Third Party Analytics

Who should I use?

[bgallegos]

I understand that Web analytics tools vary based on features and price ... but is there a general "top 5" companies to look at when searching for a third party analytics tool for my Web site. So far, I've researched:

1. Web Trends
2. HitsLink

Thanks for the help in advance.

[redzone]

It depends on the level of Web Analytics you need.

The services you mentioned are ok for general analytics, but lacking if you need ROAS (Return on Adspend) tracking for CPC engines such as Overture/GAW...

There are several web based services that do a good job in this area.

Then there are also enterprise solutions for large networks....

[bgallegos]

I guess I'm looking for a low cost, general Web analytics package. Not just for PPC but for other promotions.

Is there a generally accepted industry TOP 5?

Thanks

[redzone]

If you are looking for low cost general web analytics that don't provide robust campaign tracking:
LiveStats, HitBox, and WebTrends Live are very popular...

[Jimpaka]

We used to use HitsLink to track activity on our website. It did infact perform a function very important to our needs which was its ability to track the keywords used on which search engine and then relate those to which keywords resulted in a visitor making purchase on our site. It worked great, and although simple, did everything we really wanted it to do, for a great price! ($9.95 per month). The reason that we don't use it anymore is that we found that the embedded code we had to use to facilitate HitsLink to track our visitors was causing browser problems with windowsXP users. In addition to that, all too often HitsLink's server would be down and this would cause our own pages to hang, and eventually timeout, because the embedded code in our pages could not be loaded, as a connection to HitsLink's server was not possible.

At the moment, I too am looking for a suitable Site Analytics service. It doesn't have to be complex, but it does have to be hosted by the solutions provider, and the use of embedded html would be preferable. The main thing it needs to do, as I said, is track keyword/search-engine data that can tell me what keywords lead to sales. If it could also tell me how much those sales are worth, that would be a fantastic, but is not absolutely necessary really.

Any suggestions on a service provider?

I have looked at hitbox, but their lack of specific information on their website means I am awaiting a reply to my request for information. Another that I have looked at is DeepMetrix's Professional analytics service, which looks awesome, but in order to have the sales tracking function that I need, I would have to use their Commerce service which is $199 a month, hardly practical when, although their services are all-encompassing, I was previously using a $9.95 per month service which, for the most part, did what I needed it to do. I'm currently having a look at webtrends.

Any info/experience that pertains to my quest for the appropriate solution would be much appreciated! :)

[bgallegos]

On that note, what is "embedded HTML" (a term I recently heard from one of our tech resources) and what does that mean to me when searching for a Web analytics package.

Thanks again in advance.

[redzone]

embedded html is usually a javascript, that passes environmental info. on to the web analytics host, so they can collect referrer/UA info, and track visitors as they migrate through your web site..

Jimpaka, you get what you pay for.. You want champagne on a beer budget... :)

If you want deep, extensive sales/engine tracking expect to pay for it...

[Jimpaka]

As I understand it, embedded HTML is a small portion of HTML code that is inserted into a webpage that you want to track. It facilitates the tracking service provider to track various properties of any visitor that loads that particular webpage.

[Jimpaka]

redzone - well I'm baffled then, if that is your opinion, because having used HitsLink, a 10 dollar a month service, which would do what I wanted (to track basic user activity and ultimately indicate to me which keywords on what search engines were translating into a sale), I don't understand how that can be such a 'champagne' service! It seems to be quite a simple service... if hitslink can do it for that price can't others?

[jatar_k]

I use webtrends log analyzer in concert with some custom stuff to get my data. The log analyzer by itself has always been a good enough tool though. The price tag is not too bad, about 500 USD.