Have you ever wondered what people are doing on your website right now? If you’re the type who impatiently refreshes Google Analytics every few minutes trying to get the latest stats, you might want to check out W3 Counter.
W3 Counter is an analytics tool that updates in real time. You can who’s looking at your website right this very second, where they are located geographically, and how they found your site. Once they leave, you get immediate access to their activity. You can also see which pages are getting the most views, who is referring your visitors to you and where visitors tend to land on your site. Additionally, you can track your Feedburner RSS stats. Another neat feature is the ability to label individual visitors and observe their behavior over time.
W3 Counter is simple to install-just cut and paste the tracker c0de. Or, if you are in WordPress, use the plug-in. They have many different styles of badges and hit counters to add to your site. The user interface is kind of plain, but all of the information is laid out so that it’s easy to navigate and to understand.
Best of all, a basic account(missing some features, but still quite functional) for one website with under 5,000 page views a day is free. Paid accounts are $9.95 per month and include up to 1,000,000 page views as well as more advanced features like a live map that shows visitors as they enter and exit your site and the ability to label and track individual visitors.
W3 Counter is not the only company offering real-time stats. Other companies, such as Chartbeat, also update in real time. Still, the free service is a great value and the information it provides is quite useful.
What’s your favorite tool for analytics?
Our Rating of W3 Counter
Categories:web
W3 Counter – Analytics With Instant Gratification – UsefulTools.com http://tr.im/wgNq
[...] was searching for more detailed reports when I came across a blog post from Useful Tools. Going over the review on W3Counter. I remember using the counter company back in the day but never [...]
[...] was searching for more detailed reports when I came across a blog post from Useful Tools. Going over the review on W3Counter. I remember using the counter company back in the day but never [...]