Competitive analysis and tracking the impact of your marketing strategies are vital to the progress of an online business. Part of your job as a marketer is to keep an eye on your industry changes. Especially how frequently your direct competitors are updating their product pages, source code, keywords, etc.
Several tools let you do that in real-time, HexoWatch is one of the most advanced and most efficient. This tool has taken the web monitoring task to the next level.
I started using HexoWatch recently and immediately fell in love with its simplicity and ease of use. Not to mention the abundance of monitoring tools available.
If you have not heard of or used it before, you will find most of the helpful tips in this HexoWatch review.
You will learn about the different monitoring tools available in HexoWatch and how each tool can help your business. That's the main purpose of a tool - to help your business grow.
Also, you will learn how I put HexoWatch to the test by setting an AI Monitoring event for a page and the result of this test. I wanted to see how the tool works and whether it actually benefits business purposes or it's just another toy.
You will find all the details in this post.
What is HexoWatch Used For?
HexoWatch is a monitoring tool that lets you keep track of several changes that occur on a web page. It's like having an AI or virtual assistant that helps you with web monitoring tasks.
It keeps track of several changes on a web page - product price, content changes, keywords, source code, and server downtime.
But more than that, you can use it for other purposes such as SEO, domain name expiration check, backlink monitoring, API monitoring, etc. There are lots of use cases for HexoWatch that go beyond the task design for specific tools.
We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, let's explore the HexoWatch features below.
HexoWatch Dashboard and User Interface
The user dashboard is designed with simplicity in mind.
Once you complete the signup process and login into your account, you will see a clean dashboard like the image below. And a brief introduction video that walks you through it.
For first-time users, the walk-through video can be helpful to understand how to use HexoWatch to your advantage. And how each of the monitoring tools can help your business achieve its objective.
You can switch between the light and dark mode color dashboard. There is a switch at the top-right of your account profile picture for that.
Let's explore each of the monitoring tools one after the other.
HexoWatch Features and Tools
Note: There is the option to enter a single or bulk URL for most tools. This allows you to monitor multiple URLs at once or a specific web page.
After setting up an event and a change is detected, HexoWacth will provide details reports, a side-by-side comparison view, and different reports to highlight important changes that occur.
It also archives a snapshot of the page so you can always refer to it for future analysis or usage. And you can export the field data as downloadable in a .csv file, Google sheets, RSS Feed sync, or to over 2000 Zapier integration tools.
You also get an email notification with a link to view the changes on your dashboard. Here is one for an event I'd set up.
At the time of writing, HexoWatch has 13 web monitoring tools based on marketing objectives. Each tool can serve multiple purposes.
With that out, let's go through...
Visual Monitoring
Think like heatmap features? There are cases where you might need to track certain elements on your competitor's pages.
For instance, you want to track when a competitor makes changes to the call-to-action button. When they make changes to a particular paragraph, product description, prices, sidebar, product images, etc.
The HexoWatch Visual Monitoring tool is a cool feature to keep track of things like this.
It monitors the visual changes that happen on a webpage.
HTML Monitoring
You can monitor specific HTML changes.
This feature is ideal for an e-commerce website that wants to monitor when competitors make adjustments to their product prices. Or when you want to track when a page source code is edited.
Keyword Monitoring
This feature can be used for many purposes.
For an e-commerce site, you can use it to track when a certain product is available or out of stock on your competitor's website.
All you have to do is enter the product page URL and click on preview. Then enter the keyword, or product name in the Hexowatch Keyword monitoring tool.
Then select the frequency of the check. HexoWatch will now monitor the URL for both present and absent of the keyword.
It can also be used for affiliate management.
Think of monitoring all your affiliates' disclaimer pages for compliance with the law? This tool can help you keep an eye on all your affiliates when they remove certain text or paragraphs from the compliance notice.
Domain WHOIS Monitoring
This is a very useful tool for marketing agencies with multiple clients and websites to manage. And if you're into the business of domain flipping, this can be a helpful tool.
It lets you track the administrative record and expiration date of any domain name on the web. So, you can act fast whether to buy or renew it before it goes to the next buyer.
This feature can be used for other domain name purposes, it depends on your goal.
Technology Monitoring
If you're an SEO specialist, marketing agency, or data analysis expert, this feature is helpful to keep track of script changes on specific web pages.
Let's say you manage clients' projects and insert certain third-party scripts or tools on the website, you can use the HexoWatch technology monitoring tool to track it.
If the script is removed from the page, you get a notification as per your settings.
Content Monitoring
The content monitoring tool can help keep tabs on relevant information on a webpage.
Let's say you're a freelancer looking for job postings on a particular website. You can use the contents monitoring tool to set up notifications for when certain text fragments or the entire job listing page is updated.
This can be useful for staying up to date and being the first to respond to proposals.
SiteMap Monitoring
Well, you might want to monitor your competitor's sitemap changes for newly published or updated content.
This could be a marketing or SEO strategy to know how often content is published or old ones are updated.
You can use this to measure content publication frequency vs growth ratio.
API Monitoring
For developers and businesses that rely on endpoint API, it's important to monitor their responses before they cause havoc to your business or services.
If an application you rely on for a service is down, HexoWatch API monitoring will alert you in time so you can act promptly.
This is a helpful tool for businesses that connect with third-party applications through API for service delivery.
Availability Monitoring
Server downtime monitoring is very important for any business; especially for high-traffic websites.
If you manage many websites for clients or run a viral marketing campaign, this is a helpful feature that lets you keep an eye on server downtime.
Backlink Monitoring
Link monitoring is as important as link building itself.
