visitor stats analysing

[Kysmiley]

Im looking for a recommendation for a decent visitor stats analysisng tool. One that will tell me all i need to know about what url they are using not just ip numbers, where they are coming from keywords used to find us, where they enter where they leave and where they go. Any suggestions would be great thanks

[pmkpmk]

There's 'zillions of web stats packages out there - just do a Google search and you will find them.

Also you can chose among free packages and commercial packages (which then again come in a hosted or a standalone version).

For the free packages, Webalizer and AWStats are very widespread. For commercial products, Webtrends/NetIQ seem to be quite well established. Most commercial products have test versions, so you can test them along with the free ones.

Whichever package you finally use depends on your personal taste and budget.

[karmov]

I would suggest you try a couple (easier with the free ones). You'll find that although they cover the same basic stats, some will take a different approach and offer you stats that they feel are important where others might not care. The ones mentioned above are the ones I hear talked about most often as well.

Try out a few, see what fits what you like.

[pmkpmk]

A completely new approach is ClickTracks. Instead of analyzing the log the try to analyze user patterns. Instead of presenting you bars and pie-charts and graphs they show you your very site and which links where clicked and what paths a user has taken.

Pretty unique approach (as far as I've seen) and a price comparatively low. There's a time- and deptht-limited demo version available.

(I haven't bought it - but I consider it every once in a while :-)

[bears5122]

Definately invest in some good software. Had more than my share of trouble with "free" software to track traffic.

[jimh009]

I like Urchin 5. It is a great stats program - and is provided by my web host. I like it so much, in fact, that I only host my new sites with web hosts that provide it.

Problem with many of the free programs is that it requires you to download the log files - a tedious process if your logs exceed 30MB a day.

[ronin]

A completely new approach is ClickTracks.

VisitorVille does the same thing and it's rather clever. However the biggest buzz is seeing your website as a bustling city with visitors arriving on buses from the search engines, crowding in and out of office blocks or walking out of a towerblock and whistling to hail a taxi to take them halfway across the city.

Seeing visitors navigate your website in realtime - especially just after you've put up a set of new pages - is very useful. And you can 'look over someone's shoulder' as well, by choosing an individual visitor and watching your webpages come up in a separate window, as they navigate from one to the next.

As gimmicks go, it's a good one.

Plug over.
No, I'm not employed by them...

[fidibidabah]

Ah, anyone remember the good ol' days when Hitbox was absolutely free? What a great piece of software!

Unfortunately, they figured out it's value and by now it cost an arm and a leg. You know a service/program is expensive when they won't give you a price quote without your company's entire profile and information ;)

VisitorVille, however, is the coolest damn thing on the planet (excuse my language). I think I want this. If anyone here is an affiliate, sticky me with your link/code so I can help someone out.

What a unique approach. Actually, with some better graphics/design, and maybe the ability to interact with individual 'people' and track them through your website as well as others... this could become the largest webmaster game on the planet ;)

Whoops, gotta go, I have a few hundred privacy advicates knocking at my door.

[karmov]

Ya thanks for mentioning that Ronin... Really interesting product. Not planning to use it on my production site just yet, but it sure does look like fun and worth giving a whirl.

[fazer600]

my host has a few stats packages included in the control panel. awstats is a good way of viewing everything on one page. You can quickly see what you want at a glance.

Urchin is another good package, it's not all on one page so you have to load each subsection, but then again it does have a filter which is useful if you want to filter out your own ip address to get a better stats overview.