Stats Attack

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by online traffic analysis or are downright scared of Google Analytics, we don’t blame you. In fact, we’re here to help.

Submitted 6/1/2010 By actnow Views 936 Comments 1 Updated 6/1/2010

Getting a website to work is hard. By using the right tools, you can work out what does and doesn’t work to help you provide a better website for your users. From deep tracking to knowing your top referrers we’ve got you covered. Bringing in site visitors and keeping them there will be a whole lot easier with these smart, simple, cost effective tools. Start charting your success and working out where you can improve!

Analyse this
In terms of website analytics, it doesn’t get much more comprehensive than Google Analytics. This free tool will cover most of your tracking and web stats needs. Going with Google means you’ll have access to a lot more features than using any of the other free analytics tools. You’ll also be able to access the ever growing pool of Google Analytics applications, so the ways in which you interpret your website data are as up to date as it gets.

If you haven’t been using Google Analytics and need to start from square one, make use of the wealth of tutorials out there, such as this one, or Google’s help sections to get yourself started. If you’re a visual person, this video should help:

Avoid data overload by selecting out a few key tracking areas and working out what needs to be done based on these. Once you’ve actioned these areas, you can start moving into other unchartered waters.

Tricks of the trade
There are a few simple ways to make your Google analytics experience more appropriate for the information you need. You can have email reports automatically sent to your inbox with monthly updates. This way you don’t have to go searching for the data every month and it can automatically keep your colleagues up to date with each month’s new numbers without you having to do any of the work. If you’re running multiple Google Analytics accounts and want to easily compare them, Trakkboard will do the job. If you’re interested, here’s how to use it:

If your blog or website is built on WordPress, Drupal or Movable Type, then try out Analytics 360. It will let you view your Google Analytics info within your blog so you don’t have to jump around between the two. Don’t forget to make use of the features that are already part of your blogging platform though!

What can Google offer you?
Here’s a quick summary of where we think Google Analytics is great and not so great:

Photographer : ActNow

The geniuses at Google haven’t covered it all, at least not yet. Here is a sample of some of the other effective tools out there.

Working out how users travel through your webpage can be a great way to discover any navigation problems they may be having. Using software from Mouseflow, you can record and watch how users interact with your site. Who knows what you’ll find out there - maybe users are looking for (and clicking on) hyperlinks that aren’t there or struggling to find your donate button.

The software also tracks user clicks and mouse movements and translates that data into easy on the eye heat maps, so you can work out what parts of different pages are getting eyeballed the most. If important information is getting overlooked, consider reworking your page to make sure users are noticing what you want them too.

It’s often a good idea to paste links back to your website in social media spaces to bring people back to your key information and communication hub. If you’ve got links to your website pasted all over the web, than signing up for a URL tracking account might be worthwhile too. It will allow you to get a good idea of your return on investment (ROI), especially on social media sites, by showing you how many people followed your link and from which websites. This information will also help you sort out which links are most popular amongst your different audiences. Most URL trackers will automatically shorten the link for you, making it easier to share over Twitter, Facebook and in emails. If you’re new to URL tracking, give bit.ly or Click Meter a go – they’re easy to get started and straight forward to use.

Google analytics just not your thing?
There are other options. There are rather comprehensive lists and reviews of free website tracking applications out there.This post from Makeuseof.com offers some good options and clearly explains each ones features, so it should be easy to find something suitable for you.