Analytics Marketing | Web Marketing

Top 3 Website Visitor Tracking Tools

February 17, 2015 by
Top 3 Website Visitor Tracking Tools

If you want your website to get as much traction as possible, you need to know what interests your visitors.

If you fail to acquire this knowledge, you may end up putting too much effort into areas that do not interest your audience, while failing to properly develop the more interesting content that is popular on your website.

You don’t have to have a website very long before you encounter options for tracking certain statistics for your page.

Even if you don’t actively search for any type of tracking tools, it’s likely that you’ll get bombarded with a variety of offers to try free services and programs.

The problem is that there are disparities between these services, which could mean the difference between success and failure when it comes to learning more about your site.

With so many options to choose from, we’ve narrowed down our choices to three of the best in the industry:

» Clicky.com

» Google Analytics

» Bit.ly

Here is a further look into what each of these services offers. As you read through this, be sure to keep in mind your specific needs for your website. You’ll likely come across something that will be sure to fit all your requirements.

CLICKY.COM

Features

If you have a small- to medium-sized website, Clicky.com might be your perfect choice. This application is ideal for blogs, websites and even e-commerce platforms that utilize HTML-based development.

Web analytics
 
Clicky.com

Clicky offers a variety of different tiers, but the one that seems to be the best deal is Clicky Super Pro. With this service, you’ll be able to get feedback on up to 100,000 pageviews per day. You can also cover up to 10 different websites with one Clicky account.

With recent updates, Clicky has even gone on to handle analytical information fromTwitter, which is ideal for those who have a large online following to track. One of our favorite features of Clicky is the ability to set and monitor goals, which is perfect for those who need a bit of added motivation as they try to dominate their online market. You’ll be able to track a variety of different statistics, as well as look back to see which campaigns worked and which didn’t.

Clicky reports also are easier to read than others we’ve reviewed. The reports have an eye-candy look and feel that helps busy executives save time by speeding up the decision-making process.

Support

Because of the number of users who rely on Clicky.com, you’ll also be able to find multiple outlets for support. If you need to contact customer service, you can do so through an email to the support team. There is also a user-moderated online forum and FAQ center, which is very helpful. You can use this area for requesting input for your ideas and getting feedback from others who are in the same boat.

Price

Clicky.com is $19.99 a month, which is standard for analytics programs. However, if you are willing to pay upfront, you can do so at $119.99 annually. That equals about six months free if you pay up front, which is well worth it in the long run. In addition, there are updated services, such as Clicky Pro and Clicky Enterprise, that account for even more detailed online profiles.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Features

As one of the more well-known programs out there, Google Analytics is often the choice that many users make when setting up their first website or online presence. There are plenty of good reasons why Google Analytics is an excellent option for first-time users.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is quite easy to use, and it gives you plenty of feedback that will be beneficial as you start to tweak and alter your websites and social media profiles. One of our favorite features is the ability to track audience characteristics, which is an analysis of behavior patterns of your users. For example, you can see where traffic is going on your website, which can help as you formulate new objectives.

Support

The good news with this program is that it’s from Google, so there is going to be plenty of community-driven support available. When it comes to getting feedback from Google itself, however, you’ll likely come up a bit short in comparison to other programs. But because there is so much input from other users out there, it’s likely that you’ll find assistance with any issues that you come across with your Analytics program.

Price

One of the biggest reasons that people go for Google Analytics is because it’s free. Couple that with how easy it is to use and the number of tracking options, it’s obviously worth implementing if you are new to analytics software.

BIT.LY

Features

You might be familiar with Bit.ly as the incredibly popular platform that shortens links and makes it easier for you to post websites into Twitter and other social media outlets. Since 2012, Bit.ly has offered its own analytical tracking data software.

Bitly links shortening

The biggest feature with Bit.ly is that it easily takes your shortened links and tracks data to determine what is working best for you. And since Bit.ly already has a strong emphasis on maximizing social media, the program will further assist you with making the most with your Twitter, Facebook and other platforms.

One of the biggest reasons to use Bit.ly is that it ranks among the top options for user interface and ease of use. Although there is a bit of a learning curve, you will get tons of feedback and information that is easy to understand right on your dashboard. You can then use this information moving forward while branding new social media approaches.

Support

Bit.ly has a growing community of users who are active in forums and other user-driven networks. In addition, Bit.ly offers direct client support, which is completely different from their original Bit.ly applications. Bit.ly is growing, which is why it’s certainly worth considering now for your online presence.

Price

Bit.ly might be best used for enterprise customers with large numbers of viewers and followers. With that in mind, there are different price tiers for each customer and the type of support they need. To find more about Bit.ly and how much it may cost for you to run, you’ll have to inquire. The good news is that this inquiry comes with feedback from a Bit.ly rep, which is something you’ll no doubt find of value.

