BuzzStream vs. Webtrends Analytics

BuzzStream works for anyone that is working in the SEO field! It has literally saved me hours of time and is my go-to tool for all link building needs. The speed that I'm able to research a site, save the key information and launch a pre-crafted email is head spinning (In a good way)! This is one of the SEO tools that I can't live without--it makes link building and link tracking a whole lot easier. BuzzStream likely wouldn't be a good fit for anyone that isn't particularly working in the SEO field. I can't imagine this would replace a dedicated email tracking system or be used to send email drips.

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Scenarios 1. If you want to use web server log files as input to your web analytics, then Webtrends will provides a good product, with great ease of implementation. Don't even think about being cheap on hardware, and make sure Webtrends runs on real servers, not in a VM environment. 2. If you want to use Data Tagging, similar to Google Analytics or Site Catalyst, Webtrends has a powerful product, just be prepared to pay. 3. If you are new to Web Analytics, but it is the strategic direction, start with Webtrends on Premises. Questions to Ask 1. What are you trying to accomplish? 2. Can you place a dollar value on the benefit that you expect/need from Webtrends? 3.Can you live with Webtrends running SaaS?

• Communication Organization: It provides a simple communication format for even the most novice of users to understand. All messages are kept in nice order, even placed in folders if needed, to alleviate the pain of losing messages in normal email.
• Locating Contact Information: I love that BuzzStream aids in finding additional contact information for people. From social accounts to other emails, we can make sure we reach out to people via the correct channels.
• Building a Consistent Voice: BuzzStream allows you to save templates that have worked or failed when conducting outreach. These templates can have autofill parameters added to them and are accessible to all users.

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• Control privacy, data sharing and competitive industrial knowledge using Webtrends on premises
• Great control over custom reports, custom dimensions and metrics
• Flexible tool which allows multiple methods of data capture. To my knowledge it was the first tool with a Tag Builder / Tag Management function built in via a supporting website.

• The search function needs to be more accurate in returning results when searching for existing prospects the platform only display exact match results - www.websitename.com vs websitename.com. In reality, the two websites are the same prospects.
• Customer service assistance needs to be more instantaneous when seeking out help a response can take up to 24 hours.
• Importing large CSV files of websites takes time as well.

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• The big downside, the elephant in the room, is that it does not (as of right now) have on-demand segmenting, drilldowns, etc. You have to think of what you want in advance and create those reports then analyze some data. This is huge. You can, of course, re-analyze old data after creating new reports but you still have to wait. (This deficiency may become obsolete with the release of Webtrends Explore later this month (May 2014).)
• It has fewer mature integrations with other products and databases than competitors do, although I'm told it works with SharePoint better than anything else does.
• Its attribution modeling capability is behind Google Analytics'. In my humble opinion, this could be changed quickly if Webtrends would make some tweaks to its standard visitor history files (i.e. preserve the order in which past visits were sourced beyond the single most recent one, rather than storing all those past sources as a randomized list).
• It doesn't incorporate statistical tests, confidence intervals, or statistical associations. However, this same criticism can be applied to its competitors (other than A/B Testing products). It's a tabulation program, as they all are. In this respect, web analytics tools as a group are relatively primitive. Sorry to bring this up as a criticism of Webtrends but it's my pet peeve about the whole industry and I just have to say it. (p.s. take advantage of the heavy-duty Webtrends Scheduled Export functionality to get really granular data that you can feed to a stats program to get significances.)
• Although the documentation, help screens, phone support and the knowledge base have improved tremendously in recent years, there is still a pretty steep learning curve because it is different from the tools that entry-level users may have already been exposed to. This can be a shock and many users are alienated at first because they just don't get some of the fundamentals at first. I'd like to see much better help screens that are thoroughly interlinked with the KB and documentation. Having superb online support would make a world of difference with the adoption of this basically powerful tool.

I would be willing to try Webtrends again AFTER some research from other users. I would need to see that users mention better and faster customer support on questions and issues that arise while using the software. The software is capable of vast and incredible things, but if it isnt properly set up and supported during use, it is just a big hassel and waste of everyones time and money.

Buzzstream is great to help identify sites to get links from, and it makes this process so efficient, easy and personal to all, the ones who are using it and the ones that are receiving. Flawless navigation, good outlook, 10/10!

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If I could give it a 0, I would. Not having an intuitive user interface made it impossible to convince non-analytic business users to use the tool on their own. Even as a seasoned analyst, frequent calls were needed to get what should be simple tasks done. Account managers don't understand the tool either, and have to refer you to technical support

It is much better than average. Down time usually occurs because of a need to refresh the server on our end.

The v9 admin interface and v10 reporting interface work as well as expected, but have a tendency to be pokey, especially for bulky reports and whenever you're connected to wifi. I much prefer using the REST API for all reporting for this reason, which simply dumps out the data and doesn't bother with the user interface.

Support is one of the best aspects of BuzzStream. I know their support team is small and somehow they are able to get back to us right away in a super helpful, friendly fashion. I've had many questions - sometimes they release a new feature, sometimes a feature isn't working correctly and they are quick to answer but also help explain it in a way that makes sense.

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I once went on to Twitter to ask for help from my network of analytics people, and Webtrends themselves responded. They have been an excellent partner in making sure that their product is being used to the best of it's ability and I greatly appreciate that. Both Omniture and Google Analytics, do not have that level of support over social media

The in-person training was comprehensive enough to get you started, but I strongly recommend having a more experienced person when beginning with the tool.

Webtrends provides several free webinars over the course of the year, many of which I would expect to pay for. The people providing the webinars seem to have a good feel for real-world application of the product.

Careful planning and patience. Use a non-public test site to fine tune tags and reporting. Despite best laid plans, there will be surprises when you collect the data, run the analysis and begin generating reports using the tool. Perform a tag audit to ensure tags fire as desired.

BuzzStream stacks up quite well compared to its competitors. In particular, Hootsuite and HubSpot. BuzzStream has many of the same capabilities that its competitors do, at a fraction of the cost. We selected BuzzStream because it had a fairly flexible contract, and it was sufficient for our needs. It was a good intermediate-level tool.

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Webtrends has its work cut out for itself considering you have the behemoth Google Analytics and Google Analytics Premium having a strong offering and brand recognition for the price of free. After reviewing the paid service I'd suggest you start off with GA as a cheaper alternative that is just as robust, if not much more flexible in regards to the reporting and goal tracking needs for our company.

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• It's had a positive impact in keeping our entire agency organized. Especially when employees leave, all of their communication is in one place, so it's pretty easy to have someone take over the process.
• You can test different messaging for prospects and then determine the most successful.

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• Webtrends has had a positive impact on site visitation because it allowed us to understand the sources by domain for site traffic and find out ways to increase visits from those domains.
• Webtrends has also allowed us to understand areas of optimization on the site, which has had a positive impact on the overall user journey on the site, likely leading to longer site duration and engagement.