If you're not monitoring the placement of your links, you won't know when links are removed, broken, or changed in attributes.
HexoWatch backlink monitoring tool is a cool feature that lets you set up alerts for link profile changes on your partner's website.
You can also set up an alert for when a link is changed from do-follow to other link attributes.
Source Code Monitoring
If you want to monitor changes that occur in a web page source code, such as an HTML tag, you can do so here.
This is an ideal tool for a team of developers who work remotely on a project. If any member of the team makes unauthorized changes to the codes, you get notified instantly.
It can also be used for SEO purposes. You can use it to monitor any attributes that change to your link profile on other websites. If the link attributes change from do-follow to no-follow, you get notified.
RSS feed Monitoring
Monitor the RSS feed of any website to stay up-to-date with their publications.
As soon as their RSS feed is updated, you get a notification.
Automatic AI monitoring
This allows you to monitor whatever is on the web page.
Whether you want to track changes to an HTML code, visual, technology, or the content on the page, Automatic AI monitoring allows you to track multiple items on a page.
If you're on the business+ plan, you can set your preferred server location for the check. This is ideal for websites that operate in a specific geo-location or have a few locations restricted from accessing the website.
Review of HexoWatch - how I put it to The Test -
I sign up for a free HexoWatch account and immediately set up an event using the AI monitoring tool. The purpose of this test is to see how fast and accurate the reporting data can influence marketing decisions.
I set up the even for this page.
The AI Monitoring tool allows me to track any changes that happen on a page - visual, content, keyword, etc. This is a good chance to see how the HexoWatch work.
I want to test:
- The featured image.
- Content changes.
After setting up the event, I went ahead to edit the page for visuals and content. I changed the featured image and edits the content on the page.
Since I was on a free account, I can only set the check frequency to a minimum of 12 hours. So I had to wait for some hours for any notification.
Later in the morning, I received this email in my inbox.
I clicked through and logged in to my account.
You can see from the screenshots that the data is as accurate as it can be. I actually made those changes to the page. I replaced the featured image.
The " previous" in the data on your left is the image before the change, and the " current " is the image after the change.
The image on your right is the last visual check by the HexoWatch AI monitoring tool.
I also made a few edits to the content, and good to see that HexoWatch caught that too.
The highlighted text in red is the previous state of the content, while the text in blue is the current. The good is that you can download all these data to your favorite applications for further analysis.
For businesses that rely heavily on data and competitors analysis, this could be a helpful tool to achieve your goals.
HexoWatch AppSumo Deal
The HexoWatch AppSumo lifetime deal has ended but you can always stay alert when it's live again by signing up for the AppSumo account here.
This is good for getting notifications for other relevant AppSumo lifetime deals.
HexoWatch Pricing
HexoWatch offers five pricing options including an enterprise plan for its customers.
Each plan comes with allows monthly checks limit, checks frequency gap, and API integration.
The pro, business, and business plus plans offer more features than the entry-level Standard plan.
Let's explore the key differences in the five HexoWatch pricing.
Standard.
This plan offers 2,000 monthly allowance checks, and 30 minutes minimum check frequency.
You can integrate directly with Telegram, Slack, Discord, and Zapier.
The monthly pricing is $12.49, while it's billed at $149.9 annually.
Pro.
The pro plan gives you 4,500 monthly checks and checks the frequency gap down to every 15 minutes.
It is billed at $20.82/month or $249.9 annually.
You can integrate with more applications compared to the Standard plan; Slack, Discord, Telegram, Pabbly connect, Zapier, and Ms Teams.
You can also set up a custom action to perform before a page is checked. Maybe you want a page refresh, click, form fill, or type before checking the page. This is possible in all HexoWatch plans except for the standard.
You have access to the webhook features and setup checks based on device type.
Business.
In addition to everything in the Standard and Pro plan, the HexoWatch Business plan gives you access to perform up to 10,000 monthly checks.
The check frequency gap can go at every 5 minutes possible.
It is possible to select your preferred server location for the checks. This is helpful for businesses that offer services in different languages and locations. And you can integrate with more applications such as Google Sheets, and more.
The monthly price is $41.66. The annual plan is billed at $499.9.
Business+
The major difference from the Business plan is the monthly checks allowed.
You can access up to 25,000 checks in a month. Set the frequency check to every 5 minutes.
You have everything in the Business plan; webhook, API integration, custom actions before page check, device type, and choice of server location.
It costs $83.25/month and $999 for the annual plan.
Enterprise
The Enterprise plan gives you access to order a custom package that fits your business needs.
You get everything in the Business+ plan and lots more. The benefits include;
Custom onboarding process. Team training. Campaign setup and management. Dedicated strategic support services.
Contact HexoWatch customer services for inquiries.
HexoWatch Support
On the main website and within the app, there is live chat support to answer your queries.
Also, there is email support within the app you can access directly.
There is a catalog of HexoWatch walk-through video tutorials. These videos are meant to provide step-by-step instructions on how to use each of the monitoring tools.
These videos can be helpful for first-time users and beginners.
The HexoWatch academy is a comprehensive content hub for announcements, changes, and company news.
The academy provides regular updates on tools improvement, updates, and changes to tools.
Conclusion... HexoWatch Review
HexoWatch is a data analysis software company that helps businesses with advanced artificial intelligence technology to provide web monitoring services.
There are uptime and monitoring tools, HexoWatch goes beyond by offering lots of options and tools to businesses of different sizes and goals.
If you want to save time and improve data accuracy spying on your competitors, HexoWatch is the right tool.