Before launching your Internet marketing campaign to build your online presence, be sure to  implement one of these powerful analytical data tracking systems. Instead of wasting your time sifting through other options out there, shorten your list of choices to Clicky.com, Google Analytics and Bit.ly.

— Taylor Reaume is an e-Business coach and founder of Search Engine Pros. He can be contacted at taylor@thesearchenginepros.com, or 1.800.605.4988. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.

Web Marketing

Website Analytics: Are You Tracking or Guessing?

September 30, 2012 by
Website Analytics: Are You Tracking or Guessing?

Marketing your web site WITHOUT a solid web statistics software is like throwing darts in the wind. Are you tracking or guessing with your web site marketing efforts?  If you’re not tracking where each of your web site visitors is coming from, i.e. which search engines, social sites, link partners, etc you’re guessing, and you should never guess with your marketing dollars. Enter Clicky. Clicky is a real time website analytics service. This means that when you login and view your analytics, you are seeing up to the minute data on the traffic to your web site. Most services don’t let you see what’s happening “today” until the day after. Clicky Web Analytics is the brainchild of the Roxr team, founded in late 2006, and based in Portland, OR, USA.   Clicky is directly tracking more than 200,000 web sites, and an additional 500,000+ through their partners and licensees. So why all the buzz about real time web site stats? Real time data lets you react to changes in your traffic as they occur. For example, if you had an article that hit the front page of a popular site like digg.com, you would see the traffic spike immediately, along with links back to the sources sending you the traffic. Knowing this, you could make changes to your site or to the article itself to take advantage of the situation. When you sign up with Clicky, you’ll get a dashboard that shows you the types of traffic sources to your web site. Each item has a number next to it representing how many visitors arrived from that type of traffic source. To the right of that number is what’s called the “trend” for that item, vs the day before, taking into account the current time of day. (Green percentages are “good”, and red are “bad”. Green usually means “more”, but sometimes more is bad). To view the history for any item, simply click on the trend percentage, as shown below. By default you will see the last 30 days of data for that item, but there is a date drop down menu right above the graph which lets you view the daily values for up to 180 days, or the weekly sums for 26 weeks (half a year), or the monthly sums for the last 12 months. Some data types also support hourly data.

trends

Wondering how Clicky stacks up against web analytics providers?

Check out this chart below which gives you a birds-eye perspective of how they are different than the other top web stats services. http://getclicky.com/compare/

2012 10 01 16291001187

If you are looking for one of the best real-time analytics systems on the web, we highly recommend Clicky web statistics! Check them out today, and tell them The Search Engine Pros sent you.

SEO Marketing | Web Marketing

Online Advertising Techniques: 7 Biggest Mistakes

December 15, 2011 by
Online Advertising Techniques: 7 Biggest Mistakes

Online advertising techniques are more important than ever. Over 81% of consumers are now making purchasing decisions online and according to a recent study by Comscore Research less than 7% of the websites out there are fully optimized. If you have a good product or service, then generating traffic to your site is a matter of search engine optimization. We offer SEO Services and other online advertising techniques for our clients who want to take the next step in internet marketing. We help other people find you in cyberspace, which is where everything gets noticed these days.

The explosion in usage of search engines has changed the landscape of internet marketing for good. Online advertising techniques are now a prerequisite for commercial success on the web. If your company is not utilizing natural search optimization, then its profile on the internet is not as strong as it could be — as it should be. In order to increase web site traffic and drive higher revenue, your website must be optimized for search engines. Search engine optimization services are all over the web, but they’re not all created equally. If you want affordable search engine optimization that is guaranteed to increase your web site’s exposure, then you want the Search Engine Pros.  Our online advertising techniques are not only cost-effective and results-oriented, but they have been proven to work.

If you’re not happy with the amount of traffic you’d like to see on your website, my company can help you quickly and inexpensively to enhance your online advertising techniques. SEO is a marketing medium that is still largely untapped. If you’re a small business and can’t seem to generate any traffic to your site, you’re frustrated, you’re fed up with your e-business strategy, you have options with us! We are proud of the fact that our company is recognized as the web marketer’s web marketer by several local firms in Santa Barbara. Very few firms have pricing lower than ours — due to our outsourcing relationships and offshore contacts. We are one of the few SEO Companies that offer Multilingual SEO on the internet. Call us anytime! 800.605.4988 To your search engine success!” -Taylor Reaume

  • Not finding ‘commercial intent’ keywords.
  • Failing to study your competitors strengths and weaknesses, trust issues.
  • Having a search engine “un” friendly site.
  • Not having an aggressive ‘smart’ link campaign.
  • Blowing off LinkedIN, Twitter, Facebook, Ping.fm
  • Not doing Online Press Releases every month.
  • Guessing instead of tracking with Google Analytics.