I'm looking for some kind of program that can help me understand my visitors experience better so i can continually optimize my site. I know Google Analytics is out there but its a bit technical for me, i would prefer something more visual, something that can actually show me, instead of just giving me massive amounts of statistics.
What exactly would you like to know about visitors that Analytics doesn't identify/display well enough for you?Originally Posted by bobbizman
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The only thing I even look at on a regular basis is Webmaster Tools. I haven't really spent enough time looking at Analytics to know one way or another. But the info I have seen displayed on Analytics isn't that important anyway.
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IMO, the most useful and accurate data are those contained within your own server logs. Unless you are running a commercial site, with a need for tracking and measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, web analytics provide little of value over and above that available from said logs.
Some web hosts provide server log analytics free or at low cost to their clients. Additionally, such analytics applications can be had for free on-line.
You can also look at StatCounter
StatCounter you get what is probably the most configurable free hit counter available in the world, as well as the option to go completely invisible.
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A simple hit counter is useless. However, StatCounter is much more than that; it is a full blown web analytics application.
It is no easier to set up than is basic Google Analytics (GA); one needs to install the proper script on each and every page to be tracked. And, like GA, nearly all of the data captured are directly available from ones server log.
Most importantly, the free version of StatCounter provides for a very small log; only the most recent 500 page loads are available for detailed analysis.
I am confused here as I always thought that GA is the best tool for analyzation but here you guys are discussing about the substitute's. I just want to ask is there any tool better than Google analytics.
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I know it's been less than 24 hours but the OP remains "out" on the conversations so far. I would still like to know what the OP is looking for in an analysis program if GA is too complicated. Sure GA might not be as accurate as viewing server logs, but IMO, if the OP isn't interested in the GUI that GA offers (of which most basic stats are fairly easy to interpret) how is he going to interpret the server logs? Perhaps the "hit counter" (ugh) might be the answer. @bobbizman??
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Google Analytics (GA) is neither a Google original nor necessarily the best. GA is a sub-set of Urchin, which Google acquired six years ago by buying Urchin Software Corporation.
Urchin is a hybrid, incorporating data gathered via both on-page web tags and server logs; GA uses web tags only.
Google has left many users confused owing to the many changes made to both GA & Urchin, allowing one to use both on the same site, and failing to adequately document either.
While I use Google Analytics on a daily basis, I too find it cumbersome to use and when I am performing in-depth analysis, I tend to refer to my server information. The main problem that I have with GA is that it lags on giving you the visitors data and the number of visitors by keywords is completely unreliable. I hate seeing (keyword not set) every time I want to analyze what keywords people are actually clicking on. Does anyone know a good alternative to GA that offers the ability to track back the keywords?
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