Forum Moderators: DixonJones
I don't want to get into the business myself of installing and setting up analysis software, downloading files, and providing reports. There may be money in this, but most clients I'm encountering seem to want more than they're willing to pay for. So I'm looking for a package that clients can view online...
I understand going in the limitations of log-file tracking, because of caching, etc. That said, probably what's most important for me and probably my clients is good referral information... and, beyond that, page views, entrance and exit information, etc.
It would be nice, for me at least, to have spidering info too.
I've used WebTrends a fair amount with clients who have it installed and set up on their servers, and it gives nice, easy to read reports... with a lot of unnecessary whistles and bells. If I knew of a good host with WebTrends at not too expensive a monthly price, I'd probably go with it and ignore the whistles and bells... but I've never configured it and hesitate to get into anything that's far beyond the default.
The hosting company which Brett recommends, which hosts WebMasterWorld, has wusage already installed and available free. Clearly the company is a solid hosting company. Wusage would sort of suffice for most client needs, though I think I'd get frustrated with it before the clients would. In certain areas, like top referrers, wusage lists only seem to go 10 deep, but perhaps there's a configuration option that would let me change this. I also don't see that wusage provides spidering info.
FastStats looks good, if it's available in a version that works online... but the screen-shots I've seen don't look like it's got an html interface.
I also took a very brief look at the WebTrends Live site... didn't even see a sample report... but I can guess that the $35/month minimum might be too much for some clients, though perhaps trivial to others.
Also, I haven't been able to guess how WebTrends Live must work. If it's completely web based and they don't host your site, either the software is somehow connected to your log files, or else it's a glorified click tracker, which I doubt could provide a lot of useful information, and might also slow down your site. How does it work?
I'm sure I've left some packages out... this isn't my area of expertise... but most important in all this is that the hosting company be absolutely rock solid.
eg.. my hosting company recently changed to Urchin Enterprise 3.3 from an older vintage logging system.
What a difference... Urchin is very easy to use, there are descriptions of what the results actually mean and the reporting is detailed enough for the non techie to understand how the site is performing.... all without me having to be involved in hand holding or stats interpretation.
I have no vested interest in the product, just pleasantly surprised at the results for all the reasons you outline in your post.
It has been my experience that hosting companies provide logging analysis that ranges from apalling to overkill. They often seem genuinely surprised that a customer actually wants to get useable data.... so maybe if more webmasters start choosing hosting companies based on the quality of the tools they offer, then maybe the customer satisfaction message would sink in.
I think tools such as Mach5, Webtrends, and Analog are far better than anything I've seen from hosts.
I can search Google and find web hosting companies who offer WebTrends... The problem is, I don't know who they are. Anyone know of a good solid company that does offer WebTrends or another solid package? Host should be in the US, preferably in the west....
To answer one of my questions above, I just found an explanation on the WebTrends site of how WebTrends Live works... javascript on each page sending a message to the WebTrends server. I can see how this could be slow, and be a nuisance to install, and be a problem with folks who keep their javascript disabled. Anyone here use it... and does it give good referred information?
WebTrends Live
Thanks... that confirms my original assumption.
This afternoon, I spoke with someone who's used WebTrends Live, and he tells me it does list referrer phrases and search engines. The pdf file on WebTrends Live also indicates that wtl provides that information. I haven't seen a wtl report... For whatever reason, WebTrends doesn't have a sample on its site.
Since I use includes on my sites, installing the script in a header or footer file makes setting up a breeze. The code is fairly compact and if I'm not mistaken, a recent communication with them has corrected an issue with unescaped ampersands not validating with the W3C.
The reports update every hour on the hour. The report formats are incredible. I've been using WebTrends for quite some time and have always relied on their statistics for fairly accurate numbers. This new Live version far exceeds anything they've done in the past and the real time stats are a welcome addition to a full service package.
P.S. WebTrends Live is a web based application and there is no need for any support from your hosting provider. Thats what I like about it. Our current server based Enterprise Edition has just become dated! ;)
P.S.S. Robert Charlton, send me a sticky with username and password and I'll send you a link to a report. It's really cool, you can set up users and give them read only access and all sorts of neat stuff. This is reporting at its finest.
No, I am not a representative of WebTrends. Just a happy customer at the moment!
My 2 cents may only be worth half that, because I am not a pro webmaster or SEO, but with my limited experience I would always look for a local host. That way if there are problems you can drive down, walk in, and butt heads with the manager face to face. I had a problem with a remote site and got in an e-mail war - well you can probably guess how much satisfaction I got.
One other factor might be if you or your customers (if their local) ever decide to set up your own server, the switch would be less painful.
Makes sense. OK... does anyone know of a good solid San Francisco Bay Area based hosting company that offers WebTrends or another solid stats package?
pageoneresults - Thanks. That certainly changes my impression of WTL. I will sticky you. WTL would offer the possibility of separating hosting from stats tracking, while still allowing client access to the info online.
I sent pageone's comments to the person I'd spoken to about WTL, and he says he concurs with everything that was said... he just didn't want to sound too much like a sales rep when he gave me his thoughts.
That said, I'm still looking for a local Bay Area host with regular WebTrends, or, if not Bay Area, a company like WestHost, that's so good that I won't be tempted to leave them.
