10 Promising Free Web Analytics Tools

Tuesday April 27th

Web analytics is the process of gathering and analyzing your web content’s data in order to glean meaningful information about how your site is being utilized by your users. There are plenty of Web analytics applications out there, and you probably already know the big guns such as Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, and remote-site services such as Alexa and Compete.

We go off the trodden path and explore a few lesser-known Web analytics options. In this article, you’ll find 10 excellent and free tools and applications to help you gather and analyze data about your web content.

1. Piwik

Go to Live Demonstration of Piwik.

Piwik is an open-source Web analytics application developed using PHP and MySQL. It has a "plugins" system that allows for utmost extensibility and customization. Install only the plugins you need or go overboard and install them all – the choice is up to you. The plugins system, as you can imagine, also opens up possibilities for you to create your own custom extensions. This thing’s lightweight – the download’s only 1.9MB.

2. FireStats

Go to Live Demonstration of FireStats.

FireStats is a simple and straight-forward Web analytics application written in PHP/MySQL. It supports numerous platforms and set-ups including C# sites, Django sites, Drupal, Joomla!, WordPress, and several others. Are you a resourceful developer who needs moar cowbell? FireStats has an excellent API that will assist you in creating your own custom apps or publishing platform components (imagine: displaying the top 10 most downloaded files in your WordPress site) based on your FireStats data.

3. Snoop

Snoop is a desktop-based application that runs on the Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista platforms. It sits nicely on your system status bar/system tray, notifying you with audible sounds whenever something happens. Another outstanding Snoop feature is the Name Tags option which allows you to "tag" visitors for easier identification. So when Joe over at the accounting department visits your site, you’ll instantly know.

4. Yahoo! Web Analytics

Yahoo! Web analytics is Yahoo!’s alternative to the dominant Google Analytics. It’s an enterprise-level, robust web-based third-party solution which makes accessing data easy especially for multiple-user groups. It’s got all the things you’d expect from a comprehensive Web analytics tool such as pretty graphs, custom-designed (and printable) reports, and real-time data tracking.

5. BBClone

Go to Live Demonstration of BBClone.

If you’re looking for a simple, server-side web application that doesn’t rely on third-party services to monitor your data, check out BBClone – a PHP-based server application that gives you a detailed overview of website traffic and visitor data. It supports language localization for 32 languages like English, Chinese, German, and Japanese. It easily integrates with popular publishing platforms like Drupal, WordPress, and Textpattern. Since it’s logfile-based, it doesn’t require you to use a server-side relational database.

6. Woopra

Woopra is a Web analytics application written in Java. It’s split into two parts which includes a desktop application for data analysis/exploration and a web service to monitor website statistics. Woopra has a robust user interface, an intuitive management system that allows you to run it on multiple sites and domains, and even a chat feature so that you can gather non-numerical information by talking to your site users. Woopra is currently in beta and requires you to request for a private beta registration.

7. JAWStats

JAWStats is a server-based Web analytics application that runs with the popular AWStats (in fact, if you’re on a shared hosting plan – AWStats is probably already installed). JAWStats does two things to extend AWStats – it improves performance by reducing server resource usage and improves the user interface a little bit. With that said, you can’t go wrong with just using AWStats either if you’re happy with it.

8. 4Q

A large part of Web analytics deals with number-crunching and numerical data. Raw numbers tells only part of the story and it’s often helpful to perform analytics by way of interacting with actual users. 4Q developer Avinash Kaushik puts it perfectly when he said: "Web analytics is good at the ‘What’. It is not good at the ‘Why’".4Q is a simple surveying application focused on improving your traditional numerical Web analytics by supplementing it with actual user feedback. Check out this YouTube video on how easy it is to set up 4Q.

9. MochiBot

MochiBot is a free Web analytics/tracking tool especially designed for Flash assets. With MochiBot, you can see who’s sharing your Flash content, how many times people view your content, as well as helping you track where your Flash content is to prevent piracy and content theft. Installing MochiBot is a breeze; you simply copy a few lines of ActionScript code in the .FLA files you want to monitor.

