pMetrics Blog Analytics – the best STATS ever?

Performancing has just announced the re-release of pMetrics Blog AnalyticsAfter a brief test run, the service was taken off-line temporarily to make server improvements. Is it the best blog stats ever? Keep reading!

Most bloggers are stats junkies, constantly looking for useful information about site visitors. Stats give bloggers the information needed to assess the success of recent changes and help us formulate strategies for improving the quality of content, layout, monetization, etc.

The basic version of [tag]pMetrics[/tag] is available for free, but highly recommended is the premium version which is available for a modest annual fee ($14.99 per year for up to 10,000 pageviews per day). The premium version includes Spy (real-time visitor stats) and RSS feeds so that you can syndicate your stats and view them in an RSS reader, saving you time. When you sign-up for pMetrics you get 21 days of full service free, after which the service is downgraded unless you pay for the premium service.

Key Features

• Simple Feature-rich Stats
• Real-time “Spy” Analysis
• Outbound link and file download tracking
• Google Maps integration
• Feedburner integration
• RSS Feed tracking
• Excellent Referral Affiliate Program
• SSL (secure site) support
• Plugins & Widgets

Killer Features

pMetric’s killer features, IMHO, are ‘Spy’ and ‘Outbound Link Tracking’. ‘Spy’ is a unique feature of pMetrics. Visits and actions are tracked and updated instantly. It’s great fun to watch if you have a high traffic site or get a traffic surge.

On both the ‘Spy’ and ‘Actions’ pages you can see which visitors have clicked on outbound URLs that include affiliate links (Amazon, AuctionsAds, etc). This feature also track file downloads – currently tracks 27 of the most common file formats (mp3, mp4, pdf, ppt, zip, etc.). Scripts are available for excluding link and file types. One caveat, AdSense clicks don’t show-up – for now anyway (a WordPress AdSense tracking plugin is coming soon).

Affiliate Program

Few if any stat packages have an affiliate program. If you are going to put badges and/or buttons on your sites to advertise their service, you might as well get paid for it. It doesn’t cost new users anymore anyway.

pMetrics pays 20% 50% of every payment received by any user who signs up through your affiliate link and eventually becomes a paying premium member. Additionally, there is a second tier commission of 5%, which means you will get 5% of any payment made by your referral’s referrals. That’s cool!

Compared to Google Analytics

[tag]Google Analytics[/tag] was designed for marketing specialists to determine the effectiveness of advertising programs – especially Google AdWords. It allows you to set goals and observe goal conversion. It does have general stats but they are not real time. The learning curve is very steep and it’s not suitable for routine checks of website/blog traffic. It is free and that’s a big plus!

Compared to Statcounter

Statcounter has always been my preferred stats package for routine traffic analysis. It so easy to use it and so informative that bloggers complain of compulsive stats checking. Statcounter lacks however, outbound link tracking, download tracking, and spy features. With more and more blogger choosing to monetize their blogs, outbound link tracking is becoming a ‘must have’ feature. The basic version of Statcounter is free. However, the premium service is quite expensive.

What are the negatives?

The pMetrics premium service fee is per site – not per user. If you have a large number of sites to track, the fee for premium stats becomes expense. pMetrics does, however, automatically apply a multiple site discount.

Adding sites to pMetrics is easy. Deleting them is not – it requires sending an email to their support requesting site deletion. You do, however, have complete control over where and on how many sites you use each code.

Summary

pMetrics has all the basic features of a stats package plus a few that you didn’t know you needed! Go ahead and give pMetrics Blog Analytics a try. You’ll be glad that you did! Below is a handy button to use on your site to promote your affiliate link.