with hosted tracking what important info do I miss out on?

HitBox Pro, WebTrends Live, Etc.

[Craig_F]

I've seen it mentioned that while these services can provide valuable data you miss out on some info that you'd get if you crunched the raw log. So, what do you miss out on?

I have a situation where we need to switch to hosted so any help is appreciated, thanks!

[Craig_F]

does anyone know? I was hoping to make a move on this by early next week. thanks!

[GeorgeGG]

I have a 'personal website' so I don't have my own server log files,
just the files I make myself. They are about like 'hosted tracking'.

what do you miss out on

Errors, request for files that don't exist or mispelled
and things like that.

GeorgeGG

[pageoneresults]

One thing I miss with an ASP solution is the information relative to 404's and server errors. Since I'm running both a server edition of WebTrends along with WebTrendsLive, I still have access to that info. I'm about ready to can the server addition and use WTL exclusively.

[Craig_F]

interesting. I will still have access to the logs, so I could run them now and then to see any error info. So, that doesn't sound like a big deal. Is there anything else like that I'll miss out on?

[indomitable]

Interesting question.
The ASP solution I use gives me a lot more info than the logs files used to. Indeed it creates its own log files which are much bigger and better, with more info in them.

For example:
User goes from page 1 to page 2. Server log sees the request for both pages. User hits the back button and returns to page 1. Because page 1 is cached the server doesn't see a request and so it doesn't show up in the server log. It does in my files because the tracking is done client side, not server side. I get 10-20% higher figures by catching this cached traffic.

Duration:
Server logs measure the time of a request. If a user goes from page 1 (5 seconds) to page 2 (10 minutes) and then leaves the site then the server log tells me that the session length was 5 seconds, because it can't measure the unload of page 2. Mine does, which gives me accurate duration data - priceless.

I could go on but I won't bore you ;-)

PS: I use Clickstream by the way.

[Psmith0000]

Would someone please explain to me what the difference is with hosted tracking vs. the other option (which is what?)

I am just embarking on purchasing/licensing software to analyze our logs.

Thanks!

[martinibuster]

Spider tracking. It's nice to know whose bots are walking through your site, and what pages they're going thru.

This is especially important on development pages (and yes, I use noindex,nofollow), because development pages will mirror the Real Site, and you want to avoid want dupe content penalties.

[indomitable]

Psmith0000:

Hosted tracking is tracking done by an ASP who hosts the enormous amount of data that can be collected for you. Typically, the data gathered by the tracking system (say an ISAPI filter or module on your webserver) is streamed or FTPed do the Service Providers IP address where it is ingested into a server farm for you. You then access your report via a web interface which you log in to.

[martinibuster]

Or, to put it in english:
Hosted tracking is when you place some JavaScript in your code that then will track your visitor. The JS will "phone home" to the tracking company and relate it's data. You then go to their web site, log in, and view and/or download the reports. It's pretty cool.

Another option is to purchase software that will analyze your server access logs. I like doing it that way, myself.

[Psmith0000]

Aaaaahaaaa! Martini buster Thank you! And thank you also indominitable. I am beginning to see the light.