Once you got started a WordPress blog, you might want to use WordPress plugins for improving your search ranking, customization, security, tracking, etc… We can’t run a WordPress blog properly without using the best plugins in the market.
And if you are with WordPress for a while, you probably know MonsterInsights. It is one of the top, best WordPress plugin for enabling Google Analytics on your blog.
If you are new to MonsterInsights, this MonsterInsights review will help you to understand more about it. The features, pricing, why you need it, etc…
Table of Contents
Why Use Google Analytics on Your Blog?
If you are not running Google Analytics on your blog, you are wasting your time and effort. Google Analytics is a free service offered by Google for website owners to see how folks are finding their website and using it.
Let’s say that you are running a Magazine blog and the monthly traffic is 25,000 page views. Your main aim might be something like make money through display advertisements like Google AdSense or affiliate marketing.
If you need to double or even triple your website traffic, you need to know how people find your website from Google Search results. The native way is pretty overwhelming for most beginners. And here’s the solution – by using MonsterInsights.
The plugin will show you every stats that matter. By analyzing them, you can easily make appropriate changes in your content, increase your website traffic, revenue, leads or conversions.
Simple and proven method.
MonsterInsights Review
Right now, so many WordPress Google Analytics is available in the market. Also, so many third-party services. For our users, we will always recommend the best one. Saying that we are huge fans of MonsterInsights and proud to promote it!
MonsterInsights is created by the Awesome Motive team who created other cutting-edge solutions like OptinMonster, WPForms, SeedProd, RafflePress, etc…
Thankfully, MonsterInsights is a freemium WordPress plugin. The free version called MonsterInsights Lite can be downloaded from the WordPress plugins repository. The plugin got more than 2 million active installations yet!
And the premium version can be purchased from their official website. Just like the other freemium WordPress plugins, the free version got some limits.
If you would like to purchase the premium one, you are on the right path. Because MonsterInsights premium comes with more advanced features a publisher/ business owner needs!
In this post, we will be covering the MonsterInsights premium.
Features
Now, let’s move to the MonsterInsights features.
Easy Configuration
The traditional way is too difficult for beginners.
Need to copy the tracking code, edit the theme header file, paste the code properly, verify everything, etc… Well, MonsterInsights makes everything simple.
Once you got activated the plugin, you need to authorize it with your Google Analytics property. Simple! Within a few minutes, you will see the stats inside your WordPress blog.
Google Analytics Dashboard Widget
This is pure gold!
Traditionally, we need to log in to our Google Analytics account, go to the analytics property for checking the stats. As you thought, this is so time-consuming.
Well, if we got a stats dashboard right in our WordPress dashboard, that’d be great, right? We could easily see the stats that matter without spending more time!
MonsterInsights free and premium got that setting!
The plugin will show you
- Sessions.
- Pageviews.
- Session Duration.
- Bounce Rate.
etc…
In the premium version, the dashboard is customizable. Means you could adjust the date range for pulling custom reports, etc… No additional configuration needed. After activation, you will see the dashboard in the backend.
Affiliate Link Tracking
Using affiliate marketing for monetization?
In most blogging niches, it is better than Google AdSense or any other display ads. Well, if you are using affiliate links in your blog, you might be using some kind of plugins like ThirstyAffiliates for managing all your links. It is one of the best WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers and we are also using it on all our projects.
For basic link tracking, ThirstyAffiliates got a stats report. It will show you how much clicks your website has got on a day for affiliate links. As I said, totally basic.
But, MonsterInsights offers more advanced affiliate link tracking.
All you need to do is, enter your affiliate link prefix in the MonsterInsights settings, label it and save the settings.
Wait. What’s prefix?
Here’s a live example. I have already said that we are using ThirstyAffiliates for link management. So, when we need to recommend Bluehost hosting to someone, the link will look like – https://blogheist.com/recommends/bluehost.
Something like – domain/prefix/affiliate.
Here, you know our domain, that’s onlinerockershub.com. We configured our prefix as /recommends/ and the affiliate network is Bluehost. Do the same with your configuration.
You won’t be able to track your affiliate links without an affiliate plugin. From the publisher’s report, you would see the performance reports.
For a more detailed report, you might want to log in to your Google Analytics property, check the events.
Recommended feature for all affiliate marketers.
Popular Post Tracking
Would you like to see the most engaging content on your blog or website? With MI popular post tracking, this is possible. Once you got activated and configured MonsterInsights on your WordPress blog, the plugin will automatically pull the popular posts, shows them in your reports section.
