Avinash Kaushik has been blogging for nearly a year, and in that relatively short amount of time, he's cemented himself as one of the premier web analytics experts in the blogosphere. Today, Avinash announced on his blog that he'll be leaving Intuit, where he has worked as Director of Web Research and Analytics since 2003, and will be striking out as an independent consultant.

We'd like to congratulate Avinash on this exciting new opportunity. It takes a lot of guts to go indy, but if this means more time for him to write more great blog articles, then I don't think Avi has anything to worry about. Plus, his first assignment is working as an Analytics Evangelist for Google. He's going to be spreading the word about analytics, and working with the Google Analytics team on speaking and education engagements. I can't really think of any better representation for the tool.

All this just a couple of months away from the release of his much-anticipated new book, Web Analytics: An Hour a Day. If you need proof of how great a guy Avinash is, he's donating all proceeds from this book to two great charities, The Smile Train and Doctors Without Borders. We've already pre-ordered two copies for the office, and if you have any interest in web marketing or analytics, you should head over to Amazon and do the same. For more information on the book, check out its official page: Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, by Avinash Kaushik.