Free Stuff: Counters

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If you are a webmaster and you are not examining the statistics of your siteregularly, then you are running blind.
If you are serious, then you must beexamining your site statistics regularly to find ... If you are a webmaster and you are not examining the statistics of your siteregularly, then you are running blind.
If you are serious, then you must beexamining your site statistics regularly to find out which pages are beingvisited, where the people are coming from and what they are doing while theyare on your site. You have two ways to do this: log files (the recommendedand far superior method) and counter scripts.Log FilesThe absolute best option is to place your site with a web host which givesyou complete access to your log files.
Most web servers keep (at the systemmanagers discretion) a detailed record (called a log file) of every singlething that happens on the site. Every page visit, every image load and evenevery single error is recorded.Since log files are already created automatically for you, why not takeadvantage of them and get the detailed statistics they provide? This has theadded advantage that you are not adding the additional overhead of recordingstatistics that are already being recorded by your web server.
Log files arealso invisible to your visitors (it's really none of their business how manyhits you are getting) and require no setup of any kind.A number of options exist to analyze your log files. Virtually all web hoststhat allow you to access these logs also provide some online tools to viewthem in an organized manner.
Usually these tools consist of some routinethatruns each night and creates graphics and charts which you can examine atyour leisure.You can also find a number of programs (shareware and professional) whichwill help you determine exactly what is happening on your site. Theseprograms generally cost money, which is beyond the scope of this article.Local ScriptsPersonally, I am not sure why anyone would want to include a locally hostedcounter script on their pages.
I mean if the web host allows CGI (or ASP,PHP or similar technology) scripts to be executed he almost certainly givesyou access to the log files. So why add the additional overhead andcomplexity of a local script? The only reason that I can think of is toinclude a counter on the page - which I would not recommend anyway since Ido not see how a hit counter improves a site.
The way I look at it, if youare getting the hits you don't need to brag (and your visitors may notbelieve you if you told them what you were getting anyway). If you are not,why would you want to tell you visitors that no one is visiting your site?Frontpage ExtensionsFrontpage is a product sold by Microsoft which does a reasonably good job ofweb site editing.
This product includes a number of extensions, and one ofthose allows for hit counting. I must take just a minute to explain myfeelings on this counter: it's one of the worst counter implementations thathas ever been created.
Don't use it. If you do, you will regret it.Remote ScriptsIf you cannot get access to your server log files (which is generally truefor sites on free hosts such as GeoCities and FortuneCity), then your bestoption is to use remotely hosted counter and statistics scripts.
If yoursite is hosted on a free host, they will most likely provide access to acounter script of some kind. You can use that script if you desire, or youcan use one of the scripts listed later in this article.Remotely hosted scripts are extremely inferior to examining the server logfiles for the following reasons:1) Since the script is on a remote server, it tends to slow your page load.Sometimes this slowdown can be very significant.2) The scripts usually require an image load from the remote host, whichintroduces the possibility that your site statistics are being used formarketing and advertising purposes.
In this case, the script and associatedimage load are acting as web bugs, with all of the associated privacyissues.3) The counters may cause cookies to be placed on your visitors computersystems. Many people now simply do not want cookies, so you are introducingadditional reasons for people to leave your site.4) The counter companies usually make money by indirect means such asadvertising and selling marketing research information.
This makes them veryvulnerable to the whims of advertisers (and the stock market). You couldfind yourself replacing all of your remotely loaded scripts more often thanyou would like simply due to company turnover (and quite a few of thesecompanies have gone belly up in the year 2001).There are not that many advantages to using these scripts.
In fact, the onlyreal reason that makes sense is simply that you have no choice because youdo not have access to the server logs. Another reason is if you really wanta hit counter displayed on your pages.If you must use a remotely hosted counter script, be sure and look at themall before settling on one.
Why? Since the code is embedded within all ofyour pages, it can be quite a pain to change later. So take the time to finda script which gives you all of the data that you need to manage your site.Some remotely hosted scripts are listed below.BeSeenhttp://www.beseen.com/hitcounter/index.htmlSimple counter with a variety of styles.Bravenet Web Serviceshttp://www.bravenet.com/The counters come in various sizes and colors, and increment when newvisitors come to your web page.
When you click on your counter it will takeyou to several pages of useful statistics.Extreme Trackinghttp://www.extreme-dm.com racking/Very advanced tracking service. You will be able to tell exactly what yourvisitors are doing if you add this service to your site.
Some of thefeatures include: real-time reporting and extensive referrer tracking.Fast Counterhttp://www.bcentral.com/fastcounter/This service from bCentral gives you a simple, fast counter. Nothing fancy,just a variety of styles.
Not much reporting capabilities.FreeStatshttp://www.freestats.com/A very good tracking service with lots of features. With Freestats you willbe able to know exactly what your visitors are doing on your web site, howlong they've been there and where they came from.HitBoxhttp://www.hitbox.com/By far the best tracking service on the internet.
If you want to find outexactly what your visitors are doing, where they came from and how long theystayed, this service is for you. Note: this service does require a bit moresetup than most.HitMatichttp://www.hitmatic.com/A good counter with lots of statistics.SiteMeterhttp://www.sitemeter.com/Site Meter is a free, fast, and easy way to add a web counter to your webpage.
Not only does it display the number of visitors to your web site, italso keeps statistics on the number of visits each hour and each day.WebStathttp://www.webstat.net/more.htmlReasonably good statistics package. Easy to install, easy to use.WebTrackerhttp://www.fxweb.com racker/Implementing a WebTracker on your page lets you count visitors to your page.You gain informative data on what browser they are using, the operatingsystem they are running, and can even tell if they are a return visitor!Find out what days of the week are hot at your site, and find out what timeof the day visitors come to your site.
Note: limited to sites with 500 hitsper day or less.Additional InformationConstantly collect and analyze statisticshttp://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/Statistics.htmYou MUST collect and analyze statistics about your web site to determinewhat is working and what is not.Watching Your Visitorshttp://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/maintwatching.htmIf you are a webmaster, then you need to know what your visitors are doingon your web site.Web Bugshttp://www.internet-tips.net/Security/webbugs.htmWeb bugs are little graphic images inserted into web pages, emails and otherweb-aware documents to allow companies to gather information about youwithout your knowledge. Article Tags: Remotely Hosted, Tracking Service Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .