Website Traffic Tool

[kruser]

Hello,

I have a client that I maintain, SEO and host a website for. He has asked for a link to view his sites traffic. Does anyone have a suggestion on the best way to approach this? Do I need to install an application exclusively for his site?

Regards,
Randy

[Buytraffic24]

Try whos.amung dot us ;)

[mikeewart]

Try Piwik.

Piwik is open source web analytics software. It gives interesting reports on your website visitors, your popular pages, the search engines keywords they used, the language they speak and much more. Piwik aims to be an alternative to Google Analytics. We found it thru SourceForge dot net and so far it seems to work great.

[IndustrialWebGuy2]

Google Analytics has the ability to automatically email reports at any time intervals you designate. However, I haven't dug into GA too much, but it seems like it only sends the reports as attachments rather than putting the reports front and center in the email for your client. But it's also free; hard to beat.

For many of my clients, I use a service called Hitslink (sorry, I can't post links yet). I have tested over a dozen analytics packages over the years and I find Hitslink by far the best one, best formatted information, most flexible reporting, best formatted reporting, best emailing to clients, easiest to check various date ranges, etc. But it is a paid service.

On any of these, there is no reason, other than loss of control, that you can't give your client the login information. But if you want to frame the issue, tell the client that you'll set up regular reporting that s/he will receive by email; they'll probably like the convenience better than having to login.

Good Luck,
Brian
baermarketingnetwork (.) hitslink (.) (c o m)

[SemAdvance]

Server stats would help. (free)

Google analytics. (free)

Visistat.com (not free)

There are many others....google - website analytics ;->

[chrisJumbo]

Don't you have traffic data? Usually, stat programs will export the data in some sort of format. Whatever you are using, that is what I would provide. If he wants to do his own analysis with raw logs, give him ftp access so he can download the data himself and use whatever program he wants.

As semAdvance noted, if you have the google tracking code installed, you could give him access to Google Analytics.

He doesn't have a right to free access of the software that you use, but I do believe he has a right to the raw data or some sort of export.

[mp3r4]

Google Analytics is free and at the same time advanced statistics/analytics tool that will show the site traffic and other reports. You don't need to install an application rather to insert a piece of code on every page that you would like to track.

[Karyn]

I use sitemeter Ican't post a link so you will have to google it. Basically it's a little unobtrusinve green box that goes somewhere on your page out of sight and once you click it you can either go directly to the stats login page or you can make the stats available to everyone to view. It is totally free but they charge for advanced reporting.

[thindenim]

I always use google analytics these days

[zeo]

Ask your hosting provider if they offer free statistics / logfile analyzer. PHP hosts would often have AWStats available for installation and would even install it for your free of charge. Just ask. AWStats is a very convenient -- you can see everything summarized on one page. Depending on version, you may need to add a code to separate keywords from different search engines. And of course make sure to monitor your sites with Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools.

__________________
Websites that your customers will find | Ask Centauria

[Eddy Tan]

The first thing you want to do is to decide which approach you prefer.

In web analytics, there are two technologies:
a. analysis using web site log files
b. analysis based on data captured by java script embeded onto your web pages. Effectively the Java script creates a log file for analysis. It captures more than the data created by web server log files. The user will decide what he wants to capture and he may need to do work on that script.

In most cases, web site log files would be enough. By using dynamics URL parameters in your web pages, you can get a lot of data pertaining to the transactions going on.

Most of the priced web analytics tools are using Java script approach to exploit on traffic data unique to each transactions and make more money through annual contracts. Web server log files analysis web analytics tools are generally licensed by web server and you pay a one-time cost. There is exception to this web server analysis tool - I know of one vendor who changed their licensing model from per server to page view volume to make more money and left many of their users frustrated with the sudden change to their server based license upon upgrade. It cost them much more.

[zbatia]

If you host the web site and can use the cPanel tools, then cPanel has the option to use the Webalizer. When you get the Webalizer link, share it with your customer. I did it successfully with mine.
On another note, I used the WebStatsAdvisor (get from RTEK 2000 dot com). I am pleased with the product, the features, and especially comprehensive auto-reporting (weekly and monthly) that can be shared with the customer for analysis and comparison to see the progress of SEO or ROI.

[simonm]

I can also recommend hitslink. Great reports, and everything is in realtime!

If you have a client that actuallly gets business online, to be able to show the site visitor arrive, browse and then hear the phone ring - priceless.

Hitslink is a pay to use service and I guess is always going to work hard to maintain a unique selling point ahead of the free competition.

A word of advice, I also use Google Analytics alongside hitslink, this means that where there is the potential of continuity in the event the client eventually decides against a paid for service.

[Clarrie]

We use Google Analytics for all our clients these days - you can give your client viewing rights so they can dig away at their stats to their heart's content. Only thing is, you need to have delved a bit yourself so you can answer at least some of their questions...

We also have Webaliser installed on the server for those that want to look at the logfile stats. It's not as good as AWL Stats, which I've also used before.

[ronchalice]

Ditto on Sitemeter it's very easy in implement the widget and it will automail a weekly activity summary.

[james113]

I use Clicky or Web Analytics in Real Time | Clicky (http://www.getclicky.com) when I have clients like that. It costs $10/mo. and it has a feature that publishes the traffic stats to a webpage every so often. The clients can access the current stats whenever they like without having to learn the analytics software. The page includes an RSS feed as well.

[FoundByDesign]

I use Clicky or Web Analytics in Real Time | Clicky (http://www.getclicky.com) when I have clients like that. It costs $10/mo. and it has a feature that publishes the traffic stats to a webpage every so often. The clients can access the current stats whenever they like without having to learn the analytics software. The page includes an RSS feed as well.


I have been evaluating Clicky and I am confused... does it only show the last couple days? Honestly I have installed it on one of my "dummy" pages to ensure no conflicts with software/code so the data is VERY limited. But it appears to only show the last day or up to 7 (per the settings panel) which is not very exhaustive by any stretch.

Guess I still need to eval this more.

[Doc]

If you don't particularly wish to give your client sign-in access to your webtools, you can download and install StatCounter, as well. As I recall, they even allow an invisible installation, and while it's not the most comprehensive traffic analysis tool around, I think it'll give your client everything they are likely to want. It includes a lot of nice features, including IP traces, labeling, trend analysis, and more. You can take a look at it at StatCounter Free invisible Web tracker, Hit counter and Web stats (http://www.statcounter.com).

I also allows multiple websites to be monitored.

[myfreelance]

I am currently using Google Analytics (I think this is best the tracking tools available today). I also like the built-in tracking tool of Wordpress. If your blog is hosted in Wordpress, you should be able to have this one.