10 Promising Free Web Analytics Tools

Web analytics is the process of gathering and analyzing your web content’s data in order to glean meaningful information about how your site is being utilized by your users. There are plenty of Web analytics applications out there, and you probably already know the big guns such as Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, and remote-site services such as Alexa and Compete.

We go off the trodden path and explore a few lesser-known Web analytics options. In this article, you’ll find 10 excellent and free tools and applications to help you gather and analyze data about your web content.

1. Piwik

Go to Live Demonstration of Piwik.

Piwik is an open-source Web analytics application developed using PHP and MySQL. It has a “plugins” system that allows for utmost extensibility and customization. Install only the plugins you need or go overboard and install them all – the choice is up to you. The plugins system, as you can imagine, also opens up possibilities for you to create your own custom extensions. This thing’s lightweight – the download’s only 1.9MB.

2. FireStats

Go to Live Demonstration of FireStats.

FireStats is a simple and straight-forward Web analytics application written in PHP/MySQL. It supports numerous platforms and set-ups including C# sites, Django sites, Drupal, Joomla!, WordPress, and several others. Are you a resourceful developer who needs moar cowbell? FireStats has an excellent API that will assist you in creating your own custom apps or publishing platform components (imagine: displaying the top 10 most downloaded files in your WordPress site) based on your FireStats data.

3. Snoop

Snoop is a desktop-based application that runs on the Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista platforms. It sits nicely on your system status bar/system tray, notifying you with audible sounds whenever something happens. Another outstanding Snoop feature is the Name Tags option which allows you to “tag” visitors for easier identification. So when Joe over at the accounting department visits your site, you’ll instantly know.

4. Yahoo! Web Analytics

Yahoo! Web analytics is Yahoo!’s alternative to the dominant Google Analytics. It’s an enterprise-level, robust web-based third-party solution which makes accessing data easy especially for multiple-user groups. It’s got all the things you’d expect from a comprehensive Web analytics tool such as pretty graphs, custom-designed (and printable) reports, and real-time data tracking.

5. BBClone

Go to Live Demonstration of BBClone.

If you’re looking for a simple, server-side web application that doesn’t rely on third-party services to monitor your data, check out BBClone – a PHP-based server application that gives you a detailed overview of website traffic and visitor data. It supports language localization for 32 languages like English, Chinese, German, and Japanese. It easily integrates with popular publishing platforms like Drupal, WordPress, and Textpattern. Since it’s logfile-based, it doesn’t require you to use a server-side relational database.

6. Woopra

Woopra is a Web analytics application written in Java. It’s split into two parts which includes a desktop application for data analysis/exploration and a web service to monitor website statistics. Woopra has a robust user interface, an intuitive management system that allows you to run it on multiple sites and domains, and even a chat feature so that you can gather non-numerical information by talking to your site users. Woopra is currently in beta and requires you to request for a private beta registration.

7. JAWStats

JAWStats is a server-based Web analytics application that runs with the popular AWStats (in fact, if you’re on a shared hosting plan – AWStats is probably already installed). JAWStats does two things to extend AWStats – it improves performance by reducing server resource usage and improves the user interface a little bit. With that said, you can’t go wrong with just using AWStats either if you’re happy with it.

8. 4Q

A large part of Web analytics deals with number-crunching and numerical data. Raw numbers tells only part of the story and it’s often helpful to perform analytics by way of interacting with actual users. 4Q developer Avinash Kaushik puts it perfectly when he said: “Web analytics is good at the ‘What’. It is not good at the ‘Why’”.4Q is a simple surveying application focused on improving your traditional numerical Web analytics by supplementing it with actual user feedback. Check out this YouTube video on how easy it is to set up 4Q.

9. MochiBot

MochiBot is a free Web analytics/tracking tool especially designed for Flash assets. With MochiBot, you can see who’s sharing your Flash content, how many times people view your content, as well as helping you track where your Flash content is to prevent piracy and content theft. Installing MochiBot is a breeze; you simply copy a few lines of ActionScript code in the .FLA files you want to monitor.

10. Grape Web Statistics

Go to Live Demonstration of Grape Web Statistics.

