Free counter and web analytics in real-time

Google analytics is awesome. However, a 24-hour wait time is just too long for someone who has just started a website. Its reports are also very broad and probably more appropriate for big websites with thousands of hits a day. I needed to do my tracking in real time so that I could get information about my visitors immediately. Where they are coming from, what pages they are viewing and what’s stopping the website from getting conversions. That way I could make corrections in an instant.

So I did a quick search on Google for “real time website tracking”. On the first page, I only found one that’s free and immediately available. And that is StatCounter. Others were either on free trial or available only through paid subscription or on beta or by invitation only. * I realized while writing this blog entry that I should have typed “free real time website tracking” instead but then...I already found what I want.

I’ve been using it the past couple of days and I find really helpful. My website is a free web based personal finance software. So conversion for me means registrations and signups. Knowing what pages my visitors are viewing tells me what their specific needs and requirements are. The pages they exit from gives me a clue what I needed to add or remove. In summary here’s how I find StatCounter:

The good:

1. Immediately available, free and not a trial offering.
2. Tracks visitors in real time
3. Detailed information of each individual visits – where they come from, who referred them, what they are viewing, which pages they exited.
4. Has blocking cookies to ignore your own visits.

The bad:

1. Up to 500 detailed logs per website only.
Old logs get overwritten when this is used up. If you want more you need to pay. However, who wants to keep track of each of those 500 recent visits? As for me, I only need the last few.

2. Reports are not as good and numerous as Google Analytics.

My recommendations:

Use both Statcounter and Google Analytics. I would liken it to a war (pardon the comparison). Soldiers on the field need immediate feedback and information of the ongoing battle. While generals on HQ need to know how the war is progressing. These two, for those who are looking for a free service, is an amazing combination.