Web Analytics: Advanced Stats
The analytics market is a crowded space with many players. There are a lot of robust analytics solutions that can track conversions, goals, revenue, expenses, and even allow you to create flexible dashboards. These solutions are not made for the basic sites out there; they are made for sites looking for detailed metrics to make decisions on how to improve things. The two solutions that I am going to cover are: Google Analytics (formally Urchin) and Omniture.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is the most robust solution out there for its price, which is FREE. It can track things such as campaign conversions, goals, visitor performance, basic ad a/b testing, and content performance. Google Analytics also has all the features that basic statistic solutions have as well as other features such as a site overlay.
Dashboard
Keyword Considerations
Google Analytics is a great free solution that provides flexibility for most sites looking for advanced metrics. On each screen they have options to change the look of the graphs, export reports or even send reports to the printer. These are just some of the basic things that can make Google Analytics useful if you have to make reports on a regular basis. Currently the dashboard is not too flexible, but they do provide options for choosing a dashboard overview based on if you are an executive, marketer or webmaster. Anyone can signup for Google Analytics, but you have to wait to be invited to use it. In most cases you do not have to wait too long to get your invitation, but it is high in demand and based on availability.
Omniture SiteCatalyst
SiteCatalyst is a very robust solution with a lot of features. SiteCatalyst provides data related to navigation, ecommerce, content, and other detailed visitor information. It also has a pretty flexible dashboard and it is very data intensive. One of the great features that it provides is comparison, which allows you to compare different campaigns and groups to see how they are doing so against each other, so that campaigns can be optimized.
Conversions
Search Engines
Visitor Path
Overall SiteCatalyst is a great solution if you are looking for more detailed information then what Google Analytics can provide and more flexibility. If you spend a lot of money on online advertisements and are in a competitive industry, SiteCatalyst may be the solution for you. The downside of it is that the pricing for it starts at around $1500 to $2000 a month and it could be more user friendly. If you have a high traffic website, expect to pay a lot more then $2000 a month, but the data that it provides you can really help get the most out of your advertising dollars.
There are a lot of other solutions out there, and they also vary in price. The solutions that are in the middle are similar to Google Analytics. The other expensive solutions such as HBX and WebTrends are similar to Omniture SiteCatalyst. If you are looking for detailed stats and have a low budget then Google Analytics might be the right fit for you, if you can wait to get invited. If you are looking for more robust features such as customizable dashboards and can afford it, then Omniture SiteCatalyst might be right for you.
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Reader Comments (14)
- The Virtual Ranger, June 22, 2006
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I've been using Webalizer for a few years, and recently signed up for Google Analytics. I found the installation process very easy indeed, and the returns are comprehensive. However the dashboard is frustrating (This is a beta, so fair enough). I really don't understand the options and I sometimes long for the simplicity and dear old tables of data that Webalizer offers. No doubt as Google rolls this product out a bit further they will tweak the interface for usability, because as you correctly identified this is the one thing that lets the service down as yet.
- Neil Patel, June 22, 2006
- Dan, August 12, 2006
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Did i miss the reference to Awstats?
- Neil Patel, August 12, 2006
- Chris, August 12, 2006
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Neil, I humbly beg to differ. AwStats is simply so much more up to date and powerful than Webalizer that it blows it away.
- Aurelie Pols, August 12, 2006
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Neil, nice job. I'm just a bit bewildered by your initial classification between rss feeds, blogs, business sites and then basic and advanced webanalytics packages. I might have gotten it wrong but don't you feel that the first 3 are all part of webanalytics? It's a conundrum, I'll give you that but it's part of the same issue: measuring your successes (and failures) according to your objectives of what you're doing in the online world. Web 2.0 features (in which I freely include RSS & blogs) are currently being discussed by several member of the Web Analytics community.
Furthermore, I have a personnal problem with your classification regarding basic & advanced Web Analytics tools. As integration of data is becoming essential and Google Analytics well remains free, I don't consider them to be an advanced package because it remains a stand alone, except for the integration with AdWords. Ok, you can donwload Excel and XML exports but it remains manual.
As of citing Omniture as the best product within the advanced Web Analytics packages and excluding both WebSideStory's HBX as well as WebTrends, is for me a hooter. I'm biased as I am WebTrends Premier Partner, Authorised Training Center and only European member of the WebTrends Insight Network but still, for me Omniture is not really the best way to go and this for several reasons. To start with, I really don't see where their strategy is heading and even though the product isn't bad, I doubt that they'll be able to keep it up if they don't rethink themselves. But again, I'm biased but I know I'm not the only one with such a position.
I'm not saying you have to go with the expensive products. After all, as Avinash says it's 10% product and 90% human brains but still, GA & Omniture as advanced products and no one else strikes to me as a very crude estimation of the current Web Analytics product range on the market out there.
Aurelie Pols
WebAnalytics.be - a business unit of OX2
- Neil Patel, August 12, 2006
- Neil Patel, August 12, 2006
- John Dyer, August 12, 2006
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I just wrote a little on hat seems to be the next big think in anaylitcs - mouse tracking. Once these are released, I'd love to get your take on them.
- Michael @ SEOG, August 12, 2006
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I've used most of these products for web stats and currently use both Google analytics and Clicktracks Pro version for log analysis at a decent traffic commercial site.
One thing you need to mention is javascript tracking versus log analysis. A program like Google Analytics (formerly Urchin) will NOT track robot visits because it using javascript for tracking purposes and bots don't use that. This can be a problem when trying to optimize for SEO and making sure the bots are able to access your pages.
- Neil Patel, August 12, 2006
- Amit Agarwal, August 13, 2006
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This was a interesting read especially with screenshots of Blogbeat and Mint.
Feedburner has some new feature called Live Hits which give a real time preview of visitors coming to your blog by clicking on Feedburner Feeds.
You might want to include it in your review.
Great article.
- Neil Patel, August 13, 2006
- monchito, February 6, 2007
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Google Analytics is a tool created for integration with Google's Adwords programs. It is fine for 90% of users for 90% of their needs. However, it is not so specific for specialistic needs.
Take for example HitTail, which tracks specifically weblogs. You want to add HitTail too :) Or the stats of feedburner, which are specifically designed for tracking rss-feeds.
There are also rumors that analytics tracks too many conversions, but i cannot prove that.
