Archive for Web Analytics
Ultimate Bounce Rate Infographic
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When I bring up the term ‘bounce rate’ in meetings and presentations, I often get the strangest stares from people unfamiliar with the term. The folks at Kiss Metics and Bime Analytics have provided a fantastic infographic which explains Bounce Rate quite nicely. Enjoy and click the graphic to make it appear full size in your browser.
Easy Web Site Analyzer
Posted by: | CommentsI read about WooRank just today and I like it. Of course a paid offering exists, but the free offering covers a lot of ground when you need a quick read when evaluating a new website. It quickly summarizes traffic, search engine ranking, SEO qualities, server and other info to get you started quickly. If you need some background history on a site or domain, supplement the WooRank data with info from Netcraft.com.
Comparison shopping: web analytics packages
Posted by: | CommentsI am often asked the differences between paid and ‘free’ web analytics tools. The answers are not always simple, so why not point you to some well-written blogs which address the topic and you can begin to form your own solutions!
First, let’s compare ‘free’ vs. ‘free’ by starting off with a comparison of Yahoo! Analytics vs. Google Analytics.
Now let’s compare a paid solution to a ‘free’ one in this post pitting Omniture (Adobe) SiteCatalyst against Google Analytics.
As I locate more related blog items I will return to this post and update it further.
My take? I believe that each tool mentioned above is well-proven and offer world-class solutions for web analysts everywhere in a variety of situations and requirements. Whenever feasible, I always advise colleagues and clients to install at least a free WA package because not to do so is just a waste of data, no matter how small the site. And, as requirements change, add a paid solution to the mix.
Information Architecture and IA prototyping tools
Posted by: | CommentsWhile looking for Information Architecture (IA) tools recently, I just came across a new Firefox plugin which will be useful for User Interface (UI) prototyping and design called FluidIA. I’ve been using the Pencil plugin for Firefox off and on for a year now, so it will be nice to work with a new tool. FluidIA promises Fluid Information Architecture in the category of agile UI prototyping, which sets a high bar for usability and end results.
Along the same theme of this post…. have a look at the Midwest User Experience 2011 conference slides from last week. Something here for everyone, and a neat little web analytics presentation as well. Enjoy!
New Web Analytics Tools and updates to existing products
Posted by: | CommentsTop web analytics vendors have announced major upgrades to their flagship products at Winter/Spring 2011 conferences. Webtrends and Adobe (Omniture) are no exceptions!
In Webtrends Analytics 10, the big new features I’m excited about are the possibilities of gathering and reporting data not specifically tagged, and integration with external data sources such as Facebook, Twitter and pretty much anything with an API. With regards to gathering specifically untagged data, I’m not sure how it works, or if that is only possible using http logs, but it sounds intriguing.
Next there is Adobe which recently announced SiteCatalyst version 15 which will allow analysts to segment visitors ‘on the fly’ and will finally provide visits and visitors measures on just about every report where those were previously unavailable. (Now if only Regular Expressions were supported!). Another caveat: upgrades to SC15 won’t happen automatically and will have to be scheduled with support.
Couple these upgrades with ShufflePoint, a new business intelligence (BI) tool which can aggregate data from multiple sources and push it to various destinations and report formats. Right now ShufflePoint only supports pulling data from Google Analytics (but that covers a lot of web analytics users!), however many other sources will soon be added, including Webtrends, Omniture, Facebook, and Twitter.
One more thing I can’t resist: this possibly creepy tool called BeenCounter (as in where have you Been?). This tool is a branded as a behavioral targeting and tracking service. If you decide to install BeenCounter, this tool can dig in to the history bar of your visitor’s browser and dig out lists of sites your visitors have visited. Imagine what you could do with this data as a marketer… you’ll be able to tell if your customers have been surfing your competitors offerings and more. Of course, BeenCounter allows that they don’t track usage of sensitive sites. But what exactly does that mean?
Enjoy the new tools and technology!
Spread the word… Webtrends self hosted (OnPremises) is now easier to upgrade!
Posted by: | CommentsJacques Warren has recently provided this post which covers the delights of upgrading a self-hosted Webtrends installation. Self-hosted Webtrends is now called ‘Webtrends OnPremises’. This information is very welcome, because upgrades always made me nervous – so much is usually at stake.
More web analytics tools
Posted by: | CommentsOver the past couple days I found a site called Web Analytics Book. The author spent a lot of time a couple years back compiling a comprehensive list of hosted (SaaS) and logfile-based web analytics tools. The interface is rather clunky, but besides the best of breed vendors such as Webtrends, Omniture, Coremetrics, and Google Analytics, there are a ton of other tools such as heat-map and SEO products listed. Wikipedia also offers a fine list of web analytics software.
Which web analytics tool?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen analyzing a new website, it is useful to know what information is already being gathered (if any). For a quick read on which analytics package is in use on any particular site, try the Vendor Discovery and Profiling Tool at Eric Peterson’s web site Web Analytics Demystified. Visit the link, then enter the URL for the website you want to check out. This tool does a pretty good job of detecting when multiple tracking ‘bugs’ are on a site.
The Kno: Is it a tablet, an eReader, or an electronic notebook?
Posted by: | CommentsI love new technology, and I’m especially excited about tablet PCs, eReaders, slates, PDAs, etc. The Kno is being promoted as an electronic textbook and offers the possibility of classrooms without printed textbooks and the notion of saving millions of trees annually. What do you think about such a device and the implications it presents for learning, the textbook industry, and tablet computing? I’m interested in knowing how it will identify itself as a user-agent in web server access logs!
A new decade in web analytics
Posted by: | CommentsHappy 2010! With the new decade upon us, it is time to review your web analytics practices and to get the house in order. Whatever toolset you’re using, take a look at how you’ve been doing things, make sure you’re getting what you want. Evaluate new features in your toolset, review any licensing agreements, take backups, document, and explore new options.