Domainer's Gazette-Home

I’ve been spending the past few weeks analyzing a bevy of analytics programs attempting to assess which system’s the best fit for a developing domainer - ie. someone who builds functioning sites around the names they acquire.

[and that'd be me.]

Since I buy and develop all my names, I have a few unique requirements for an analytics package..

off hand, those would be:

• One Central Login/Interface & Multiple Site Management - I ain’t interested in logging in 50 times into 50 different sites to view 50 different stat packages. Gimme one, with all my sites nested under. I also need the ability to monitor unlimited sites under this interface, with no ceiling cap.
• High Monthly Page View Limit - the higher the better. The more sites I pull in, the more page views I’ll be delivering. The last thing I need to be concerned with is reaching my impression ceiling, and being forced to cough up more cash to the analytics provider.
• Clean UI, Easy to Navigate - if I use a stat package, I need their internal management area to be clean, fluid, fast-loading, and easy to navigate. You’d be surprised at lack of simple design within some of these stat packages…
• Web-Based - I could change my mind on this at some point, but right now, a web-based stat provider just seems easier. There are a few outlets that provide downloadable stat applications that you can place on your box, but - right now - it just seems easier for me to simply drop a few small lines of code on each site, and have that be that.
• Established - at this point in my domaining career, I personally prefer a stat provider who’s been in the business for a few years. Not crazy about entrusting all my data to an upstart, who folds in six months and trashes all my historical files.
• Trustworthy - simply need to make sure the folks I use won’t use my data in a negative way - however that might be
• Cheap - pretty simple. I ain’t swimming in cash over here, so I need a package that easily be absorbed (monetarily). And I’d also prefer to stay away from the 100% free options out there…can’t say the positives outweigh the negatives there…

After a few days of poking around online, I identified several potential suitors.. those being:

1. Site Meter
2. Extreme Tracking
3. StatCounter
4. Google Analytics
5. Performancing Metrics
6. Opentracker.net
7. Mint
8. IndexTools
9. Onestat
10. Click Tracks
11. FuseStats
12. Visistat

and that’s a mouthful..

Once I began to scan through my ‘must-have’ list from above, and tested the systems for a few weeks, the suitors began to slowly fall by the wayside, until I found “the one”. Here’s how they fell (and here’s who I chose):

1. Site Meter - They’re limited in their ability to track multiple domains.. here’s what they say on their site, “If you wish to track multiple URLs you can create an additional account for each URL. Otherwise, the stats will be combined.” …I need to manage multiple URL’s within one account, and have their stats separated by domain, so these guys won’t work.
2. Extreme Tracking - they provided no information on their site regarding multiple URL’s, so I passed
3. Google Analytics - the application is darn near perfect - it allows multiple domain management and unlimited page views, …but, in this case, I’d rather keep all my marketing data in-house.
4. Mint - I’ve heard great reviews, but it’s self-hosted, not web-based. So, for now, I have to pass
5. IndexTools - cheapest pricing package was $50/mo.. that’s a touch more than I want to spend per month
6. OneStat - this site simply confused me…their packages, their price ranges, their site navigation. Keep it simple folks.. had to pass.
7. ClickTracks - self-hosted and too expensive (cheapest option was $995), pass
8. Opentracker.net - offered multiple domain management, but their page view caps and monthly costs for managing multiple domains ($44/mo) was a bit too high for me.
9. Performancing Metrics - An interesting option, as I liked their clean interface. They capped the amount of domains you could manage under one account, though, to 20 (under the Professional (Mega Edition)). I own more sites than that, so I decided to pass
10. FuseStats - I liked these guys. They offered multiple URL management, a single interface, and were web-based….but… they’re only a few years old. And, in my opinion, their interface was slow, clunky, and tough to navigate.
11. Visistat - another front-runner offering multiple URL management in one interface, but they’re only a few years old as well. That, and they nickel and dime you on page views per month (here’s the fine print from their Small & Medium Business package: “Subscription prices include 25,000 page views per month. Additional page views are charged at $.50 per thousand (CPM)”

and so, after the weeks of analysis and testing, it became glaringly obvious who my favorite was …

12. StatCounter !

    What I consider, a perfect analytics compliment to any domainer’s toolbox. Check out the chops on this baby:

    • Unlimited domain management, all within one login & interface
    • Entirely Web-based, no self hosting required
    • Been around since early 2000
    • Allows a Free tracker for up to 250,000 page views per month - they subsidize the cost by running Google AdSense internally within their site and Admin area.
    • Pay-as-you-go services are darn reasonable, starting at $9/mo for 1,500,000 page views & 1,500 log file records; and up to $29/mo for 15,000,000 page views & 25,000 log file records
    • Provides an Invisible Counter Option, even on the free service
    • Online interface is clean, easy to navigate, fast, and robust

I’ve now got StatCounter added to around 10 of my sites, DG included, and couldn’t be happier. I also signed up for the $19/month package with 7,500,000 page views per month and 10,000 log files records, just so I could have a little elbow room to grow…

hope this helps anyone out there looking for stat packages on multiple websites…

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Domaining. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.