This way, you could see exactly what your visitors need and what content needs an update. Simple. No need to enable anything in the settings.
WooCommerce Tracking
Self-hosted WordPress is easier, better than Shopify. With plugins like WooCommerce, we will be able to add a store section to our WordPress blog. Also, through the shop, you can sell physical or digital products. Want to take your WordPress blog to the next level?
Welcome to the enhanced WooCommerce/ eCommerce tracking!
You can track transactions from your membership website or online store. Once you have enabled it, configured the eCommerce tracking, you could see every report in your MonsterInsights insights!
Reports like
- Conversion Rate.
- Transactions.
- Revenue.
- Average Order Value.
etc…
This would help you to understand your store, work on it, improve the store.
Forms Tracking
Contact forms are one of the easy ways to get in touch with your website visitors. Especially if you are offering some service.
There are so many WordPress plugins are available for creating forms inside our blog. Our recommended plugins are WPForms and Formidable Forms. Well by creating any plugin, we will be able to create contact forms, embed them to our page, post or even custom post type.
But, do you know how many folks are leaving your contact page without filling the form, sending the message? By visiting the Google Analytics stats of the contact page, you could see the hits that you got. But, there is no way to track form conversions in the traditional method.
Here, MonsterInsights is going to introduce a feature called Forms tracking. From the MonsterInsights settings, you can enable this setting.
The plugin will automatically figure out every form plugin active on your website. It’s an awesome feature. It will show you every hits, impressions, and conversions in the MonsterInsights reports section.
Ads Tracking
Like I mentioned above, you might be using Google AdSense for monetizing your blog. With the MonsterInsights ads tracking feature, you can see everything related to your display ads.
From the settings, enable Google AdSense ads tracking.
Also, you might want to integrate your AdSense account with your Analytics property. That’s pretty simple. Once you have done that, you could see the stats in your publisher reports section.
Just like the Google AdSense dashboard or app, you will see
- Impressions.
- Clicks.
- CTR.
- CPC.
- RPM.
- Earnings.
etc…
Better for publishers who rely on Google AdSense income.
File Download Tracking
Running a file download/ digital download website?
If you are, you might want to see how many times a file is getting downloaded, the top-performing files, etc… The WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads plugin will take care of the online shop and file downloading process. Also, they will show you a rough download stat.
Want something more accurate?
Then say hello to the MonsterInsights file download tracking! Once you enabled the file download tracking on your blog, the plugin will track every new file download. Also, you can see them in your insights section – including the top-performing downloads.
Recently, we have added a guide on this topic. You could visit the tutorial for more.
The team will be adding more features in the upcoming updates!
MonsterInsights Pricing
Now, let’s see, How much does MonsterInsights cost?
Right now, 3 premium plans are available for the plugin. They are:
- Plus – $99.50 a year.
- Pro – $199.50 a year.
- Agency – $399.50 a year.
Higher-level plans will get more advanced features. Also, if you are running a personal blog, the Plus plan is good enough for you. When you run something huge like a consulting business/ online news portal or even a digital download store, you might want to consider picking up the Pro or Agency plan.
On top of that, every MonsterInsights plans come with a 14-days money-back guarantee. So, if you think MonsterInsights is not a good fit for you or your business, you could easily raise a support ticket, get a full refund.
Just like that!
Well, I am pretty sure that you won’t go to a refund or anything like that. Once you got started using the plugin, you will love it probably.
Support and Updates
Every premium plans come with 1 year of support and updates. So, if you need help with something, first, you need to visit their online documentation. Most tutorials are added there. Still no luck?
Cool!
Just log in to your MonsterInsights account and you would be able to raise a support ticket from there. If you are using the free version (MonsterInsights Lite), you can get help from the support forum.
Get Started With MonsterInsights
You can get the premium version of MonsterInsights from below.
Get Started With MonsterInsights (50% Instant Discount)
We hope you found this MonsterInsights review helpful and enjoyed the read. If you did, please consider sharing this post with your friends and fellow bloggers on social networks. We have created a special pin for you to add to your Pinterest Board.
Probably, someone will choose the best WordPress Google Analytics plugin for his blog!
For more MonsterInsights Tutorials:
- How to Install Google Analytics to WordPress with MonsterInsights?
- How to easily set up file downloads tracking on your WordPress website?
- Do you know the keywords people use to find your website?
- How to add Google Analytics Stats Dashboard to your WordPress site? (No Coding)
- How to add Google Analytics Scroll Depth Tracking in WordPress? (No Coding)
- How to track Affiliate Link Clicks in Google Analytics?
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