These days there are quite a few options for web analytics and tracking. By far the most popular is Google Analytics, mainly because it’s free. However, it probably has one of the worst interfaces of any analytic products out there. The new look is especially bad and confusing.
There comes a point when you just want to see your data in an easy and digestible manner. Being able to see a bunch of data at once is great, as long as it all makes sense and can be consumed at a quick glance. This is what I like most about GoSquared. It’s a real-time analytics product that enables you to get much more information from your web traffic in much easier and prettier format than Google’s product. By far.
GoSquared LiveStats
GoSquared comes with two analytic products: LiveStats and Trends. LiveStats is all about what’s happening right now. Trends helps you understand the patterns that form over time. It shows you peaks and lulls in traffic over daily, weekly, and monthly time frames; thereby giving you an overview of your web presence in an instant.
GoSquared Trends: Movable tiles full of information
LiveStats shows you a count of users currently on your website. You can get all the info you want about that user: location, browser, system OS, screen resolution, number of past visits, pages they have looked at, the page they are on and even how long they have been on that page, etc. It’s pretty fantastic!
The center column of the page holds the pages on your website that currently have active users listed by popularity. As more users come in and visit a certain page, it rises to the top of the column in real-time. Clicking on any of the pages gives you a list of its current viewers, enabling you to drill down into each guest.
Twitter integration: See tweets related to your website in real-time. Set up any number of search terms and keywords to include in your live Twitter feed. The functionality isn’t much different than a normal desktop Twitter client, but that’s just the thing. It’s right next to your web traffic data and gives you the information you need in such a clean interface.
Map View: Pins appear on the map as new visitors arrive, giving you a global (literally) perspective on who's you out
GoSquared also has an API. If you want to build a custom widget to display publicly on your site, their stuff has you covered. Pull data from your account to generate anything you want. The interface will definitely give you a new insight into your site’s traffic and most importantly its users. Not to mention, it’s pretty fun to play around with too. There’s a mobile version for when you’re on the go, and an option for inviting other team members to monitor the site. Setup is simple, just like other analytics services you throw a small javascript snippet on your site and you’re good to go. I suggest you head over to the GoSquared site and check it out for yourself. It’s time we all gain a bit more insight. Don’t you?
