There are many web analytics packages to chose from. Lots of people have many opinions on various ‘best analytics” packages. For most large corporate sites, you need something robust and sophisticated. All have similar stats and reports. I have had very little experience using WebTrends. I had used a very basic version years ago.
I can tell you right off the bat this newer WebTrends Marketing Lab2 version is pretty smooth. I particularly like the “site overlay” nice feature, its similar to ClickTracks in that it shows you the number of users entering into specific areas of a page, this can be very helpful if you have an e-commerce site and a particular product you are trying to sell just isn’t selling, you may test different more visible areas on your page and find the right place your visitors are clicking. (You gotta like the visual in a world filled with numbers - at least I do).
Under the marketing area of the dashboard, you will find literally tons of options under search engines like:
Search Engines Dashboard
Search Engines with Keywords
Search Engines with Phrases
Search Phrases
Search Keywords
Acquisition by Search Engine (All)
Most Recent Searches by Entry Page (All)
Most Recent Organic Searches by Entry Page
Most Recent Paid Searches by Entry Page
Most Recent Search Phrases (All)
Most Recent Search Phrases (Organic)
Most Recent Search Phrases (Paid)
Most Recent Search Engines (All)
Most Recent Search Engines (Organic)
Most Recent Search Engines (Paid)
Ok, now all I have to do is start creating crazy reports all day. Create custom reports, with admin access - which is good this limits the amount of custom reports your company can listed. Otherwise you can have 20+ people with access and all kinds of reports all over. There are a variety of “dashboards” the marketing dashboard provides a quick overview of how effectively different methods, such as search engines and on-site ads, bring traffic to your site.
This is the primary area I will focus my concentration on, you can certainly get lost in the analytics labyrinth. As I become more proficient, I will certainly update any new findings to add to this review.
Anyone have any similar experience with WebTrends Marketing Lab2 Feel free to add your own uncensored opinion.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:26 am
I agree, pretty smooth. Can I leave a link here? I saw this article today on a WebTrends custom report you can make, having to do with PPC. It shows you what terms are being matched to your paid terms if you allow non-exact matching.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Yes, Chris you sure can leave a link - thanks!
Just want to update the link though, this one http://www.webtrendsoutsider.com/2008/cool-custom-report-daily-data-within-a-monthly-report-period/ correct?
Thanks for the link and the insight!
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:30 am
Yes that’s the correct one. Can you just delete the wrong one? Thanks!
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
No Problemo Chris! Thanks again!