This is a guest post by Melissa Tamura.
While Google Analytics is thought to be an effective way to analyze your website, here are a few alternatives that are just as good!
1. Chartbeat
Chartbeat prides itself on allowing customers to “watch the dashboard in action!” By featuring realtime action that Google Analytics simply doesn’t provide, many people actually prefer Chartbeat. In one dashboard it actually incorporates the historical data that Google Analytics provides, but in its second dashboard the consumer is told the instant any action is occurring. Some of the most interesting features of Chartbeat are its unique scroll mapping and page pausing. These features allow the consumer to see exactly how far users scrolled down on their website page, as well as where they paused. Another cool feature – page density – lets the website author see how many visitors are viewing specific parts of your site at any instant.
2. Reinvigorate
Reinvigorate is also an analysis program that is realtime as well. Website designers who have a personalized desktop client and javascript installed can view exactly when visitors view their site. By seeing this analysis broken into time increments throughout the day, website developers can evaluate certain needs for their website with greater detail than their Google rival. Customers who use Reinvigorate are also immediately notified when visitors perform certain actions on their site. Also, heatmapping technology (similar to CrazyEgg) is integrated directly into the program. With hourly, daily, and monthly breakdowns, Reinvigorate allows website designers to configure their site to its specific needs. It also doesn’t hurt that you can track analysis directly from your desktop.
3. Piwik
Many companies dislike the data ownership policies of Google Analytics. Because of this, Piwik has surfaced as a user-friendly, open source alternative. One of the great benefits of using Piwik is that it runs on PHP and MySQL. Both are not very difficult to set up and begin running smoothly. Because it is purely web based, users don’t need to download any tedious programs to view their analysis. Perhaps the most impressive aspect about Piwik, though, is its speed. The dashboard is incredibly fast, especially when it is switching between screens. Some might say that this is because Piwik does not collect as much data as other alternatives. However, it is still an efficient way to analyze your website.
4. Engine Ready
Engine Ready is a fairly cheap alternative to Google Analytics. It has very effective visualizations that allow users to compare sales figures, returning visitors, and first time visitors in one graph. With a good pool of data, users will be able to identify trends that will ultimately better their company. One of Engine Ready’s greatest features is its simplicity. Using understandable graphics that are usually represented with different colors, anyone can understand the ways customers navigate through their website. Like Google Analytics, the basic stats that most services offer are also provided in a format that is easy to read.
5. Mint
Our last alternative to Google Analytics is Mint. Mint provides a comprehensive breakdown of site activity from the previous day, week, month, and year. Page views and unique visitors are some basic stats that Mint offers, but this program also has some complicated statistics as will. For instance, users of Mint can break down different referrers by seeing who is a repeat, recent, or unique customer. Mint is also cutting edge in that it lets users flag specific pages to assess traffic and content. By employing this tactic, website designers can determine which pages on their site are most effective. Finally, it definitely helps that this program is very easy to install. Once it is installed, Mint has an interface that reads very easily. Website designers don’t want to dig through their analysis for statistics. They want it presented in a simplistic way. Mint does just that. So have a mint!
Melissa Tamura writes about criminal justice degree online for the Zen College Life directory of online schools.