Forum Moderators: DixonJones
Which visitor tracking systems are designed to provide that type of info? Suggestions welcomed...
I help do these kind of things every once in awhile.
But first there is some information that needs to be sorted out:
What do you mean where you visitors come from? A particular search engine? CPC program? If yes, that is very easy to do with most web analytics program.
I believe some versions of Web Trends do have a path-through analysis that works backwards, as in, how do visitors get to a particular page.
There are also a few stats packages that will back track for you, the ones I tried were less effective than the cookie method. I forget which log analysers offer this, but a search on Google should find them easy enough.
Both methods have their shortcomings, for example the cookie method fails to track those who refuse cookies, whereas the log analysers miss any conversions from visitors who bookmark and return later.
Any suggestions on which web analytics program will do this? I don't have the skill or desire to roll my own...
ClickTracks ( [clicktracks.com...] ) have a similar feature. With ClickTracks you can also compare the behavior of customers ending up at your "thank you" page with the behavior of non-buying visitors.
A cookie-based tracking system will no doubt give much more accurate results, but backward tracking using a log analyzer is still a useful tool if you just want to see the big picture.
Unfortunately, AOL visitors tend to make a shambles of the big picture, at least for my site ;) But I will take a look at your suggested programs. Thanks!
POST "thanks.php
so i get something like:
****.****.xxx.xxx - - [05/Nov/2003:15:52:02 -0800] "POST /thanks.php HTTP/1.1" 200 3919 "http://www.mypage.com/form.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98)"
Then i just search for the xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx in my log file, the first instance of the number in the results has the original referer.
Then i just search for the ****.****.xxx.xxx in my log file, the first instance of the number in the results has the original referer.
Do you find this to be a reliable method? I have read in places that some user's IP's change 'mid-flight', and am currently cooking up a cookie tracking method.
Exactly. So it is impossible to trace them back to the initial referrer. So I am still looking for solutions - all suggestions welcomed :)
I had a similar issue but I was wanting to track referrals using the query section of the URL that they used, i.e. [widget.com...]
Here is the thread with the code I finally used [webmasterworld.com...]
You can then use this cookie value anywhere you see fit. (Try a hidden field on a form).
I am sure with javascript you would be able to extract the referring site and write that value to the cookie if you wanted to know from which page your visitor was referred rather than a referrer_id (does that even make sense?).
Good Luck
Paul
<edit>typo</edit>
I am sure I do - I appreciate your input - I was really hoping there were some turnkey tracking solutions available to handle this, but there don't seem to be. I contacted WebTrends - they assured me their software will handle my needs - of course, I would need the Enterprise edition ($10,500 US!)
It seems like such a basic need...you would think a turnkey package would be available for less than five figures. I guess I'll keep looking...;)
Thanks to all who have responded.
Paul
Visitors to your site coming through proxies (like AOL) change IP adresses for every hit on your pages. So it can be that the hit to your page has a different IP that the hit to an image on the same page.
OK, good to know that, that’s why some IPs had very strange original referers! :o.
I have found that more that 50% of my conversions are coming from static IPs, so using this method can give you some (not all) of the information you’re looking for; and yes, the best solution would be to use cookies and write the referral like vrtlw said.
Here's a little something that I cooked up last week that may be of use to you (if you use PHP and can include it in your site!).
First off, let me say that I am no PHP wizard, I barely make rookie - this code is hacked together with a 'sessionID avoiding script' that Nick_W posted somewhere here on WebmasterWorld along with bits and pieces of trial and error and maybe something I googled somewhere.
I'd like to tie it in with the possibility of writing in some javascript in case someone wants to get other types of user data like, for example... ummm, monitor size and possible other things that JS can get its hands on that right now I can't remember!
<?php
// User tracking...
//
// 1. Store a cookie and give user a unique name
// 2. Get Referer, IP, User Agent, Cookie info
// 3. Put the info in the dbase// Avoid giving a session or cookie to the SE's
$searchengines = array("Google", "Fast", "Slurp", "Ink", "Scooter", "Googlebot", "ASPseek");
$is_search_engine = 0;
foreach($searchengines as $key => $val) {
if(strstr("$HTTP_USER_AGENT", $val)) {
$is_search_engine ++;
}
} if($is_search_engine == 0) { // Not a search enginesession_start();
// Set username password and database
$user = "dbUsername";
$pass = "dbPassword";
$db = "dbName";// Connect to the database server
$link = mysql_connect( dbAddress, $user, $pass );
if (!$link )
die( "<p>Couldn't connect to MySQL</p>" );// Select the database
mysql_select_db( $db )
or die ( "Couldn't open $db: ".mysql_error() );// Get the data that will be stored
$timestamp=date("Y/m/j H:i:s");
$addr=getenv("REMOTE_ADDR");
$ref=getenv("HTTP_REFERER");
$page=$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$useragent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
$oreo = $_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE'];// Check for cookie...
