Secret Ingredient for Real Time Web Stats That Measure Up

When a friend asks for your secret recipe do you give it out?

Thanks to my friend Jeannie Walters who asked for it [she’s now your friend, too – right? 🙂 ], I’m giving out the secret ingredient I use to not only measure web stats, but keywords and customers here on wiredPRworks.

FTC Disclosure: Links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will get compensated if you decide to buy a product or service that’s mentioned. I’m recommending this product as one I have used in my business for over a year.

By the way, Jeannie says on her customer experience blog 360connext.com: “metrics are great, but they’re always late.” I think Jeannie will love this real time resource and you will, too.

Today’s secret ingredient is *not* bacon, but that *is* me frying it up at a professional cooking school in Chicago. Full disclosure: it took THREE chefs to teach me how to do it right. Did you know there is an art to making bacon so crispy and golden that it could star in a food ad? It’s all in heat control, movement and timing.

Where are the ROI chefs when you need them?

Whenever the “how do you measure ROI” question comes up, the chef inside of me wants to immediately convert to measures I am so comfortable with: a pinch, a handfull, a teaspoon, a cup – every ingredient adds to the taste of the dish. But, social media marketing analytics are not so easy to measure.

You have to pay thousands and thousands to get real social media numbers – right?

According the panelists I heard during Social Media Week, measuring is like cooking from scratch.

You measure what you’re interested in and fold it back into your mix. And, no most of them don’t pay anything to measure.

They do it themselves.  What’s your secret ROI recipe? Here’s my secret ingredient.

Whenever the “let’s trade ROI recipes” subject comes up, I always bring up a measurement tool that seems to be a secret: Getclicky.com.

After I heard some really smart online marketers mention this tool, I checked it out. You can start with a free plan, see if you like it and then upgrade. Here’s the pricing. They sometimes run specials. I have the Pro plan and paid $39.99 for the year. Most businesses will get enough at this level, but there are some special features that may make it worth upgrading for you.

How GetClicky Measures Blog Traffic and Social Media ROI

Yes, Google Analytics is still a must-use tool. Although, I check on my who’s who and where they’re going with Getclicky more often. Why? GetClicky breaks down data into traffic patterns. Yes, it’s up to you to interpret the results. I can tell which posts get read, what actions led to clicks and what’s trending at the moment. It’s almost like having an inside perspective into the user experience.

Because creative time is at a premium, I don’t want to spend hours constructing a post that gets little traffic. Because the results are in real time, I can gauge results and react quickly. If a post like this one on Google+ is getting lots of hits, I can quickly compose a follow up and link to the second from the first to generate additional traffic, as well as extend the reader’s information experience.

Applications

Clicky Web Analytics for iPhone
Simply the best way to monitor, analyze, and react to your blog or web site’s traffic in real time. It is famous for its simple interface that makes understanding traffic to your web site as easy as possible. More powerful filtering and analysis features are available for users who wish to use them, but they are out of your way to make the experience great for users of any skill level.  Source

Clicky mobile web app
ClickyDroid for Android
iGoogle widget

Plugins

WordPress
Drupal
Joomla

Metrics on Time

Because GetClicky lets you monitor web analytics in real time, you can see what happens immediately after you publish a blog post. You can watch how many people are on your blog at any given moment and then analyze how they’re interacting with the information. Tip: leave GetClicky running in a tab so you can monitor the number of people on your site at any given moment.

Comparing Google Analytics versus GetClicky

Take a look at these screen shots that both capture the amount of blog traffic referred via LinkedIn.com for the same time period. Each site gives an overview. GetClicky breaks the traffic down into individual visitor stats. I’m not sure why they don’t match up exactly.

Google Analytics

GetClicky Web Stats

Take a look at the detail here. One visitor stayed for over 21 minutes and took 17 actions. When you click on actions, you can see the exact amount of time and path the visitor took on their session. I find this interesting because it helps me follow how people use my blog. Why did they choose to go the way they did? Is there a better place to send them?

You get individualized details on visitors like location, IP address, amount of time spent on each page and actions taken.

One thing GetClicky and bacon have in common: they can both be addictive.

Fess Up: What’s your secret recipe for measuring ROI?

Image: Copyright 2009 CoryWest Media, LLC