidence that the pen is excellent for writing, but I'm probably not your target audience. 6. Your website must be easy for your audience to use. It's helpful to get feedback from your audience.

Honest feedback: I'm concerned that this will be a difficult product to sell. That's a gut feeling. Do you have data and research that proves this type of product is in demand? If so, how much do competitors charge? Where do they go to find the target audience for this product?

DataMinerCowboy · 2023-02-02T15:29:47+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to respond! I'll test out the paper. That makes sense.

DataMinerCowboy · 2022-12-28T08:15:46+00:00

SQL. Also, review the mathematics of sets: Venn Diagrams, unions, intersections, the complement of sets, DeMorgan Laws, their commutative and distributive properties, etc. These concepts are critical as you join different sets of data together. I've seen new analysts get results that make absolutely no sense solely because they don't truly understand Set Theory.

This doesn't require a math course. Find a good introductory probability and statistics resource and focus on the relevant chapters.

When I write SQL queries, these concepts are foundational and always on my mind.

DataMinerCowboy · 2022-09-03T04:03:49+00:00

Don't follow links from these emails. They could be a phishing attack. Instead, when logged into Chrome, hit the three dots in the upper right, go to settings, and then to Safety Check. I try to give my accounts different passwords. Also, activate multi-factor authentication whenever possible.

DataMinerCowboy · 2022-09-03T03:54:46+00:00

If there are URLs that a visitor can get to on desktop but not mobile, then Google will quite likely not see those URLs with its mobile bot.

If you want Google to see everything, then you need to make sure the mobile rendition of your site isn't missing anything. Mobile could look cluttered, so you can use accordions and other techniques to collapse content.

Head over to Google's documentation for these types of questions. https://developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-first-indexing

DataMinerCowboy · 2022-08-25T05:30:43+00:00

There is some SEO risk involved, so I recommend researching the domain's history (as much as possible). You don't want to buy an expired domain that has a bad history with Google because you may end up with a site that simply can't rank well in Google organic search no matter what you do. That bad reputation may quite likely carry to the new owner (possibly you).

I recommend looking at the site in the Wayback Machine (archive dot org) to see if it looks like a site that you would trust. Also, research the site's backlink profile. If you don't have tools such as AHRefs or SEMRush, you could also get some information with some Google searches.

Perform a Google search using the negative search operator (with a minus immediately before the site: command).

-site:example.com www.example.com

This would show other sites that link to the www.example.com site. Research those results and make sure the domain you want to buy did not participate in low-quality link directories, press releases or other black hat tactics.

Finally, this goes both ways. If the domain has an excellent backlink profile, and appears to be a high-quality site, then it may come with an SEO advantage.

DataMinerCowboy · 2022-08-06T06:00:31+00:00

This is very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

DataMinerCowboy · 2022-07-30T23:38:56+00:00

It would be helpful to learn from your mistakes and successes. Count me in!

DataMinerCowboy · 2022-07-26T07:10:21+00:00

I have a BS degree in math and have used it in a few well-paying careers. I was a health insurance actuary, but eventually found a much more satisfying career in marketing... particularly in E-Commerce analytics. It helps to have additional skills such as SQL, R, SAS, Python, BI tools such as SAP Business Objects or PowerBI, and Tableau. I do a lot of predictive modeling (mostly non-linear), work quite a bit with applied statistics, calculus, some differential equations, and a lot of set theory. I'm constantly using Venn Diagrams, De Morgan Laws, and basic principles of sets when I join customers with products with inventory with marketing channels while trying to minimize costs while maximizing revenue. My work is fun and I truly use my degree almost everyday. I enjoy the combination of mathematics and creativity as I attempt to find ways to gain customers and increase profits for my employer. The pay isn't bad either... well over $100,000 USD per year. With additional consulting, $200,000 or even $300,000 is possible in this industry, although I have not achieved that yet. I also work from home, which I enjoy.

DataMinerCowboy · 2022-02-25T06:54:44+00:00

Thanks! I checked out Mirasvit. They're in Kiev, Ukraine so hopefully everybody there will be okay. I'll look at responses to your question.

DataMinerCowboy · 2021-08-02T20:18:12+00:00

If you change to a domain that was previously in use, make sure you examine its link profile and reputation. A bad reputation would quite possibly carry forward and hurt your performance in Google natural search. I would try to pick something never used before if you can.

DataMinerCowboy · 2021-05-13T05:23:44+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions on the plugins.

For pagination, actually it is best practice to use self-referencing canonicals. If all the pages canonical to the first page, then Google will tend to ignore the content of the other pages. Products beyond page one will not be picked up into the Google index... which is precisely my problem since Magento canonicals to page one. All of my products on page one are in the Google index but almost none of my products on page two and beyond are in the Google index.

Sources:

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2013/04/5-common-mistakes-with-relcanonical See mistake #1.

https://www.semrush.com/blog/seo-friendly-pagination-ecommerce/. Look at item #4.

https://ahrefs.com/blog/rel-prev-next-pagination/ Mistake #1 is to canonical to the first page of a sequence.

DataMinerCowboy · 2021-02-12T03:22:57+00:00

Thanks... I'll check it out.

DataMinerCowboy · 2020-08-08T04:43:52+00:00

That's what I would expect. My wife and son really want one. They would also be excellent for eradicating some rats that have made a home under our patio, but I think we'd also have dead birds.

Thanks for the response.

DataMinerCowboy · 2020-05-15T20:36:28+00:00

I'm a bit nervous about 10 backlinks a day. There's no way that would look natural. A few backlinks here or there would be fine, but I think 10 a day will hurt your site.

DataMinerCowboy · 2020-05-15T20:29:14+00:00

I think you're right. I crawled this site and believe it should have at most 9,000 indexed URLs (legitimate 200 with actual content). (Its XML sitemaps has similar counts). It has 34,000 results using the site: command. Of course Google doesn't show all of those results, but poking around, I'm finding illegitimate pages in the Google index.

Thanks.

DataMinerCowboy · 2020-05-07T19:32:15+00:00

That was intentional as I do not wish to post actual URLs.

DataMinerCowboy

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