Real time conversion tracking

One of my biggest gripes with Google is that it does not provide real time conversion tracking - usually you can expect Google's conversion tracking to reflect 24 hours after a lead has actually been generated. This is highly sub-optimal for any serious search marketeer. Although View tracking with a javascript tag can take quite some amount of time simply because of the amount of data that needs to be processed, conversion tracking in a thank you page after an action has been taken does not generate as much data - so I fail to understand why Google would introduce a time lag in this. The only reason I can think of is that Google does not want advertisers to become extremely efficient - and wants advertisers to leave money on the table by making suboptimal decisions ( I hope I am not starting a flame war here !)

My recommendation is to use an industry grade conversion tracking software, where you can see which of your clicks are converting, from which geos, for which keywords - in real time - so that your campaign managers can be always on the lookout for optimization opportunities - in near real-time!

If you cant afford a paid solution, you can try out http://www.tracking202.com - a free alternative. The best part about this tool is the "Spy View" which you can use to constantly monitor which of your clicks are converting - with very little lag.
If you dont want the SAAS solution, you can even install your own version of the software from http://www.prosper202.com - just make sure that if you are expecting volumes of more than 5000 clicks per day, you use a dedicated server and MySQL5.1 and above.

Tracking202 is really meant for affiliate marketeers - but can be used by search marketeers helping direct clients with their search marketing efforts too - by using a subset of the features available.

Not only does it support the usual 1x1 pixel based conversion tracking, but it also supports Postback URLs through which your tracking IDs (SubIDs) can be posted back to the tracker when a conversion happens - this is supported by most affiliate/CPA networks you may sign up with ( Experienced affiliate marketeers would know what I am talking about - if you are a newbie please learn more about SubIDs here with an example - http://zacjohnson.com/how-to-setup-subid-tracking-urls/ )