In it’s latest attempt at web domination, Google has launched yet another product into the market; this time aimed at web statistics competition such as Measure Map and Mint. Formerly Urchin, Google Analytics gives webmasters, marketers, and stat fiends a ton of information. After signing up for the service and waiting the obligatory twelve hourse for Google to analyze my site, I am happy to report that the online statistics that I received from Google are in fact working and far beyond what I expected. Although a bit verbose at times, Google Analytics gives me the information that other stat programs can’t, all wrapped up in a nice, clean, Flash-ified package.

From Shortstat to Mint and beyond…

There are many options to choose from when looking for a web analytics/statistics application. I started out with using my host’s stat package, upgraded to the Shortstat widget, moved on to Shortstat’s big brother Mint, and that’s where I am now. I have been more than happy with my purchase and it has helped me tremendously in terms of my site counts, traffic, and search queries. One thing that I haven’t gotten around to messing with yet are the third party add-ons, more commonly referred to as Peppers. Throw Junior Mint in the mix, Mint’s powerful stat-checkin’ widget, and you’ve got the makings of a great program. The only downside is that Mint is still relatively new to the market and in its infancy. Only when people start taking advantage of building custom Peppers and sharing them with users will the full brilliance of Mint be revealed. For now, I see Mint as my primary application because of the Junior Mint widget. However if a Google Analytics widget is in the works (and I’m pretty sure it will be) I may be persuaded to switch.

So what do you get with Google?

In order for Google to track your site, you need to install a small piece of JavaScript at the beginning of each page that you want information pulled from. This is then gathered, arranged and displayed using Flash and the end result is good looking and relevant site figures. There is a ton of data buried in the stats and you have a choice between three views; Executive, Marketer, and Webmaster. Each view has specific details pertaining to that particular category. For example, if you choose the Marketer view, you get all of the basics plus information like keyword considerations and campaign conversions to see if your referrals or direct links are working better for you. The stats are robust and contain gems that you won’t find in any other free analytics application. And of course there is seamless integration with AdWords which helps you track your ROI and cost-per-click analysis.

Not everything is rosey

Although overall Google Analytics is an amazing piece of free internet, there are a couple downsides. The first being its incompatibility with the Safari browser. I use Safari 2.0.2 and I cannot get my stats to load. Being the good web standards junkie that I am, I keep a copy of Firefox around for just such an occasion. The stats load wonderfully in Firefox and I have not tried it in Explorer, but I wouldn’t expect too much trouble. This is just a feature preference for me, not a deal breaker. The other problem I see with Google Analytics is its tremendous and somewhat devastating impact on the web analytics market. One of the top players in this field, Web Side Story, watched it’s stock drop by 12% on Monday when Google released its new application. There is no way that its competition can compete with a feature-rich web analysis program that they are giving away for free. Some will argue that it’s free enterprise and that this is the natural progression of technology, but I am interested to see how some small businesses react to this behemoth entering new markets.

In it’s latest attempt at web domination, Google has launched yet another product into the market; this time aimed at web statistics competition such as Measure Map and Mint. Formerly Urchin, Google Analytics gives webmasters, marketers, and stat fiends a ton of information.