In a recent post, the good folks at iSpionage reviewed the importance of using analytics to guide your Internet marketing efforts and which metrics make the most sense to track. Using analytics helps you understand which of your marketing efforts are paying off, which tactics you should refine, and what actions you need to take in order to get better results from your Internet marketing strategy.
While analytics are a must for any Internet marketer, it can be a bit daunting to know exactly which tool to use in order to track your results. After all, there are literally hundreds of analytics tools available on the market, all with different features and benefits. Here is a quick review of 10 of the most popular website analytics tools to help you decide which one will work best for you and your company.
1. Google Analytics
Screenshot taken 06/29/2007 of analytics.google.comBy far the most popular web analytics tool is Google Analytics. Google Analytics is geared toward Internet marketers and small business owners who want to learn more about their website. Google Analytics helps marketers and website owners understand traffic patterns, traffic sources, conversions, bounce rates, paid search statistics, and more. The data available is robust and intuitive enough for anyone to learn. While it is intuitive, there is a bit of a learning curve, and you may need to take a few tutorials in order to really get the full benefits of Google Analytics.
Biggest Pro: Google Analytics is free and is integrated with the Internet’s largest paid search platform, Google Adwords. This provides Internet marketers with a great way to track landing page activity, and make improvements as necessary.
Biggest Con: Some ad filtering programs have the capability to block the Google Analytics tracking code. This means you may not receive data on some of your visitors.
Price: Free
2. Moz Analytics
Screenshot taken 01/15/2014 of www.moz.comMoz.com is one of the Internet’s leading search engine marketing companies, and offers a complete web analytics package. Moz analytics help you track your search marketing, social media marketing, brand activity, links, and content marketing efforts all in one convenient location.
Biggest Pro: Moz Analytics has some of the best tools on the market for link management and analysis. You can really get a lot of information about how to improve your SEO campaigns.
Biggest Con: Moz Analytics doesn’t actually measure your traffic. As a result, you would need to be familiar with both Moz Analytics and Google Analytics in order to get data about your traffic patterns.
Price: $99/month
3. TrueSocial Metrics
Screenshot taken 01/15/2014 of www.truesocialmetrics.comIf you’re looking for a tool to help specifically with your social media metrics, then TrueSocial Metrics is a great investment. TruSocial Metrics helps you calculate your social media marketing return on investment.
Biggest Pro: Easily helps you identify which topics your audience finds most interesting. This helps you make educated guesses about what content will perform best across your social media platforms.
Biggest Con: The free reporting tool is a bit skimpy. If you want access to everything you need in order to really improve your social media strategy, you will need to pay for it.
Price: Basic = Free, Small = $30/month, Medium = $100/month, Agency = $350/month
4. Clicky
Screenshot taken 01/15/2014 of www.clicky.comClicky is one of the most comprehensive tools on the market, next to Google Analytics. Also, all of Clicky’s data is real-time, so you don’t have to wait around to generate reports you may need.
Biggest Pro: Clicky shows you each individual visitor and the actions they take on your site. This helps you really define what people from all sorts of demographics find interesting on your site.
Biggest Con: The data available is great, but there is a definite learning curve involved as the interface is not exactly user-friendly.
Price: Free, until you hit more than 3000 page views.
5. KISSmetrics
Screenshot taken 01/15/2014 of www.kissmetrics.comKISSmetrics tells you, in great detail, what your website visitors are doing on your website, before, during, and after they buy from you. Google may tell you what is happening on a website, but KISSmetrics tells you who is doing it and when.
Biggest Pro: The data funnel tool helps you find your website’s strongest and weakest features, allowing you to make necessary adjustments and increase your chances of getting visitors to convert.
Biggest Con: The traffic information isn’t as robust as Google Analytics, so you would need to consult Google Analytics as well.
Price: Starter = $150/month (up to 500,000 events/month), Basic = $250/month (up to 1 million events/month), Professional = $500 (over 1 million events/month
6. Woopra
Screenshot taken 01/15/2014 of www.woopra.comWoopra is another real-time analytics tool that helps you track page views, events, and learn about your customers. Woopra also provides information about conversion funnels, customer activity, and when customers lose interest. Woopra helps you learn about your customers’ actions in order to improve conversions on your site.
Biggest Pro: You can monitor more than one website at the same time. Also, Woopra is not only real-time, but it also provides a live chat feature, so you can actually talk with your customers while they are on your website. What better way to find out what your customers actually think about your website than to engage in real life conversation with them. This takes a lot of guess work out of the process.
Biggest Con: The dashboard is a bit difficult to navigate at the first. There is definitely a learning curve for beginners.
Price: Anywhere from free to $199 per month, depending on the size of your website.
7. GoSquared
Screenshot taken 01/15/2014 of www.gosquared.comGoSquared is also a tool that measures real-time visitor engagement, but the primary difference is in the design. They pride themselves on being intuitive, functional, and beautiful.
Biggest Pro: It really is as intuitive as they say it is. Instead of having to sit around figuring out how to use the tool, you can spend that time simply using the tool.
Biggest Con: There is a limit on how much data you can view in a month. Once you have hit that limit, you have to either wait till the next month, or upgrade your package.
Price: Plus = $24/month (500K page views), Pro = $49/month (1 million page views), Extreme = $99/month (2.5 million page views), Enterprise = Not disclosed. Call their sales reps for more information (unlimited page views).
8. Buzzstream
Screenshot taken 01/15/2014 of www.buzzstream.comBuzzstream is an analytics tool that helps you specifically with link building research and social media research. You can sign up for either option, or both options.
Biggest Pro: Buzzstream has one of the most comprehensive interfaces for research on effective link building tactics. If you’re focusing on building inbound links to your website, then give Buzzstream a try.
Biggest Con: Buzzstream doesn’t have any rank checking capabilities. While they offer a wide range of information to help you build links, it’s impossible to tell how your rankings have improved.
Price: $29/month
9. BrightEdge
Screenshot taken 01/15/2014 of www.brightedge.comBrightEdge is an analytics tool that is used specifically for search engine optimization. It includes information on keywords, backlinks, traffic, conversions, competitors, geographies, devices, and more. It also includes information on local search and daily rankings.
Biggest Pro: The reports are very innovative and are tested by SEO experts often. This means you are getting analytics tools that are current and relevant.
Biggest Con: The data is limited to SEO. If you’re looking for a more broad analysis tool, you’ll have to go elsewhere.
Price: Contact BrightEdge to request a demo and more information about price. This information is not disclosed on their website.
10. FoxMetrics
Screenshot taken 01/15/2014 of www.foxmetrics.comFoxMetrics is another tool that helps track customer engagement in real-time. Not only can you track what your customers are doing on your website in real-time, but you can also track the customer life-cycle including where they are clicking, what e-mails they are opening, what products they are purchasing, and more.
Biggest Pro: More comprehensive information available about your customer including software downloads, product views, newsletter views, purchases, and more.
Biggest Con: In order to get access to all of the information available at FoxMetrics, you have to register as an Enterprise user.
Price: Small = $20/month (100,000 requests), Medium = $50/month (500,000 requests), Large = $120/month (1 million requests), Enterprise = call for custom pricing (1 million+ requests)
Summary
These are just some of the web analytics tools out there. As you can see, there are a lot of options to choose from, and the tool you end up selecting will really depend on what you are trying to measure, how much experience you have in the industry, what your budget is, and how much time you are willing to put into learning an analytics program.
Have you tried any of these tools? Or is there one you love that we didn’t list? Let us know in the comments below!