// If is a return user, get the name
if (isset($mycookie[who]))
{
$WHO = $mycookie[who];
}
// Otherwise give'em a cookie and a nameelse {
$WHO = (rand(100,999)." - ".$timestamp);
setcookie("mycookie[who]",$WHO,time()+15552000,"/",$SERVER_NAME);
}// Insert the data
$result = mysql_query( "INSERT INTO main SET Date = '$timestamp', IP = '$addr', Referer = '$ref',
page = '$page', identifier = '$WHO' , oreo = '$oreo' , useragent = '$useragent' " );} else { // Is a search engine
/* Anything for searchengines in here */
}
?>
What this gives you wrt data isn't much more than what you'll get from your <apache> logs, but what it does do is pass along a cookie that gives the user a unique id. Using mySQL or exporting the data into Excel you can then pull out those users that did get the thank-you page, and then track their path from refferal to 'sale' without having to worry about changing IP's or conversions on return visits.
I started getting the reffererer data and the cookie data because I'm still 'testing' this and wanted to be sure that things were working (someones aspSeek spider is to blame for needing the referer). Sticky me if you need more info...
I thought I'd post this now as maybe you can mold it to your needs - I'm not quite done with it, but it does seem to be working.
A more comprehensive list of SE bots would definately be in order, I believe..
Also, if anyone sees any glaring PHP errors, we could brach into the php forum and clean this up...
<edited for clarity?>
[edited by: mipapage at 7:48 pm (utc) on Nov. 30, 2003]
They have an annual special for $26+ per month.
Hope this helps.
HighPR - Thanks - the cookie actually needs to be placed from the index page but the values stored in the cookie have to be recalled when the thank you page is called. I do use HitBox Professional on a client's site - I will play around with it and see if it can handle this.
Don
I generally log to a database and analyze via ad-hoc queries or custom web-based reporting interfaces. In addition to tracking external referer, I track entire path through the site, duration on each page and a number of other data points. With some caveats and limitations it's not that difficult for an experienced programmer to do, but depending on the site being implemented on, how it's programmed, etc. it could be a real bear.
If you decide you want to implement your own system feel free to ask specific questions here and I'll do my best to answer. This is my first time posting to this forum (and reading it), but tracking and logging is something I'm very involved in and interested in so I'm going to try to visit this forum as often as possible.
If you decide you want to implement your own system feel free to ask specific questions here and I'll do my best to answer.
Ditto for me. I'm still testing that thing I posted, but it does seem to be working. One problem with it is that there is no interface for it.
While testing I've been viewing the data live with PHP-MyAdmin, querying there (done wonders for my mySQL syntax) and also downloading pieces for further work with *cough* excel.
So, in that regard it's a bit weak, but it has given me answers on how to better 'usher' users through a website that we've just put live.
I'm actually amazed at how easy this could be if I sharpened up my database querying skills!
123loganalyzer ( [123loganalyzer.com...] ) have this feature. You can define a target page (order form or thank you page) and isolate stats for visitors accessing this page. You will see not only the referrer, but also the paths your customers have taken to the target page.
I can confirm that 123loganalyzer is great for this. I just tried it now, I'd been looking for something like this for awhile.
Can't believe a non-cookie system would do this accurately.
After you click "Analyze" there's an Analyze Options box that pops up. In the middle of that box, there's a "use filters to do deeper research" option. By clicking on that, you get a Filter Setting box, click on the Add a New Filter, and the default clicked option is the visitors who accessed a certain page or pages option, then click next and punch in the URL's you're trying to track.
You're right, this is nowhere close to a cookie-based kind of tracking. But it's better than how I had been reviewing the files for this type of information.
I've been told there are many other programs that do this, including ConversionLogic.
I accept what you say Tom, but I am lost on the "click on Analyze" - I can't see that, because all the sample has is the output, not the input options. This kinda wrecks the point of putting up a sample.
I guess I would have to download and try it to see what you say in action - which is just too much work today for me.
Dixon.
There is a free demo available. One note to those interested - if your browser or firewall is blocking third party cookies, you will have to allow them (when using the demo) for the conversion logic site to set the cookie it needs to. Not a big deal and there is no way else they could do it.
The software seems to do exactly what I was looking for. Definitely worth checking out.
It has entries such as:
/->/FAQ.htm->/device.htm->/down.htm->/download/mp3cd131.exe
