Google Analytics is a great analytical tool and can be an extremely useful source of information about website traffic and the effectiveness of your company’s marketing efforts. But there are other website monitoring tools on the market as alternatives to Google Analytics. Some of them, like the Google product, are free, but others have to be paid for a bit. Each tool has its own unique features worth testing.
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Free analytics tools – StatCounter
StatCounter is a service that has been around for a long time, but still a lot of webmasters haven’t used it. The tool has a very simple user interface, which can be its big advantage.
An overly complicated application management panel can be annoying and very often discourage users from using a given tool. Some people say StatCounter looks a bit “old-fashioned”, but I think it’s a matter of habit or taste.
Read: Benefits of website traffic analysis.
The top-level functions you need are easily accessible, ensuring excellent user comfort. We can find here for example:
- visits,
- visitors’ paths,
- popular sites,
- entry and exit pages,
- keywords triggering the visit
- and many more
Unfortunately, the program does not have an advanced campaign tracker or goal segmentation. In this respect, StatCounter lags behind the competition.
Features of the software
StatCounter provides a feature called “Growth Plan,” which is a plan that transforms web traffic data into easy-to-understand data and conclusions. This way of presenting data helps to focus on key areas in order to achieve increased traffic and revenues. However, users of the free plan will not benefit from the feature described above, as it is additionally paid.
An interesting module of the program are industry rankings, which allow you to see how your website compares with the competition. We can check the comparison in terms of:
- traffic,
- social media,
- mobile traffic,
- UX – user experience,
The tool has a huge library of training content such as videos, articles and e-books. The development and education provided by StatCounter will allow you to take full advantage of the analytical capabilities of the service.
Open Web Analytics
OWA is a free, open source analytics solution. Its user panel looks a bit like the Google Analytics interface from 2013.
Even though Open Web Analytics is completely free, it provides many advanced features. For example, it can track goals across several stages of the conversion funnel, and offers statistics filtered by multiple criteria. A very useful function can be the so-called “heatmap”, that is, tracking and recording the mouse movements of users visiting our website.
Features of the Open Web Analytics application
Up to five custom properties for all trace events can be set and stored in the application. For example, you can view pages, sessions, clicks, or other session events. Monitored variables can be set for a single tracking request, or for all requests that make up a single session or visit.
OWA is a solid analytical solution that will meet the needs of many analysts. Unfortunately, it lacks the exact registration of the bounce rate and the time spent on the site. However, this is a problem for most of the free analytical tools available today. The Open Web Analytics application is also not updated too often, which is its undoubted downside.
Paid website monitoring tools
Crazy Egg allows you to see in real time what your website visitors are doing. The Heatmap feature mentioned above allows you to see exactly where they are clicking and what your customers are focusing on. It is a kind of spy kit that helps detect the most popular sections of websites. The tool also records the depth of the page scroll, which allows you to see which section of the page is being read the most.
Unlike other analytical tools that typically produce large amounts of numerical data, Crazy Egg is completely different. The visual representation of the results available in the panel allows you to make better decisions regarding, for example, the positioning of the page content. The clear interface also facilitates the optimization of pages, which significantly affects the number and quality of visits and areas to be optimized. The page editor gives you the ability to change anything you want on the site in a very simple and user-friendly way which means you can go in, change what you want and come back.
Crazy Egg allows you to conduct quick A / B tests and the test result can be easily implemented on the website. The user just chooses a target based on the URL and then submits the form with one click of the link. As soon as the platform detects a winning variant, it immediately sends more traffic to your preferred URL. This solution gives you more conversions without wasting unnecessary traffic.
Read this article in Polish at: Alternatywy dla Google Analytics.
