Having worked on a few web analytics tools I realized every tool had something different to offer. Usually web analytics tool is a business team’s favorite part of the website. These tools measure everything from user behavior, to search engine traffic, to real-time visitor tracking. All marketing strategy is based on this information and end up playing a crucial role in deciding the content of a website. Few famous web analytics tools are Google Analytics, Omniture, Corematrix, Unica.

Omniture: Omniture is enterprise software which supports complex hierarchical architecture for content tracking. Features offered by Omniture are mind boggling – widgets, long list of functionality with comparison reports. From a developer’s perspective, one needs to first decide the hierarchy of content tracking and reports expected out of them. Sometimes it becomes tricky to populate Omniture tags for complex reporting. Omniture provides SiteCatalyst tool to track the omniture reports. Eventually I was really surprised to see the detailed level at which one can track user’s action on the website. Oh! Did I mention that all this comes with a hefty yearly price tag of $30,000?

Corematrix: Corematrix web Analytics solution is often thought of as one of the most expensive web analytics options out there. Its Small and Medium Business (SMB) Solutions are tailored for the fastest growing segment of online businesses today. Corematrix Primarily focuses on specific domain – retail, financing, travel etc for tracking more specific customer segment and online business. IBM and Corematrix joined hands to provide integrated tracking solution for IBM’s ecommerce product – Websphere Commerce. For installation, report generation and integration I find Omniture better than Corematix. It is recommended for the sites that are generating revenue on specific domain.

Google Analytics: It’s FREE!!! Google came into the business of web analytics a bit late. But they landed with a BANG! In reports, Google analytics throws more consistent numbers than Omniture and IBM Corematix. This helps understand the user trends better. The Google Analytics reports interface is simple and user friendly. Most of the features are similar to other web analytics tools – Customer segmentation, motion charts, custom dashboards, funnel visualization etc. One added feature is integration with Google Adsense. So if your site depends a lot on the revenue from Adsense, Google Analytics is your product. Google doesn’t charge for the software, instead it is offered free with all features included. All of the analytics technology that Google has to offer is included as standard without the need for expensive upgrades or add-ons.

Popularity: 1% [?]