Grape Web Statistics is a simple, open-source application geared towards web developers. It has a clean and usable interface and has an Extensions API to extend and customize your installation. It uses PHP for the backend and you can run it on any operating system that runs PHP.

Let’s talk about it.

What Web analytics software do you use, and why? Do you have any extensive experience in using any of the above application? Share it with all of us in the comments!

Source: 10 Promising Free Web Analytics Tools

SEO Hacks & Apps by Tom Critchlow

Infographics for Web Designers and Developers

Infographics are a great, creative and concise way to present vital information in a visual and interesting way that’s easy for most people to understand. There are many of us that learn visually and be presenting data in graphic format is more useful.

Web Trend Map 4

The Darwinian Evolution of Photoshop

Web Designers Vs. Web Developers

Periodic Table of Typography

The Life Cycle of a Blogpost

Who Participates Online?

Browser Wars

Facebook Vs. Twitter

All You Need to Know About Web Designers

So You Need a Typeface

Understanding Google Page Rank

Periodic Table of the Internet

Colours in Cultures

Map of Online Communities

SEO Checklist

Search Benefits of the Blogosphere

HTML 5 and CSS 3 Readiness

Classifying Experiences

Social Media Effect

Conversations in Social Media

Operation E-Commerce:

Enthusiast in Bangalore for Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Online Advertising and Analytics

Online Marketing Enthusiast Bangalore (OMEBang) a group of young professionals come together every month and educates small businesses in and around Bangalore. OMEBang has educated several businesses and more than 200 employees, entrepreneurs through its monthly meet up initiative. The workshops and seminars are free of cost and this August 21^st, will be their fifth monthly event.

Online marketing enthusiasts Bangalore (OMEBang) is pleased to announce its fifth monthly workshop on All about Face book for businesses in Bangalore. OMEBang offers seminars, workshops and educational materials to for small businesses, employees, employers. Start ups and for anyone who like to learn how to market their business online.

OMEBang is dedicating to providing and promoting online marketing education classes to all businesses. We are thrilled that we are reaching a record number of attendees who come to monthly meet ups.

Last month’s workshop was about Digital Media Analytics, Chaitanya from HP was one of the presenters in OMEBang. Attendees for these events include marketers, VP’s, CEO’s, marketing specialist, entrepreneurs, marketing managers/Directors, creative directors, E-Commerce manager, brand managers from companies like HP, Wiley Publications, Mondera, Vayama, TRX, Credirity, IMB, Sonata, Catalyst Labs and more. Preetam Venkky aka IdeasMaverick a well known Social Media Expert will be presenting in this month’s event.

Some of the feedback from the past attendees includes:

• “ We like the informal presentation and interaction “
• “Really helpful to gain knowledge and to build relationships “
• “The amazing attendance from so many companies and knowledge sharing”
• “This is knowledge capital “
• “ Liked the fact that even fundamentals are explained there are others who may not understand”
• “ Focusing on the fact that it’s a community and everyone chips in and shares insight/knowledge”
• “ Liked the content, knowledge and presentation”

Pictures, Videos and presentations can be found here: http://searchenginedetails.com

The event is organized by a group of young passionate online marketers whose aim is to build an online marketing community, help participants network and share insights on how businesses are using SEO, PPC, real time search results such as Twitter, Four Square, and Social media in their respective industries and the latest happenings in the web marketing world.

This month’s session to be held on August 21, 2010 between 4pm to 7pm at the BluePetal Hotel in Koramangala. This event is free of cost and is expecting more than 100 attendees around the city. There are also a few slots for start ups and small business owners/managers to participate in this event and be a part of the discussion

Please visit: http://omebang.eventbrite.com to know more about this event or visit the Online Marketing Enthusiast LinkedIn Group:

OMEBang Moves Next Level

Yesterday we had a meeting with raghavasatish, seobangalore & shivseo about the #OMEBang. Our meeting concluded on various topics of SEO, Social Media and taking the OMEBang to the Next level

This time in OMEBang the topic which will be discussed is Social Media and Preetham Venkky of Catalyst Labs will be heading the event.

People who are related to Social Media or Newbie can also Post their Queries will be answered in the event of OMEBang..