10. Grape Web Statistics

Go to Live Demonstration of Grape Web Statistics.

Grape Web Statistics is a simple, open-source application geared towards web developers. It has a clean and usable interface and has an Extensions API to extend and customize your installation. It uses PHP for the backend and you can run it on any operating system that runs PHP.

Let’s talk about it.

What Web analytics software do you use, and why? Do you have any extensive experience in using any of the above application? Share it with all of us in the comments!

Mark Burnett's Branching Out?

Like many people, the first thing I do when I get to work each day is check my email. There are the usual emails from customers needing me to take action on something, or follow up with them. At The Media Zoo, we've really taken pride in the level of customer service we provide so, I almost always take care of my customers first. After my customers have been taken care of, I move on to the Spam. I do this next because it's quick. Click, click, click, delete, delete, delete. And done! Next, I read any interesting articles that get delivered to my email box. Here's one from Advertising Age that I thought you might enjoy too. It's about Mark Burnett, producer of hit reality show "Survivor", branching out into other avenues. Read it here.

New Website

Hey everone! We recently re-designed our entire website. I love the fresh new look and the video is fabulous! What do you think? Got any suggestions on how we can make it better? Please leave us a comment and tell us what you think!

Thanks,

Joyce

An Article Worth Reading

Was just reading a great article and thought I'd just post it here for you all to read. This article comes from Online Video Insider

Hope you enjoy it.

Trends & Predictions: Web Video In The New Year
by Bob Heyman, Monday, December 29, 2008, 10:30 AM


Video ad spending goes up. Yes, Web video ad spending will be up in 2009. Perhaps not as high as the 45% currently predicted by eMarketer (and already revised down from a higher initial number), but spending will grow from this year's rather meager base of $587 million. After all, brand advertisers need to be where the eyeballs are and Web video is undeniably growing. Hulu is likely to be a major beneficiary of this trend, as its professional content is more desirable to advertisers than YouTube-type UGC. Since in 2009, "flat will be the new up" for most media, any growth at all will be good.

Monetizing video search will stay a challenge. In traditional search marketing, advertisers are able to intercept a user who is displaying latent intent to purchase -- enough for a brand or product that search advertising pays off. In video search, it is more likely that the searcher can be intercepted while manifesting an intent to be entertained. Except for entertainment marketers (like movie studios), this is a far less lucrative opportunity. It will take the advertisers and the search engines a while to develop this into a lucrative channel and is likely to be a venue more for brand marketers than direct sellers.


Web shows will continue to be a labor of love. Capital will be scarce for high production value Web-only programming. But that doesn't mean there won't be a plethora of shows. The barrier of entry is low and many have proven that low production values do not impede a good idea from becoming a hit. Lots of talented people have gear, ideas and the motivation to kick start their careers with a "viral" video. Monetizing these efforts will continue to be a challenge and we are likely to witness many permutations of product placement. Web programming featuring John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell has once again proven the value that celebrity has in any media. We can expect many more forays into Web video from TV and movie stars.


It's not just a YouTube world. It's getting harder and harder to stand out in the crowded world of YouTube. Many producers have found it easier to "go viral" by starting on the many video-sharing sites that compete with YouTube, such as Metacafe, Blip, Viddler, etc.


Live video is the next new thing. Justin.tv (11 million visitors in November), Ustream.tv (5.6 million) and Mogulus (2.1 million) are just a few of the fast-growing sites featuring live video feeds. There are also sites like Qik and Kyte that stream live video to cell phones. The medium has already endured a scandal, when a live blogger committed suicide on Justin.tv. While viewership is growing, profits are still elusive. Qik recently laid off five employees and none of the players are yet profitable. But, if you are wondering where the "buzz" is, one answer is live video.

