Best Site Tracker !

[Caesar]

Hi guys,

Let's have a thread on what's the best site tracker out there. State which is the best in your opinion and your reasons for being so. Besides, how accurate are they ?

[JK_Bowman]

Hey Cesar,

The two I'm familiar with somewhat are HitBox and Web Trends Live.

Both of them provide excellent stats. The only problem is that as a tracker service and not a log analysis program they require the downlod of a graphic to record the visit. So, if your page if half loaded and the graphic has not downloaded completely - you get no info on the visit.

One tip which perhaps I should not mention is that you can put the graphic (code) inside a layer. Position the layer off to the left of the screen and the tracker will still work. In other words, you can use the free tracker and not display the graphic.

Hmmm.. perhaps I should not have said that but I'll leave it up to the folks who make these things to figure out how to deal with this issue.

On the high end, Web Trends is good for log analys. I've used that for quite some time and it's very effective. It's limitations are that it can be very confusing to use if you have a framed site and if you have to wait for updates from your host there is never any live content.

I'm still using Web Trends for log analysis somewhat, but I recently switched over to Live Stats. All I can say about that is that Live Stats absolutly rocks. I can create custom reports on just about any subject you can think of. And its's always fun to log into the Live Stats program and see exactly who is on your site or which robot is crawling it.

[WebKat]

SitePoint Search Feature is very helpful to find similar threads about topics posted...you will find a wide range of opinions that can help you judge what is best for you...

Such as ----> "This Thread about Hit Counters" and don't miss this "Second Set of Opinions"

Here's hoping that SP Members may be aware of other reliable Hit Counters that we just don't know about yet or features that have been added to those that we do know about...Any thing new out there?

[WebKat]

Originally posted by JK_Bowman
One tip which perhaps I should not mention is that you can put the graphic (code) inside a layer. Position the layer off to the left of the screen and the tracker will still work. In other words, you can use the free tracker and not display the graphic.

Watch out though doing this ~ As long as this isn't violating the hit counter's TOS Be sure that you read the limitations of any remote service that you incorporate into your website, free or otherwise, or you could lose the service or more...it may not be worth it in the long run.

And remember the SitePoint Community Guidelines ~ Deceptive practices are not allowed on the SP Forums.

Just a reminder...WebKat

[TWTCommish]

If you use http://www.SiteMeter.com then you don't have to worry about hiding the counter - it has an option to become invisible on your page...still clickable, but you can set your stats as "Private" so that even if someone finds it, and clicks on it, they won't be taken to your stats, they'll be redirected to the SiteMeter home page.

I highly recommend SiteMeter - it's the only hit counter I use for any of my sites.

[WebMasterAJ]

I liked SiteMeter, as they had a lot of stats, where people went, came from, length of visit, every little detail. However, once I went with HostRocket, I found that they had an AWESOME set up. Bascially, see what your host has to offer, they will be the most accurate.

[Fluffykins]

http://www.thecounter.com also has an invisible counter option and decent stats service.

The only problem i've found is that at peak times they're really slow. Bummer eh?

I'm on the look out for a new, pref. invisible one.

Ady

[Son Nguyen]

Yeah, I like SiteMeter too, it can send email report to you.
However, I prefer in-site trackers or software
Like you download the log file and use software
to analyze it, pretty fast and extremely detailed!
And I am talking about FastStats

[JK_Bowman]

I have a fairly good link here for this kind of stuff.

Adbility (formerly from Mark Welch)
http://www.adbility.com/show.asp?cat_id=346

This site provides info on both paid and free counters, trackers, and log analysis programs.

They also break things down by:

counters
trackers
fake or joke counters
ISP specific counters
software and scripts

Happy counting!

[steven]

I was just wondering what the url to download the live stats analyzer was?

Steven

[JK_Bowman]

Hey Steven,

Here is a live online demo of Live Stats.

http://www.mediahouse.com/statisticsserver/live_demo/

They have download and purchase info there, but you can get it through many web hosts. I get mine through Media3 at http://media3.net.

[mjames]

If you ask me, it's all about SiteMeter. Best I've seen, especially since you can make it invincible. I use SiteMeter in addition to my host's stats.

[WebKat]

And SiteMeter has the best Webmaster in the world with David Smith...if you have a problem or question he often gets back to you within a few hours with a fix & he welcomes feedback...

I have used SiteMeter consistantly for 3 years now and have only Kudos for their service & stats...The best if you need a remote hit counter for your website!

[steven]

Does sitemeter tell you which robots have indexed your pages, or crawled through your site?

[Cloughie]

Originally posted by Fluffykins
http://www.thecounter.com also has an invisible counter option and decent stats service.

The only problem i've found is that at peak times they're really slow. Bummer eh?

I'm on the look out for a new, pref. invisible one.

Ady

Well I have never used thecounter.com, but my work buddie I sit next to used it and it was truly inaccurate..

The majority of the referals were porn related and his site was a localk football club site !!!! All of the info was just totally useless...

For me my hosts is good enough for now, but I got webtrends at work which is amazing... Man it tells you everything... Wouldn'y be suprised if the next version tells what colout t-shirt your visitors have on !! LOL