Clicky web analytics: highly recommended
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I just discovered they have an affiliate program and, well, that’s an excuse to mention it again.
I’ve been using Clicky for web analytics for Growstuff, and I’m delighted with them.
They are basically a drop-in replacement for Google analytics, but run by a company who care more about, you know, analytics than selling ads. Clicky gives me all I need in terms of pretty charts and reports, and I can see where Growstuff’s visitors are coming from and how they’re using the site. Pretty much what you’d expect.
I’ve also paid for a premium account, which gives me two features I really love: “Spy”, which shows me people’s activity in real time (and makes a delightful “DING!” in my browser when we get a new visitor, which can be quite noisy at times, though of course you can turn the sound off if you prefer), and a heatmap overlay for the website that shows where people are actually clicking on the page — great for seeing which parts of your site are getting the most attention.
On top of all that, they’re friendly and responsive and have been really helpful on Twitter when I’ve had questions for them.
Anyway, if you’re looking for an analytics system that’s not run by a kind-of-evil ad company, and you want to support independent software companies and not be a free user, give Clicky a shot. If you use this affiliate link and buy a premium account, it’ll help Growstuff out a little bit, too.