posted under blog-tips by admin

I know you run a blog. Now, will your blog survive. Lets discuss some of the known free website analytic tools other than googel analytics (I’m sorry Jack, I had to do it ) that is there today. You could use two or three, even four of these so don’t feel the pressure of picking one.

StatCounter – Is the most widely used free analytics service today. In my own opinion that is. I even use it in my own blog. (link above) It provides detailed statistics on your most recent 500 page loads. The dashboard is easy to understand which includes charts and graphs.

The down-side is its 500 page load limitation. It makes it very difficult to see any kind of aggregate data at the detail level like how many visitors did you from Google search last month and more. Outbound links or file downloads are also not recorded here. There is an option for you to upgrade and extend the log quota. It starts at $9 a month which I think is not for everyone.

Google Analytics – Free stats system offered by the ever popular Google Inc. which provides highly very detailed information on your visitors. There are also features that you can’t find with other stat programs. To name a few are the views of average time on site and pages per visit by referrer or keyword.

PMetrics – Performancing re-launched their stats system back April of last year. I just signed-up on this one and is still trying to get a feel of it. PMetrics utilizes the GetClicky platform.

It includes all the basics and the other stat system has to offer. You can even set it up to track your Feedburner stats without leaving PMetrics. PMetrics has a page that compares their program to StatCounter and Google Analytics. That chart really impressed me and made me sign-up.

SiteMeter – Is a pretty decent stat recorder. It’s scope is similar to StatCounter but be careful as they have reportedly made a deal with a company that will leave cookies all over your visitors’ computers. This can cause your site to load more slowly.

103Bees – This stat system is highly focused on natural search engine traffic analytics. If you’re are an SEO fanatics where you are more interested in where you’re falling in the search engines for which keywords, I would suggest you give this a try. You can see how many hits you got from keywords where you ranked 1-10, 11-20, etc. and get a good view of long-tailed (SEO term) search terms.

CrazyEgg – Good for users who are keeping track of their outbound links.

Thanks!