Vendor Group Founds Web Analytics Trade AssociationVendor Group Founds Web Analytics Trade Association

A coalition of technology vendors this week announced the Web Analytics Association (WAA), a not-for-profit organization designed to serve as a trade group for the online analytics industry.

Founding members of the group include Coremetrics, IBM, Nedstat, Omniture, Visual Sciences, WebSideStory and WebTrends. The organization named Bryan Eisenberg, co-founder of consulting firm Future Now, as its chairman. Jim Sterne, president of online marketing consultancy Target Marketing, will serve as president.

The WAA plans to "promote issues like education, advocacy and standards to strengthen and stabilize the growing Web analytics industry," the association said in a statement. The WAA has formed committees that it hopes will steer issues relevant to the industry, including legislative advocacy, education, and the creation of research.

The organization also will focus on standards including common measurement methods, metrics and nomenclature. The WAA plans to tackle as one of its first tasks a review and refinement of definitions pertaining to conversions, unique visitors and site abandonment.