For the last 8 years, one of the first things I did when I set up a new website was dutifully install the Google Analytics tracking code. Do you want to know how many times I've used the data from analytics to make changes to my website and improve conversions, sales, and engagement?

Zero.

Yes, I've whipped myself into a frenzy thinking about what precious data I should be collecting, and I've done next to nothing with it.

Does this sound familiar?

You spend 45 minutes clicking around your Google Analytics data, asking questions out loud:

What does this MEAN?
Where did those people come from?
Should this be set up as a goal? A campaign?

I have nothing against Google Analytics. I think Google gives away an unbelievably powerful tool for free and that if you know what you're doing, Analytics can literally help you build an empire.

Now, I may fancy myself a technology expert, but that doesn't mean that I'm a statistics junkie. I'm no numbers guru. I can't look at data and come up with an accurate picture of what's happening on my website.

So that's why I've never really jived with Google Analytics. Sure it has every feature imaginable, but if you don't understand what it's telling you, what's the point?

Analytics for Mere Mortals

As my coach put it, “Google analytics is for experts. Clicky is for people…for bloggers”.

The “Clicky” he's referring to is Get Clicky, and the people? Well, you and me.

Get Clicky does a lot of things, and the purpose of this post isn't to go through them all.

Instead, let me tell you about my three favorite features and how I've already learned something about my visitors as a result:

3. Dead Simple Goals

Arguably, the most compelling reasons to sign up for any kind of analytics is to track how many people are signing up for your list, buying your stuff, or doing whatever it is you want them to do on your website. If you've ever tried to set up goals on Google Analytics, you know it can be painful. No funnels, no head match (doesn't that just sound wrong?) / direct match conundrum.

Just one simple screen: You put in the address you want people to reach, and when people reach it, they've fulfilled the goal.

What I've Learned from Goals

In analytics, I only had a few goals set up because setting them up was, well, a pain. In Get Clicky, I have goals for each of my free courses, certain blog posts that help me promote, and other key pages that people only reach from emails. I'm beginning to see the power of goals now that setting up goals has become so easy.

2. A Clear Dashboard

The Get Clicky dashboard is clean and understandable. Rather than seeing a giant, complex looking line chart, you are presented with a summary of your site activity. More importantly, Get Clicky is all about what's happening on your website right now. While you can switch to a 30 day summary, your dashboard shows you the search terms, referring links, and popular content today. One of my favorite sections of the dashboard is search results, which lists recent search terms visitors used to find your site.

What I've Learned from my Dashboard

As a result of the search terms, I identified an article that was unexpectedly coming up in search results, and SEO-optimized it based on what people were searching for. I've already seen an uptick in traffic.

3. Realtime Results

Get Clicky tells you what's happening on your website right now. Not yesterday. What I thought was a gimmick quickly became my favorite feature. Suddenly I could instantly see the impact of a tweet or facebook post as visitors got to my site. And here's the crazy part, you can literally follow a visitor around your site. Clicky tells you where each visitor is and tracks their progress all the way through.

It's really easy to see where people are typically bouncing, or discover a page that people are clicking to that you haven't given enough attention.

Simple Installation

To top it all off, installing Clicky on your WordPress site is as easy as installing a plugin. No messing with the theme editor and adding JavaScript code to your footer. I don't like to mess with that stuff and neither do you.

I literally haven't found anything not to like about Get Clicky, except maybe the price. If you want to use the spy and goals beyond the 21 day pro trial, you'll need to cough up $59.99 for the year. Given that I've already learned so much from the service (and it's only been about a week), I think my investment was well worth it!

Frustrated with Google Analytics? Love Google Analytics to death?

Leave a comment and share your opinion!

photo by eye/see

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