Google Analytics versus Statcounter

Whether you’re blogging for fun or profit, you should always have some sort of web traffic stats program installed. There are lots of options to choose from, but my two favorites are Google Analytics and StatCounter which are both free.

Which one is better?

I actually like to install both. I’m a stats junkie so I like to have plenty of info at my fingertips. Analytics and StatCounter both have their advantages and disadvantages which is why I decided to let them both hang around. (Although “StatCounter” is much easier to say than “Google Analytics” so Statcounter wins the phonetics round.)

StatCounter Advantages

Label IP Address – I like that you can tag IP addresses to keep track of certain visitors. Say you had some crazy broad who was web-stalking you. Label her IP address and see just how crazy she is by tracking her every movement on your site. If she doesn’t have a static IP address, this will change after awhile and you’ll have to keep labelling it which puts a bit of a damper on this feature.

Realtime Stats – If you’re doing any kind of testing on your site, it’s nice to see what kind of results you’re getting instantly.

Fast – The more code and crap you have on your website, the slower it will load and the faster people will bounce back out of your page. You want that puppy to load as quick as possible so StatCounter is a good option since it loads fast. I always paste the code into the footer of my pages so it’s the last thing to load and won’t keep my main content or images from loading first.

Newbie-friendly – It’s easy to navigate around the StatCounter user interface and it’s pretty simple to figure out what everything means. Certain programs *cough cough Google cough* require tutorial videos to learn how everything works, but StatCounter is very straight-forward which means you can get started right away.

Invisible – Lots of free web stats programs come with complimentary ads and nice big juicy counters that can really clutter up your website. StatCounter gives you the option to add an invisible counter.

Google Analytics Advantages

Website Optimizer – We now have access to Google’s Website Optimizer through Analytics which allows us to create “experiments”. Split testing or A/B testing might sound scary for someone who’s never done it before, but it’s really easy when you use Analytics. This is something everyone should be doing, whether you want to increase sales conversions, optin rates, or even Adsense CTR.

Pretty Graphics – I’m a very visual person so colorful pie charts and bar graphs make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. They make for some nice screen shots too!

Highly Configurable – From Custom Reports to Advance Segments to setting Goals and Funnels, there’s a lot to do for people who love to have complete control. You may have to read a few FAQs to figure out just how the hell to make everything work, but once you do, you’ll be a testing and tweaking machine and the knowledge that you get from your web visitors will give you a huge advantage over your competition.

Single-page Statistics – With Analytics, you can choose which page you’d like to analyze and see the traffic stats of that one page including Bounce Rate and Time on Page (the time your visitors spend on that page before clicking away).

There are many more features to each program than I’ve just mentioned, but these are just a few of my favorites. Either way, these are both powerful programs (especially Analytics) for any website owner or blogger. It’s essential to know how your visitors are interacting with your site so you can continue to improve it for them and generate even more traffic. These programs will help you do just that.

RT @cassiegermsheid: "Google Analytics versus Statcounter"