I recently received a copy of Avinash Kaushik’s latest book, Web Analytics 2.0 at my door step and I must admit it’s a fantastic read. You have to grab a copy before your competition does.   By the time I reached chapter 2, I was convinced that I need to use more than one Web Analytics tool. Why? because of the huge amount of data which is sitting right there to be grasped, understood and utilized to improve the efficiency and performance of a website.

“Google Analytics” is one tool which has been tried and trusted by millions of webmasters who gauge the performance of their website and blog on a daily basis. And why wouldn’t they? It’s a no brainer to copy 4-5 lines of JavaScript code and simply add to the website before the </body> tag and get all the data at your feet.

Then Yahoo! Web Analytics was launched in mid 2008. I have interacted with quite a few professionals on Linkedin.com and hardly anyone used this tool. However, I came across a PowerPoint presentation which proves that Yahoo! Web Analytics is better than Google Analytics.  I know, a little hard to digest as we have blind faith on the Mighty Google’s tool.

There are enough free and paid web analytics tools in the market to make your head spin and when you fall down due to overload of data, instead of stars, you see “bounce rate” and “visitors” dancing the waltz.

What is the need of employing Web Analytics tools?

If your answer is,

• To calculate the number of visitors per month.

• To keep tab on the traffic sources – Direct Traffic, referring sites, Search Engines.

• To check the number of goals completed- Sign ups, registrations etc.

Then, you need to think hard and act fast. You are not utilizing these tools to their maximum. As Avinash writes in his book, don’t ask what. Ask Why.

Don’t ask Questions like,

• What was the bounce rate for Nov-09?

• What pages did people view on the website?

Ask Questions like,

• Why was the bounce rate so high for Nov-09?

• Why didn’t people view more pages?

Be greedy.

No really. In the world of Web Analytics, it will take you far. Thinking “why” will highlight insights which have been missed so far; leading to action. This will help you to keep your visitors on the website for a longer time. Web Analytics to SEO is like garnishing a well prepared dish. whets the appetite even more. What do you think?

In my next post, I will bring together a list of free and paid Web Analytics tools.