2006 / January 17^th/ What I want from an analytics package

So, this past weekend I decided to splurge and buy Mint, mostly just to see what all the hype was about. Honestly, I think I still like Measuremap better (as soon as it starts working correctly, that is. I’m not blaming them–that’s what a beta is for), but it got me thinking about what I want in a stats package. While Mint is a nice start, it’s still a far fetch from what I think a lot of webmasters would be interested in. So, freelance developers out there: listen up for a golden idea that could be marketed very well and earn you a good chunk of change.

The features

Multi-site stats

First off - I want multiple site’s stats on one page. While warpspire.com is my blog, I’ve got around a dozen web properties, ranging from small to large. I want to be able to track them all through one interface and I want to see stats side by side. This is essential. I want to compare how my traffic on Warpspire differs from my traffic on Poetry with meaning (oops… did someone silently launch that?).

I also want to be able to filter sites, maybe only look at three sites in comparison, or all at once. There must of course be a way to only look at one site as well.

Revenue integration

Here’s where the money maker is going to be. I want to see:

• Total revenue
• Revenue by site
• Revenue by program (zZounds, Amazon, Adsense)

I’d want to be able to go into as much detail as possible (through additional screens/tabs/whatever): but I also want to know simple stats at a glance. How much did I make today? What site is earning me the most revenue?

These revenue stats need to be integrated into the visitor information with the ability to determine per capita income per site, as a whole, etc.

I don’t care the logistics, the difficulty, or whatever. I want default integration of the following programs:

• Adsense
• Yahoo Publisher Network
• Amazon.com affiliate sales
• Tribalfusion
• Fastclick

Side-by-side revenue analytics

I want to be able to compare how zZounds is doing in comparison to Adsense. Whether it’s CTR, eCPM, CPC, total revenue, per capita revenue, or overall views. In depth analysis of different advertising programs, with the ability to track individual sections/links/actions/ads.

Promotion analytics

In addition to revenue analytics, I’d like to see promotion analytics. What sites are bringing me the most visitors? What ad campaigns are getting people to my site? Which banner ad campaign is bringing in the most revenue?

Open plugin architecture

This is a must, must must. What if I have a custom ad system? I need an easy way to write a small plugin so I can add it to the statistics. This would also make things available like all of our Peppers out there right now. If possible, inheritence of Peppers would be fantastic (meaning Peppers could work on this new system as well).

Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly Reports

I want RSS feeds, I want email notification. I want the ability to put together a summarized report for 2004’s earnings and traffic with custom “panes” in the windows. I want to be able to print it, ship it, and email it however I wish.

Good interface design

I think Shaun has a good thing going with Mint. In so far as easy to read statistics and flexible layout options. This does not mean copy Mint, but rather learn from it and mimic it’s good qualities. AJAX is also a must, in my opinion. Reducing the number of actual screens while provinding the most detail possible is a very good thing. Maybe even not AJAX, but simply hiding/revealing layers.

That’s a tall order

Yep it is. But I wouldn’t hesistate to believe people would pay upwards of $50/mo for analytics of this sort. There are a lot of people making a lot of money off webmastering, and all of them spend hours a day tracking their sites and creating custom reports. If you do this for them, they free up more time to work on their sites and make more cash. Suddenly $50/mo isn’t that much.

I believe this is a massive hole in the analytics market. I think this would be a stupendous idea for a group of programmers looking to flex their skills and get their name out. Why build another web framework when you can build something truely useful?

Think about it for a bit.

1. 

   Jørgen Arnor Gårdsø Lom

   January 17^th | #

   Seems to me that Google Analytics is what you seek… Especially in regards to multi-site, revenue etc…

   Personally, I’ve been through Awstats, BBClone, Mint and Analytics… And in the end, with the right peppers, Mint is my personal choise (with Google on a good no2…)

   My experience in using these statstools makes me a bit unsure if your $50 dreampack is going to happen… Mint is the only one of the tools I’ve used, I’ve had to pay for; and to I’ve been able to get most everything on your list with these tools combined.

   Let’s also take into consideration, that most of these tools are to some degree open-source (or at least open-ish, i.e that you can take it apart and see how it works; then build something like it on your own - without COPYING the code, ofcourse…)

   This makes me pretty sure that we’re going to see, some genius making your dreamstat-pack cheap or perhaps even for free… I wouldn’t be surprised if that person was Shaun Inman either… He upgraded Shortstats to Mint, perhaps he’ll upgrade mint to what you’re looking for…

2. 

   JBagley

   January 18^th | #

   With all these stats programs that have popped up of late, my bookmarks folder has become full of places to visit to get my stats… Its time consuming, and downright irratating at times. Especially all the revenue sites that one has to check as well.(Im sure I’ve even forgotten a couple of them! :-) ) I have to agree with you that creating “dreamstats” would get some serious recognition.

   Im currently using Shortstat plugged into Wordpress. Its a 1 stop shop in terms of updating my blog while checking on a couple of stats. Its definitely not the greatest or best solution, but for ease of use, my combo works for me.

3. 

   Andrew Hamann

   January 18^th | #

   Mint is the best choice for running one website. However, it kind of falls off the edge after that, and that is where packages like Urchin come into play. But since I only have one site, I don’t really need to worry about it.

4. 

   Kyle Schembri

   January 19^th | #

   I want!… I want!… I want!…
   Here Here, I agree my good friend.

5. 

   Bren

   February 4^th | #

   They started then stopped, but I think the next life of Swivel.com will probably have what you seek. I used their previous beta a bit and it had some great features, but no site analytics. From what I’ve heard, I’m guessing the next version will have all that and a bag of chips.

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