Guest Post by Rangoo Srinivas
Got a blog? The next thing you would want to do is to know who is visiting it, where they come from, and how you can give visitors what they want. All this, of course, will have the final goal of monetizing the blog by optimizing it in every way possible.
Here are five blog tracking tools, each one a little more advanced than the previous one.
This simple plugin shows on a single page in the dashboard statistics related to page views, visitors and where they click when they leave. The plugin requires a key similar to Akismet Key.
2. StatCounter
The counter is configurable, invisible tracking without ads and the free service works for websites with 250,000 pageloads or less. If the pageloads are more than that a paid option is available with a monthly fee ranging from $9 to $29 per month.
StatCounter Features:
Invisible Counter Option, Configurable Counter, Configurable Summary Stats, Magnify User, Drill Down, Popular Pages, Entry Pages, Exit Pages, Came From, Keyword Analysis, Recent Keyword Activity, Search Engine Wars, Visitor Paths, Visit Length, Returning Visits, Recent Pageload Activity, Recent Visitor Activity, Country/State/City Stats, Recent Visitor Google Map, ISP Stats, Browser Stats, O.S. Stats, Resolution Stats, JavaScript Stats, Email Reports, Multiple Site Management, User Access Management, Public Stats, Blocking Cookie
3. CrazyEgg
Crazyegg provides actual usage information using three different methods: Overlay, list and heatmap. The heatmap and list show which part of the page is more popular while the overlay provides details about the number of clicks. The clicks are clustered into markers, which are color coded for easy analysis. There is no free option and the paid options range from $9 to $99 per month.
While statcounter counts the entry,exit pages and length of visit Crazyegg tells us what visitors do on our site and which links they click.
4. ClickTale
ClickTale goes a step beyond other trackers by providing a movie of visitor movement. Movies are created in real-time while visitors are browsing your site. You will be able to watch all mouse movements, mouse clicks, keystrokes, scrolling actions, and interactions with online forms. Other features of ClickTale include Scrolling Heatmaps, link analysis and form analysis.
ClickTale has a free subscription that tracks upto 400 page views permoth and the paid subscriptions range from $99 to $790.
Videos: All kinds of training videos on the Google Analytics Channel
Google analytics is free, easy to install and provides an exhaustive amount of data related to site content, visitors, traffic sources and conversion. It is possible to start with the basic features and then learn the advance skills of benefiting from the in depth analysis of the blog.
YouTube Video: Beginning Analytics: Interpreting and Acting on Your Data
To begin with the following data can help us increase conversions:
- ‘bounce rate’ – the pages with highest bounce rate indicate that the content of the page is not what people who come to that page want to read
- ‘navigation’ – the movement of the visitors, which page they come to from where and which page they move on to
- AdSense integration – how to identify the best performing ads
- AdWords integration – how to benefit from the best converting keywords
- custom reports – drag and drop and create a custom report suited to your precise needs
Want to master Google Analytics?
Go to Conversion University for a full fledged course. You can become an expert by taking an exam and getting certified by Google.
—
About Rangoo
Rangoo Srinivas offers help to conduct, promote and profit from webinars by providing resources and help through a database of web conferencing resources. Visit her website for web conferencing free trials, ebooks on conducting webinars, webinar news, webinar social site and web conferencing forum.
