Live tracking with Woopra

Step 1: Scroll through the refreshingly charming post about the live tracking and analytics tool Woopra from Maya’s AmalgamDiscovering Woopra.

Step 2: Come back here to learn more about Woopra, because after you complete step 1, you will want to know more.

The live tracking screen of the Woopra desktop
The Woopra live tracking screen from the Woopra desktop

This is part two of a three part series on web metrics tools. Last week I wrote about Google Analytics. Next week you will learn about Post Rank. You’ll find Woopra’s site here.

There are differences between Google Analytics and Woopra. One is the live feature of Woopra. The live feature means that you watch what site visitors are doing on your site in real time. On WordPress Tavern in Woopra 1.4 Released, Pavel noted in a comment that he uses both Google Analytics and Woopra, and really likes the live feature of Woopra.

Another difference is the chat feature available with Woopra. If you want, you can initiate chats with visitors, or add “Click-to-Chat” buttons within a site to let your visitors initiate a chat with you.

On the other hand, Google Analytics and Woopra offer many of the same features. Woopra provides over 40 kinds of statistics and metrics anlyzing your web traffic. Woopra is customizable, in that you can choose the type of information you want to concentrate on and see in your Woopra desktop. You can register and track more than one blog or website with Woopra.  Once you’re signed up for an account, you make it all happen by inserting a bit JavaScript in the footer of your page, just like Google Analytics. Like Google, you can use it free.

Woopra’s free version is limited, however. The number of page views allowed in the free version is 30,000 per month. The free version includes ads. Check Woopra’s pricing plans, which range from $4.95 a month to $179.95 a month.

You can read a comparison of Google Analytics and Woopra from Royal Pingdom.

Woopra works on all sorts of platforms including WordPress, Drupal and many others. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux. There’s plenty of help with Woopra. They have an active Facebook page, a busy Twitter account, plus a guide, blogs and forums on the Woopra main site.

The chief benefits of Woopra over Google Analytics are the ability to watch visitors move through your site in real time and the chat feature. You could learn a lot from a live view of what visitors see and do on your site. If you are selling something and have the personnel to monitor the site, the ability to chat with visitors might be important to you.