KISSmetrics: a funnel reporting tool.
A roundup of the top analytics, email campaign, Web optimization tools & more
Guest post by Jamie Steven
SEOmoz
We often get asked, what apps does your team use? To answer the question, we decided to put together this blog post laying out the Top 10 Web Apps We Love.
The SEOmoz team decided on the Top 10 apps below (in no particular order). However, we found we liked so many apps that we decided to include another 15 that are definitely worth mentioning.
Take a look at our list and please let us know your own favorite apps in the comments.
Google Analytics: Still top of the analytics heap
1Google Analytics is an excellent free web analytics tool. Even if you have another analytics application, we think it’s worthwhile to add Google Analytics to your site — it’s that good. We use Google Analytics to report on the performance of the SEOmoz website and our online marketing campaigns. Our only requests? Real-time reporting, a referral report with complete URLs and the option to pay for a service level agreement.
Also recommended:
• Yahoo! Web Analytics
• Adobe SiteCatalyst
• WebTrends
KISSmetrics: Good funnel reporting
2Does your website require users to go through multiple steps? If so, you need good funnel reporting; we like KISSmetrics (update: KISSmetrics has been sold). Simple to set up and configure, but with plenty of options for segmentation and customization, we use KISSmetrics to monitor and report on the key user experiences of our site. It even provides details on the conversion funnel performance of each of our organic keywords– a big plus for SEOs.
Also recommended:
• Adobe Discover
• Google Analytics (limited funnel capability)
Google Website Optimizer: Conversion rate optimization
3These days, Conversion Rate Optimization seems to be more popular than Harry Potter. Google Website Optimizer is a free way to do simple conversion rate optimization testing on your website. You can test varied landing pages using an A/B test or determine the ideal combination of elements using a multivariate test. Google’s tool is free, and capable enough to get you well on your way with CRO.
Also recommended:
• Unbounce
• Visual Website Optimizer
• Adobe Test&Target
MailChimp: Email campaign manager
4MailChimp, oh how we love thee. MailChimp is one of the most intuitive and simple email marketing packages around. And yet, it remains incredibly powerful with detailed analytics, great social media integration and an adorable chimp, Freddie. MailChimp offers both free and affordable plans that work well for low-volume and high-volume email campaigns. Stay awesome, MailChimp.
Also recommended:
• ExactTarget
HasOffers: Affiliate program management
5SEOmoz relaunched our affiliate program a few months ago and we chose HasOffers as our new platform. Our marketing team has collectively used several other platforms in the past and none are as capable and intuitive as HasOffers. Based in the cloud, HasOffers has plenty of capabilities and is designed to enable you to self-manage your own affiliate program or even your own affiliate network.
Wistia: Video hosting
6Wistia is video hosting on steroids. Not only does this video hosting platform support HTML5, which makes your videos viewable on a slew of non-Flash enabled devices, but the platform is inherently designed for SEO. Try searching Google for “Top 10 Web Apps We Love” and you’ll likely see the above Wistia-hosted video that’s included with this blog post. Their tracking and analytics are also the best we’ve seen in video hosting. See a sample report here.
Also recommended:
• Delve Networks
• Vimeo (not recommended for commercial videos)
Google Webmaster Tools: SEO insight
7Google Webmaster Tools is SEO insight straight from the horse’s mouth and a must-have for any website. Get information on how Googlebot sees your site, view (some) links to your site and edit preferences for how your listing appears in the Google search results. While not as comprehensive as we’d like, it’s still a welcome set of capabilities.
Also recommended:
• Yahoo Site Explorer
• Bing Webmaster Tools
SEOmoz PRO: SEO Campaign Management
8We may well deserve criticism for adding our own app to this list, but we really are proud parents. The SEOmoz website is large enough that the crawl diagnostics help us find issues we haven’t fixed, the rankings report manages our large list of keywords, and Open Site Explorer provides invaluable data on backlinks. These features just scratch the surface of what you get with SEOmoz PRO. It’s a toolset our marketing team uses every day.
CoTweet: Twitter account management
9CoTweet provides an excellent interface for managing your Twitter account, especially if you need multiple people to manage it. CoTweet makes it easy to access multiple Twitter accounts and keep an eye on your mentions. Even better, CoTweet integrates with our #10 App, Bit.ly Pro.
Also recommended:
• HootSuite
Bitly Pro: URL sharing and analytics
10While most people only use a URL-shortening service for tweets, we like to use Bit.ly URLs wherever possible. Bit.ly Pro permits you to use a custom domain (we use seomz.me) and provides useful analytics for each URL you create. SEOmoz uses the data from Bit.ly Pro to determine which tweets generate the most clicks. Pro tip: add a + to the end of any Bit.ly URL to see a detailed report, like so: http://seomz.me/hXrmAU+.
That’s not all: Other apps we love
Below are more of the apps we use and love. While they all can’t be in our Top 10, they’re definitely worth mentioning:
- Dropbox — Awesome file syncing, backup and sharing.
- Google Apps & Google Docs — Email, calendar and productivity apps.
- Feedburner — RSS feed analytics.
- PostRank — Analytics for your blog, guides and articles.
- ZenDesk — Help desk software.
- SnapEngage — Online chat software.
- Good Data — Business intelligence and visualization.
- Geckoboard — Business analytics dashboard.
- SurveyMonkey — Online surveys.
- Box.net — Online file sharing and collaboration.
- UserTesting.com — Affordable usability testing.
- Silver Back App — Usability testing software.
- Five Second Test — Quick usability testing.
- Google Local Business Center — Search management for small businesses.
- Pandora — Keeping the marketing team sane!
What are your favorite apps? Are we missing a must-have app for your site? Please let us know in the comments! We’d love to know what you’re using to make your work easier, more productive and fun.
I've been looking into mail tools – and it's good to know that mailchimp works well. It's tough to know just by looking at them and it helps to have someone that knows tell you!
Hi Kirsten, i've heard only good things about mailchimp from colleagues and am looking forward to trying it out.
I had used MC awhile back for a client but I am still sold on Constant Contact. I find it simple to use and very user friendly.
Thank you for the tips. I will try out mail chimp for my e-mail marketing and see how it goes.
I never heard before about Bitly Pro but it can be very useful for me. I will try it now.
Mail chimp is a great program. I been using it for awhile. There was significant boost for my website. Certainly recommend that to everyone.
http://www.howtogetyourexbackmym3.com
Can I write web applications with Python/Django that are similar to java web apps?
Well, BitlyPRO is now history. They only did one-to-one shortening anyway.
Check out Brief.ly (and Briefly.PRO), which allow “bundling” many URLs into one, then open them in tabs where possible.
Here are the references:
* http://brief.ly/
and
* http://briefly.pro/
Yeah these are some good apps.One of the uses of web analytics is the use of a search funnel.The way Internet searchers looking for desired information online is referred to as a funnel. Searchers start with broad keywords, and then gradually narrow their search to what they want specifically. A good online marketing campaign recognizes the stages of the search funnel, and takes advantage of what searchers are likely to use to reach their site. Your web analytics can provide you with the information you need to maximize the search funnel that brings users to your site.PHP page counters give you ample information on what order the visitors are accessing pages and what they prefer.They are not at all depended on the browser configuration and as a result they are capable of presenting you the best results.
http://counterforsite.com/php-page-counters/
If you work for multiple clients, you also need a great time tracking tool. I choose Hours Tracking because it’s simple to use, streamlines my invoicing process (without boxing me into a specific format) and is super affordable at just $1/month – http://hourstracking.com