Tracking Services
In order to use the traffic software outlined in the previous chapter, it must be installed on the server that hosts your Web site. If your Web host doesn’t offer useful traffic software or won’t let you install your own traffic software on its servers, you can still use Web-based tracking services to measure your traffic.
You simply copy and paste a small piece of JavaScript code provided by the service into the HTML of every page on your site. The code keeps track of everyone who visits the page and sends the data it records over the Web to another Web site, where those results are tallied and displayed.
Web-based tracking services aren’t as powerful as traffic software. They have a hard time measuring visits by robots from search engines such as Google and Yahoo. They have no way of tracking users’ access of non-HTML files, such as PDFs and images. If you want to know how many people viewed a particular photo in your gallery or downloaded a PDF application form, you’re out of luck. And they won't work if the visitor’s browser blocks JavaScript.
We’ve assembled a list of the most popular Web-based tracking services. Prices and features vary; we recommend you evaluate each service carefully and decide which one best meets your needs.
SiteMeter
The free SiteMeter Web counter service provides basic information about visits and visitors, browsers used to visit your site and referring URLs. It's updated constantly as people come to your site. In exchange, you must display a relatively unobtrusive Site Meter graphic on every page of the site. Site Meter's oddly colored tools and cluttered site interface can be difficult to use. You can also hide the required SiteMeter graphic from your users if you upgrade to “standard” service, which costs $7 per month.
As a SiteMeter user, you have the option of making your statistics public or private. Many sites let users view their traffic statistics. If your site enjoys healthy traffic, making your statistics public can help persuade advertisers that your site is a good investment.
Bravenet
Counters are only one of the Web tools offered by Bravenet. It also offers hosting, classifieds, chat capability, site searches and more. All these services are free for the most basic level of service.
Bravenet offers one statistic that isn't always available elsewhere: first-time versus returning visitors. This can be a suspect number that hits the same limits as other visitor-counting tools. For example, a user who logs on to your site from work and then again from home would count as two first-time visitors. Nonetheless, first-time visitors are still a nice metric to watch.
To see Bravenet in action, visit counter2.bravenet.com/index.php?id=370586&usernum=137405393.
StatCounter
StatCounter offers a clear interface, simple signup, and no requirement to display a link back to its site, even for its free package. Its robust analysis breaks down your current unique, returning and repeat visitors, as well as tracking statistics on incoming browsers and their resolutions, operating systems and countries of origin; the search engines and keywords they used to find your site; the referring links that brought them to your site, and more.
However, you must have fewer than 250,000 page views a month to escape paying. StatCounter’s free service also fails to keep track of historical data for more detailed statistics like your site’s most popular pages. You can see which pages were most visited in the last 24 hours, but not in the last month.
FastCounterPro
Microsoft's Web traffic service costs $19.95 a month for sites with fewer than 50,000 monthly page views. It gives you comprehensive stats in downloadable reports that are easy to import into Excel.
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/products/online/fs/detail.mspx
HitBox Professional
WebSideStory’s HitBox Professional service offers a considerable cross-section of tools. It’s best suited for sites that have large, complex traffic analysis needs. HitBox Professional costs $27 per month if you pay on an annual basis or $35 per month otherwise.
http://www.websidestory.com/products/web-analytics/hitbox-professional/overview.html
Built-in Tools
Some content management systems have implemented traffic-tracking tools as part of their administrative interfaces. Most of these services are limited and will probably whet your appetite for more detailed information.
For example, if you use the independent blog software ExpressionEngine, some built-in site statistics are available, including limited data about the pages that have been visited, the refers to your site, and the total number of visitors.
Expression Engine provides some site statistics, as shown here for the J-New Voices Web site (www.j-newvoices.org).
Weighing the Options
Here's a quick checklist to help you choose between local traffic software or Web-based tracking services. There are always exceptions, but these differences hold true for most site traffic tools.
| Feature | Local Traffic Software | Web-Based Tracking Services |
| Works regardless of your hosting limitations | X | |
| Provided free by some hosts, with no setup | X | |
| Another company’s servers store your information | X | |
| Aggregate information is often shared with third parties | X | |
| Requires you to pay more as traffic increases | X | |
| Costs the same regardless of traffic volume (usually) | X | |
| Charge monthly fees | X | |
| Charge extra for multiple sites | X | |
| Charge a one-time fee for multiple sites | X | |
| Doesn't track hits | X | |
| Can slow down your page slightly | X | |
| Can track visitors across multiple sites, which some users dislike | X | |
| May require a visible counter or link to the counter service | X | |
| Upgrades and fixes automatically provided as necessary | X | |
| Live stats usually available | X | |
| Usually run once a day or less frequently | X | |
| Requires code on every page | X | |
| No extra page code required (usually) | X | |
| Same tool can be used if you switch hosting providers | X | |
| Tracking changes when you change hosts, making stat comparisons difficult | X | |
| Includes page size data to help track bandwidth usage | X | |
| Includes complete historical data to track statistics over time | X |