I would love to tell that OMEBang has been successful this upcoming months and lot of good response from the members of this community, we would request the Volunteers and Speakers for the OMEBang community to share their knowledge

5 Rules For Successfully Selling Search Services

I’m a pretty idealistic person. I’ve been known to put unicorns and rainbows in my presentations. And I like to sit back and fantasize about various pie-in-the-sky scenarios. In one such (recurring) “blue sky” daydream, I head to the office on my bike under dawn’s pink glow. As I enter the office, the sun is shooting rays of early morning light through the windows. A fresh gourd of yerba mate sits on my desk next to a bowl of glistening orange nectarines and red cherries. And a steaming plate of crisp bacon. Some sort of perfect music is on. It’s going to be a great day.

As I power up for the day’s work and gaze at my perfectly positioned, dual 27″ monitors, I feel at one with my work and surroundings. Then I realize the real reason why I feel so good. It’s not the dual monitors, the morning, the surroundings. Nope, it’s because in this fantasy I no longer need to create proposals, log time on discovery calls, give prospects yards of documents proving why my company is the one they should work with, and answer RFPs. Ah… what a dream!

The business of selling search

The reality is much different. You have to engage in the business of selling your services, regardless of industry. It’s the nature of the beast. Being in the service industry, we have a duty and obligation to play the game (and sometimes, the dance) of prospecting and business development.

In all honesty, I count myself lucky. My company doesn’t have a single salesperson. Our business development primarily consists of answering the phone and responding to the demand we’ve earned over the years. We have a completely reactive business development approach, aside from the marketing that conferences and speaking engagements naturally provide. But we still have the quandary of proposals, RFPs, discovery calls and on and on. The work of selling—regardless of any proactive cold-calling or prospecting—takes tons of time and money. It’s an expensive but necessary part of the business.

It’s not all bad. I actually enjoy the dance of competing on a proposal and the thrill of each discovery call, proposal review, business development meeting and coffee with potential clients. It’s invigorating, educational and can even be inspiring. It’s about the relationships and the thrill of pursuit and ultimately, triumph. We earn a company’s trust throughout the proposal process and if it’s a good fit, they earn ours. But it’s also hard work. The large search agencies are heavily armed to wage war on the prospecting battle field. These behemoths are often (sadly) long on sales and short on results, in the timeless words of Aaron Wall. Some of the larger search agencies employ massive sales teams and put the majority of their efforts into winning new business rather than servicing their clients.

Five rules for successfully selling search services

I’ve arrived over the years on five principles for business development that work well for us. These rules are ours alone; we don’t assume they apply to everyone. However, they might be useful for you and your company. Here they are:

Don’t give away your knowledge. Your expertise, your knowledge, your experiences, are valuable commodities that should be guarded closely. Have a potential client asking for lots of details, specifics and free advice? Tell them you’re not in the business of giving that away.

Give, then take. These immortal words are immortal because they’re based on fundamental truths. And they’re as accurate today as they’ve ever been, especially online. Don’t forget rule #1, but remember: you have to give in order to receive. Strike a smart balance.

Spinning wheels waste everyone’s time. There’s nothing worse than spending four hours putting together a document “proving” the value of your SEO tactic, when you know deep down no amount of documentation can guarantee a single thing. You can’t expect a potential client to give you ink based on faith. But you can expect them to respect your time and not make you jump through unnecessary hoops, exercises and last minute fire drills. Spinning wheels waste everyone’s time (unless they’re pinwheels–then they’re kinda cool).

Mutual respect is mandatory. You can’t get anywhere without respect. If you sense it’s not mutual, if you sense the prospect will treat you more like a “vendor” than a “partner,” then simply, professionally, move on.

Most RFPs have very poor ROI (for you, not necessarily your client). Unless you are staffed up to handle them, RFPs mostly waste everyone’s time. There are many reasons why this is true, such as the fact that many RFPs are simply a formality for marketing teams that already have an agency picked, but have a need to follow protocol or cover their butts. We have found that most RFPs (not all) return a poor ROI and are discriminating in which ones we respond to.

Until the magical day arrives where I no longer need to engage in proposals and business development, I’ll stick to my five rules above. But I would still like a steaming plate of crisp bacon on my desk…