racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Performancing has recently re-launched its pMetrics blog analytics package. While there are a multitude of blog stats software and services out there, this one is specifically intended for bloggers, and is intended to be as intuitive and easy to use for tracking blog stats and performance.

Ryan Caldwell has announced that Performancing will give 12 months free premium subscription to bloggers who will review pMetrics. The service is actually free, but this is only for blogs that get less than 1,000 page views per day on average. I’m afraid the J Spot gets more than this (thankfully), so here I am reviewing the service so I can get the premium package.

*Disclaimer*: Performancing is part of Splashpress Media, the group I work for and help manage. However, this review is intended to be as objective as possible. I could prolly get pMetrics free, anyway, but to be fair to all concerned I’m reviewing it here.

My co-editor over at Jack of All Blogs has reviewed pMetrics already, and he has included some of the screen caps I intended to be part of a review on JOAB. However, I thought of passing it on to another contributor there so I can review pMetrics here instead (and get the freebies!).

Fast, user-friendly

I’ve been using the old Performancing Metrics, and I can say pMetrics is a whole different thing. Metrics was a bit slow (sometimes slowed down loading of my site), and the stats interface wasn’t too user friendly. pMetrics, meanwhile didn’t seem to cause slowdowns in loading (as is characteristic with some javascript on any site). And what I really like is the fast and straightforward interface.

I agree with Performancing that pMetrics indeed lets you see important stats at a glance, and without having to dig down deep.

That’s actually one of my gripes with Google Analytics. I guess it’s able to get the same amount of information as pMetrics, but it doesn’t present the data the way I like. Besides, Analytics is designed not only for blogs, so pMetrics has an advantage in terms of tracking the important stuff when it comes to blogging.

I particularly like the Spy feature, which lets users watch in (almost) real time what people are doing on their blogs.

Other features, which I think should be standard with any blog analytics software are those that present data and ranking on popular posts, keywords, and referrers.

Some recommendations

The Performancing team says it will continue adding features and functionalities to pMetrics. Here are some suggestions.

* Considering blog softwares like WordPress let users sign in with their own usernames (such as with team blogs, or for leaving comments), pMetrics could also keep track of users so blog owners could track the actions of each member. Big Brother-y, I know, but I think this would be interesting.
* pMetrics requires users to dig into their theme files to paste in a few lines of code. Maybe Performancing can also create a plugin (for WordPress, for instance) for this purpose. It might make it easier to install.
* I wonder if users of hosted services without access to their theme codes (like WordPress.com) can use pMetrics on their sites. Perhaps Performancing can partner with these services.
* Perhaps pMetrics should also provide analytics on where people actually click (hot spots, as they call it). This would help improve site usability and design, and even in optimizing placement of links/ads.

To conclude, I think pMetrics would be a useful tool for any blogger interested in watching his/her stats. An analytics package is an indespensable tool in blogging, whether you’re analyzing your stats to improve your readership, optimize for searches, or just watch what your readers are doing. If you’re just starting out, then pMetrics is very ideal because it’s free. If you already have good readership, then the $14.99/year (or $2/month) is reasonable enough.

And I’m not just recommending pMetrics because they’re giving me a free premium account (Hint! Hint!).