Free or inexpensive packaged solutions are a great place to get your feet wet with web site measurement.
It’s easy to get the impression that web measurement is a costly and time consuming endeavor, one requiring deep pockets and significant expertise.
While time and effort are absolutely required to truly understand your web site visitors, there are also many inexpensive and even free software is available to support your efforts. In fact, the very first web measurement applications, Webstats and Analog, are freely available and nominally supported by the open source movement to this day.
An important consideration regarding free and inexpensive measurement solutions is the old adage you get what you pay for. While this does not mean that low-cost solutions are necessarily bad, it’s more a reflection that open source and entry-level web measurement solutions are often less well maintained, documented, or supported than their business-class counterparts (at least at the time of this writing). If you go this route, you need to simply be aware of this and be prepared to have to look a little harder or wait a little longer for help when problems arise (and trust me, they always arise!).
The following table lists several free measurement solutions, where to get them, which data sources they use, how the applications are delivered, and what makes them worth mentioning in this hack (Table 1-3).
Table 1-3. Freely available web measurement solutions
Name and URL | Data source(s) used Delivery type platforms | What’s good or cool about this solution |
|---|---|---|
Analog | Web server logfile Software Win/Unix/Mac | Analog is highly scalable, ultra-fast, easily configured to report in over 30 languages, and it works on any operating system. Analog is purportedly the most popular measurement application in the world. |
Web server logfiles, FTP logs, mail logs Software Win/Unix/Mac | An open source Perl-based measurement tool, AWStats is a very flexible tool for technically minded folks. | |
Web server logfiles Software Unix-based systems | Relatively simple and easily modified Perl-based logfile parser for Unix systems and common logfile (CLF) format web servers. | |
Webstats | Web server logfiles Software Unix (Solaris) | Very simple Perl-based logfile parser. Easy to install, easy to run. |
| http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/tools/logparser/default.mspx | Web server logfiles Software Windows | Microsoft tool that allows SQL-like queries against Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) logfiles. |
Web server logfiles Software Win/Unix/Mac | Surprisingly well-supported by moderately active bulletin boards maintained by a regular software company (Quest Software). |
Keep in mind that there are likely many more free applications, including hundreds (if not thousands) of page counters. The programs listed above are those that have a solid reputation and have been around for years. Some, like Microsoft’s Log Parser, are even documented in great books like Microsoft Log Parser Toolkit (O’Reilly).
For the most part, to take advantage of these free applications, you need a good working knowledge of software installations, some Perl in many cases, and lots and lots of patience. Some of the applications, such as AWStats and Analog, are supported by the open source community and incredibly nice people like Dr. Stephen Turner (author of Analog and contributor in this book). Also, if you’re really interested in saving some money, don’t forget to read the “Build Your Own Web Measurement Application” hacks throughout this book!
The next step up from free software is inexpensive software. By inexpensive, I mean under $1,000 for either the software license or two years of hosted costs. For example, if a hosted application is $500 per year, it would be on this list because it costs only $1,000 over two years. We use two years because that is the average amount of time companies use most web measurement applications before upgrading or switching vendors.
While $1,000 may seem like a lot for you, many of the applications listed in Table 1-4 are significantly less expensive, and I’ve tried to include the lowest available pricing I could find (but please remember those prices are subject to change).
Table 1-4. Inexpensive web measurement solutions (continued)
Name, URL, and lowest available price | Data source(s) used Delivery type Platforms | What’s good or cool about this solution |
|---|---|---|
|
$5/month | JavaScript page tags Hosted application | Perhaps the world’s least-expensive tag-based solution; provides simple conversion and ROI tracking for under $10 per month. |
ClickTracks | Web server logfiles, JavaScript page tags Windows | One of the most usable, visually engaging measurement applications available; very appropriate for those new to site measurement. |
|
$4.95/month | Web server logfiles, JavaScript page tags Software Windows | The Sims meets web site measurement; hilarious, if a touch impractical for serious measurement; allows realtime chat with visitors. |
| $9.95/month | JavaScript page tags Hosted application | Basic tag-based measurement application, a step up visually from Web-Stat; able to publish reports in Excel and Adobe PDF formats. |
| http://www.hitboxprofessional.com $26.67/month | JavaScript page tags Hosted application | The original inexpensive web measurement application; feature rich and supported by a well known application vendor (WebSideStory). |
| $10.82/month | JavaScript page tags Hosted application | Purportedly used by 50,000 subscribers in 100 companies; a feature-rich alternative to HitBox Professional for Europe and Asia. |
|
$149.95 | Web server logfiles Software Windows | Very inexpensive software-based logfile parser; provides additional functionality via downloadable reports (Professional version only). |
|
$19.95/month | JavaScript page tags Hosted application | Tag-based solution highly focused on pay-per-click campaign efforts; has add-on functionality to generate complex keyword ROI metrics and a nifty browser overlay (E-Business Edition only). |
|
$50/month | JavaScript page tags Hosted application | Relatively simple application; the only measurement application I know of that focuses on identifying click fraud. |
WebTrends 7 Small Business Edition $495 or $35/month | Web server logfiles, JavaScript page tags Software, hosted application Windows (software) | Very flexible, very powerful application for the money; provided by a market-leading application vendor (Web- Trends). |
|
$695 | Web server logfiles Software Win/Unix/Mac | Flexible solution for a variety of platforms; one of a small number of applications that provide visitor segmentation for under $1,000. |
| $895 | Web server logfiles Software Win/Unix/Mac | Very fast, slick-looking interface capable of reporting in multiple languages; improves accuracy of web server logfiles using first-party cookie augmentation. |
The advantage of paying even a small amount is that you establish some type of relationship with the software provider—one that you can leverage if you need minor support. Some of the programs listed in Table 1-4, including WebTrends, Urchin, NetTracker Professional, ClickTracks, and HitBox Professional, are sold by very reputable companies that also sell business- and enterprise-class applications; these companies have an added advantage of a larger, measurement-focused organization supporting their inexpensive products and are worth a closer look.
I’m not advocating free and inexpensive solutions if you’re absolutely committed to web measurement being a critical aspect of your online business; there is a pretty strong correlation between the amount companies spend and the attention they pay to software applications. Still, if you’re just getting your feet wet and want to test the waters, any of the applications listed in this hack are worth a look.
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