Online marketing is important to the success of your business. Your marketing efforts have to be effective though. To know if they are, you need to analyze what is happening every time you share your site and its content with other websites and on social media. Since it’s impossible to manually track every article, video, or other piece of content you publish, you need to utilize website analytics tools.

1. Google Analytics

Almost every publisher online uses Google Analytics (GA). It’s made by and for the Google search engine, which is the most popular one right now. GA enables you to understand how Internet users are interacting with your site. It shows you how many people visit your site, where they are coming from (referrals), and sets up campaigns, so you can track how close you’re coming to your online marketing goals. While GA provides a lot of ways to determine how well you’re doing with your content marketing, most people use it in conjunction with other analytical tool to gain a clearer picture of what they need to do next.

2. Piwik

This site functions a lot like GA, but many people believe it’s easier to use. The dashboard can be customized by users to show them exactly what they need to see each time they log in. E-commerce business owners love the ability to see real time data, so they can make changes to their site depending on activity throughout the day. In addition to these features, Piwik gives users the ability to:

• Create plugins
• Track website downloads
• Customize reports to show what matters the most

All of these analytical tools packed into one website may be worth a lot of money, but it’s absolutely free. There’s no reason you shouldn’t try it to see if it’s perfect for your content marketing analysis.

3. CrazyEgg

Have you ever wondered what people are doing when they get to your site? GA tells you how many people visit your site and which pages they visit the most, but it doesn’t tell you what they are doing when they are on those webpages. Knowing this information can help you design a site that caters to your consumers. CrazyEgg gives you that information through heatmaps. It tracks website visitors’ clicks. This enables you to see how close they come to clicking on “Buy Now” or when they consider clicking a product’s hyperlink, but then are redirected to something else that sparks their interest.

This analytical tool provides you more detailed information than GA and Piwik can, so they charge you. You can choose from one of the following accounts for a monthly fee:

• Basic – $9
• Standard – $19
• Plus – $49
• Pro – $99

4. KISSmetrics

Each site with analytical tools is a bit different. With KISSmetrics, you receive a bit more than GA and Piwik in that you are able to learn who is using your site. Demographic data can be important to your content marketing because it tells you what types of articles, videos, and images you should be publishing. It gives you a better picture of who your audience really is and what they’re interested in when visiting your site. KISSmetrics sends you reports with behavior changes of your audience, so you can stay one step ahead. It’ll also give you tips on how you can optimize your marketing.

This in depth analytical tool comes at a price. You can choose from a starter (150 per month), basic ($250 per month), or professional ($500 per month) account.

5. Clicky

If you love the detailed information from CrazyEgg and the in depth analysis of KISSmetrics, you can get them both by using Clicky. Real time data gives you information about people’s actions on your site with detailed heatmaps. Some people report that it’s not as easy to use as some of the others, but once you understand it, the tool gives you exactly what you need to improve your online marketing efforts.

Clicky can be used for free, but you won’t get access to all of its features. You’ll need to sign up for a Pro ($9.99 a month), Pro Plus ($14.99 a month), or Pro Platinum ($19.99 month) account to benefit fully from the site.

6. ClickTale

ClickTale is another analytical tool providing information about where your website visitors are clicking and other behaviors on your site. It helps you understand how users experience your website on mobile, tablet and desktop, eliminate hidden sources of customer struggle, and turn more visitors into satisfied customers. It includes information about conversion optimization as well, so you know which behaviors lead to a sale.

This site allows you to use some of its tools free of charge, but they also have packages that go all the way up to $990 a month.

7. Spring Metrics

This analytical tool gives you a little bit of everything. The best feature is that it’s for people who aren’t professional online marketers. It gives you detailed information in a simple way. With Spring Metrics, you will receive:

• Real-time conversion data
• Converting sources
• Keyword analysis
• Landing page analysis
• Email performance
• Website visitors’ tracking reports

You can use this tool for free for 14 days. After the trial, you’ll need to pay $49 a month for a Standard Plan.

8. Buffer

You can’t market content effectively if you don’t use social media. When you do market your content on social networks, you’ll need to track how it does on each one of them. Buffer helps you do that with it’s easy to use interface. The site enables you to schedule posts and then see how many likes, shares, and clicks they receive. When you’re able to see which posts are the most popular, you can tailor your future ones to meet the needs of your followers.

9. Optimizely

Optimize your website with Optimizely. It shows you how engaged your site’s visitors are by allowing you to do A/B testing. By integrating CrazyEgg’s heatmap, you’ll be able to see what makes your visitors the happiest, and make changes accordingly. Making changes to your site can be as easy as a simple click when using this tool. How much you’re able to do with this analytical tool depends on your account. You can choose from many levels of accounts starting at $17 a month.

10. Compete.com

It’s important to keep one eye on the competitor, and Compete enables you to do that easily. This tool gives you information about what your competitors are doing. It also give you information about what your visitors were doing before and after visiting your site. It can even tell you the keywords Internet users are using to find your site and your competitors’ websites. All of this gives you a wealth of information to use as you’re adding content and making design changes to your site.

It’s unnecessary to use all of these analytical tools. You’ll need to choose which ones provide you the information you need. Each publisher needs to know something different about their website’s visitors, so try a few of these out until you find the one that gives you exactly what you need to improve your online marketing efforts.

Web Analytics Tools

Those are 10 tools to help give you better understanding of your website and its visitors. Do you use any other web analytics tools not mentioned here? Let us know in the comments below.