Site Analytics: Google Analytics Vs. Enterprise Platforms

In the past six months, I've enjoyed working on this blog. It's allowed me to focus on some of the things I've learned over the past few years, and network with marketing professionals around the world. In fact, since September I've had traffic from 41 countries and 37 different states across the US.

I've been using several analytics tools to track and log site stats. It's helpful to see where my traffic is coming from, what they're interested in and their habits while on my site. I had started with Google Analytics on my blog and business site, then started testing a more powerful analytics tool for businesses called Active Conversion. It seems to be similar to an Omniture toolset, but easier to use for small businesses like myself. I was amazed at how simple it is to implement the tracking code on my sites, even for someone not as technical like myself.

Google Analytics: MCJ Global Traffic - September 1, 2009 - Present

It's interesting to compare the free Google Analytics tool against other enterprise level products. The Google Analytics tool allows you to see what city, state, country your traffic originates from based on where the visiting IP address is registered. You can see the referring URL, whether it was from Search traffic, or PPC, what pages they visited and even their click pattern on your site.

In comparison, the Active Conversion tool is really in an entirely different class, more in line with enterprise level software such as Omniture's SiteCatalyst. Although, I've never implemented the Omniture toolset, It seems to be in the same class. With Active Conversions analytics tools you can view the owner (company, or ISP) of the IP address, which is important to companies who wish to know what other companies are on their site. In addition, you can build web forms for your site within Active Conversion, plug the code on your site and when someone submits their form, that data is posted into your Active Conversion tool. Whenever that prospect visits your site in the future, you'll know more about them and whether they're in the market for your product or service.

When you visit your "suspects" list, you can view a full list of your site traffic and find new and returning visitors. As you collect more data, you can build profiles and understand their needs more based on the content they've viewed.

Active Conversion - Suspects List

One interesting observation to note. As I was comparing the site stats head-to-head between Google Analytics and Active Conversions tool, I noticed differences in the reporting. I'd see traffic from company IP's like "3M Corporation" - Minnesota showing up on business website through the Active Conversion dashboard, but that traffic was not being reported through Google. There were regular discrepancies in the reporting within the Google Analytics dashboard.

These tools have been around for years, but companies are finally better understanding how to use this information to further nurture and convert prospects into customers. The sales process is flipping, we need to find ways to push customers into the right product or service, instead of pulling them. One of the best ways to get information on your prospects and customers is to study their habits on your website.

Overall, my trial experience with Active Conversion was great. I'm in the process of evaluating whether to complete a full implementation and utilize it for my business site. If you're looking into Site Analytics tools, I'd recommend checking them out.

CP