Should I pay for my Web Analytics Program or use a Free one like Google Analytics?

Why would you pay for something that's free: Web Analytics Programs Deconstructed 

Today I was looking at another search engine optimization company's website, also based here in Canada with an affiliate in Calgary. They were advertising a web analytics solution that makes it easy for their particular industry to measure conversions and therefore ROI. Having some experience in that industry as well, it crossed my mind to discuss the differences between web analytics that cost versus those that are free. 

I have all the respect in the world for my competitors and this one in particular does an absolutely fantastic job of marketing themselves. So when I noticed their web analytics solution, I had a closer look. Like many analytics solutions, theirs seems to track all the regular items including conversions. 

So what is the difference? Google's Analytics system is totally free to use for anyone so why pay for a system? Well, the answer is, it really depends. 

Like many search engine optimization and search engine marketing experts, I'm often called upon to PROVE beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am making money for the clients I work for, not just costing them money. This is as it should be. Internet Marketing is extremely measurable, far more so than any other advertising medium. The question becomes what do you want to measure and what does it mean to your company's bottom line. 

Many people rely on the web logs from their hosting company. While it's interesting to see fluctuations in traffic to your site, there usually isn't much information here beyond the basic page views and unique visitors. You may get more or less information depending on who is hosting your website, but it's rarely in an easily understood format, and most often has no direct correlation between your online advertising efforts and how much money they are making you. 

Did someone who clicked on your Google AdWords campaign ad actually buy anything? Web Analytics programs to the rescue! The short answer is most web analytics programs can tell you this answer, whether they are free or paid for. 

So what's the difference? The biggest free web analytics program right now is Google Analytics. It can tell you what your ROI is for all of your online spending in most situations. What is does not do is allow you to store data and go back and look at it different ways over time. 

I've used this analogy in other articles, but here it is again. Google Analytics is a like an information river that you use a fishing net in. You catch the information you want as the river flows by, but you can only see what you caught. You cannot reverse the flow of the river to see what else might be in the stream. 

Paid for analytics programs like ClickTracks store information in a lake. You can then dip your net back in as many times as you want to see the information in different ways. 

So what's the difference? Well, if you're a smaller company with a fairly straight forward website then likely a conversion is something fairly easy for you to define. Maybe it's a newsletter sign up or an item purchase. If it's that basic, then Google Analytics will do the trick. If you're not familiar with all it can do, contact Get Clicked and we can help you set it up and show you how to see the information you really need. 

If you website is fairly complex, has hundreds of pages with thousands of products or there are many things you might want visitors to accomplish in terms of conversions, then paid analytics might be the ticket. This way you can easily go back and fish out information and analyze your Internet marketing efforts in many ways.  

Don't let someone sell you something you don't need! Check out the Google Analytics article for more information about how it works.  

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