The Media Zoo Video Affiliate Program

Ride the affiliate video program wave

Affiliate programs on the Internet is one of the hottest trends in the web designing industry, and for good reason. With an Internet video production affiliate program, you can help your company reach new customer satisfaction, and build a name and reputation as a cutting edge web designing company. Affiliate programs can be highly efficient since you generally pay affiliate partners only when you make a sale related to their referral.

TheMediaZoo.com offers a FREE affiliate program that will help you get today’s latest video technologies. We offer complete video services, your clients will see your very own actor box, and we provide you all the necessary forms and marketing materials. All this provided by us FREE, as your silent partner

Many top web designers use affiliate programs on the Internet because it gets results. But before you launch your video affiliate program, it’s important to make sure you have a winning strategy in place and the tools you need to get the best return on your TIME. That’s where TheMediaZoo.com can help. Our affiliate team has the experience and technical expertise to optimize your affiliate video program, seamlessly integrating it into your overall web site design.

Contact TheMediaZoo.com today to find out how we can help your designs improve set up and manage a program for affiliate video on the Internet. Take advantage of our affiliate services today and start building greater brand awareness and market share now.

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Our website videos will empower your website designs so that your clients will get your message. If you really want to improve your website designs and your business, we’re here to help!

Ask about an unobtrusive button called “may I talk” with our waiting video on top. To see an example visit www.webladybug.com

If you are really creative and would like to see one of our award winning sites check out www.americancreative.com/.


Turn your website into the powerful marketing tool you need. Imagine someone pulling up your website and viewing an engaging video that will get your point across. Ask about our web designer special video.

Call us NOW. We'd love to talk to you, extend a special offer, and help you get the power of video on your customers website!

Lower Prices, More Products, and Better Quality!

We've had such a busy summer full of changes here at The Media Zoo that I haven't had a chance to post an update for a while!

First, I want to share some exciting news with you...We are now shooting in HD! The Media Zoo recently purchased a new Sony PMW-EX1 HD camera! For us, it makes keying so easy! What this means for our clients though is a better quality video with a much cleaner key! Yippee!

In addition to the new camera, we've also been busy updating our actors. Some have moved away but others are taking their place so be sure to check the actor page frequently to see all the fresh new faces! Book one of these fabulous new actors today!

Speaking of new faces...We've hired a new Zoo Crew member. Ben was originally one of our resellers in Jacksonville and he and his girlfriend recently decided to move to
Fort Lauderdale. Ben has become a huge asset to the company and is bringing a wealth of knowledge in the web design world! He's already been busy doing some amazing things! But don't take my word for it. Check them out yourself!

Ben's been very busy making some adjustments to our website by adding more products, and lower prices so check it out and see if you can spot all the changes! Then, give us a call to schedule a shoot for your website video! He's also been busy getting our NEW site ready to launch. Here's a sneak peek....

You can see more at http://www.zoospokesperson.com/. Check it out and let me know what you think of our new look!

That's it for now!

Joyce and The Media Zoo Crew

May

May was a busy month here at The Media Zoo. We added quite a few fresh faces to our actor page. You might want to hop over there and check out all the new talent!

That's not all we've been doing though! In between shooting videos for new actors we've also been shooting videos for clients.

Now that summer is here and it's travel season, don't make your friends and family get up early to take you to the airport. Before you call on friends that you'll likely owe favors to for driving you to the airport...you may want to check out the Fort Lauderdale Airport Shuttle website and watch the video we just completed for them!

Are you feeling a bit wrinkled? Well, if you've been thinking about sprucing up your look this summer, check out the informative video on The Best Program's website.

Maybe you're just thinking it's time to spruce up your image and save gas with a new, more economical car. Wait! Don't jump the gun! Before you trade that old car in, check out Mobile Car Buyer. They'll pay you cash for your car and even pick it up from your location! How cool is that?

Janeane and I had a great time shooting the video for Nodoro. Dale, the actor they chose, pulled it off without a hitch and left Janeane and I in tears. Now, I'm not going to tell you why or what it's all about...just go here to see it for yourself!

That should give you lots to see for now! Make sure you check the blog often...I'll be updating again very soon!