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When Google launched Analytics, it pretty much changed the way websites tracked their visitors and because it’s free it helped to put a considerable number of its competitors out of business. I can give you a long list of what is good about Analytics, Funnels, goals, conversions, segmentation and did I mention it’s free. There is one thing about Google Analytics that makes it even better, it’s API which allows some Wiley developers to tweak prod and poke analytics to make it even better. Lately I have been researching how I can track stats for multiple websites, this had led me to a lot of testing and downloading of plugins, though most couldn’t quite offer me what I needed I found some really great plugins that can help me in other ways, here are some of the best ones I have found:

Trakkboard: this one came the closest to offering me what I needed but it just couldn’t drill down as far into the data , but with that said, it’s a really great tool which allows you to display quite a lot of analytical  information in a program that runs on your desktop. You can have it fully set up in a couple of minutes and it will track all the visitors to your site through one simple customizable interface.

Google Analytics Report Enhancer: This plugin runs off GreaseMonkey and allows you to add another level to your reports with the ability to segment each even further, it may be of more use to the advanced users, as it will allow you to uncover some hidden data that you may miss with the normal segmentation, how you interpret the data is the key element.

Using Website Optimizer with Google Analytics : This one is on the fence between analytics and optimizer, but it’s going into this list anyway. If you have ever used the website optimizer it will tell what variable elements on a page work the best, if you add analytics to the equation you will be able to mine data about what combinations work best what conversion values and what combinations are returning the greatest reward.

Customize the list of search engines: If you’re working on local sites it’s important to know which local search engines are sending you traffic, usually Google will list these under Google this plugin allows you to differentiate between them,(google.ie google.co.uk)

Excluding Internal Traffic the Easy Way: This plugin will make sure you’re not tracking unwanted traffic from your companies IP addresses

Google Analytics data in Excel: the Fastest and easiest way to get the data you need out of analytics and into a spreadsheet.

Better Google Analytics ( formally Social Media metrics): Combining everything into a FireFox plugin, I originally used this plugin because it allowed me to view the traffic generated from each of the social networking sites, DIgg, Stumbleupon etc.

Copy Goals: Does what it says on the tin, it will copy existing goals from one profile to another, saves time to what more could you ask for

Google Analytics Mobile: Allows you to view all your analytics data on your windows mobile handheld computer, it helps to save time and gives me something to do on the commute to work.

Google analytics does have some downsides, but with these plugins combined with some other useful tips and tricks can help to transform GA into one of the most powerful tracking tools available and did I mention it’s free.