For a long time I said “in the financial world there’s the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) but there’s no Web Accounting Standards Board (WASB).” As a consequence, no two web analytics packages ever give you the same numbers – in fact, numbers can change between versions of the same package. Whine as I might at the time, I wasn’t in any position to start such an organization.

(I recently found that quote online, in Spanish.)

In a sign that the web analytics market is reaching maturity, the Web Analytics Association launched this week. It’s not WASB, but in fact has the potential to be much more than a standards group. I’ve already joined — and volunteered for the standards committee.