<p>Traffic measurements, especially for developers of business sites or those with online-based businesses, are essential. Developers need to have up-to-date statistics on how users found and explored their websites. Advertisers also need data from developers to see if their statistics are suitable for their ads. There are many web traffic statistics programs out on the market, most of them costing to up to several hundred dollars. However, there are also reliable statistics programs online that generates statistics data for free. One of them is Google Analytics.</p>
<p>Google Analytics, aimed primarily at marketers instead to web developers, is a service offered by Google that produces detailed, accurate statistics about a website’s visitors and their activity. It tracks visitors in the website and performance of the marketer’s campaign to see which works, as Google Analytics can see where the user came from—may it be from search from certain keywords, email marketing, or banner ads, among others. With this, it can also identify the pages with poor performance. Since Google Analytics can see which keywords work in marketing the site, its developer can strengthen their campaign using the data given by the program. Google Analytics is integrated with AdWords, Google’s main advertising product that offers PPC (pay-per-click) advertising of international, national, and regional distribution. Although free, it is as capable as the software on for sale on the market. Why buy statistics software if one can get the same service it provides for free?</p>
<p>Although it provides accurate data, Google Analytics has certain limitations. Google Analytics has a five million page views limit per month per account. A single account can contain put to 50 websites. Also, some programs can block the program’s Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC), the code that collects the data from visitors and sends it back to the collection severs of Google for processing. With the GATC blocked, Google Analytics cannot collect the visitor’s data. And since the blocking of such is a right of every internet user, it serves as a hindrance to data collection. Still, such limitation is not limited to Google Analytics; programs that can block Google Analytics cookies can also block the cookies of other statistics software. This still makes Google Analytics a wise choice for marketers and web developers. </p>
<p>Another great, relatively new, software that is currently in beta stage is called Woopra. I just tried this software out and it is aesthetically more pleasing than Google Analytics, and seems to have some features that Google does not. My suggestion is to try out both. You will have to install a code on each page of your website that you would like to track (instructions provided on Google’s website), and before you know it you will be able to track measurable results. Either way, they are both excellent pieces of software and you can’t go wrong, regardless of which one you choose.</p>
<p>For Google Analytics, be sure to visit <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/">http://www.google.com/analytics/</a></p>
<p>For Woopra, check out <a href="http://www.woopra.com" style="text-decoration: none;"><span>http://www.woopra.com</span></a></p>
<p>I hope this article has helped clear up any questions on Analytics software and the advantages of using the free tools out there.</p>
2009-03-17T23:16:34Z
-10.1468
164
3691
true
15
29089
analyze-your-site-for-free-with-google-analytics
2
2009-03-23T19:05:10Z
2009-03-23T19:05:10Z
Analyzing and measure your web site's traffic through Google Analytics software can generate a wealth of information that can boost your marketing efforts.
Analyze your site for FREE with Google Analytics
1
2009-03-23T19:05:10Z