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| Author |
Freeware conversion tracking
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| Hans Mayr 2006-08-21, 6:52 pm |
| Hello,
I am looking for a conversion tracking tool. To be more precise I have
my log files (Apache) and I want to know which percentage of visitors
coming from www.referring-site.com see my page
www.my-site.com/thanks-for-buying.php. Is there a freeware solution? If
not, is there a good and cheap shareware?
Thanks and Regards,
Hans
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| Mark Goodge 2006-08-21, 6:52 pm |
| On 21 Aug 2006 10:45:52 -0700, Hans Mayr put finger to keyboard and
typed:
>Hello,
>
>I am looking for a conversion tracking tool. To be more precise I have
>my log files (Apache) and I want to know which percentage of visitors
>coming from www.referring-site.com see my page
>www.my-site.com/thanks-for-buying.php. Is there a freeware solution? If
>not, is there a good and cheap shareware?
Google Analytics. Provided that you're happy with the fact that
Google's motto is fast becoming "All your data are belong to us", it
will do exactly what you want and is completely free.
Mark
--
Please give me one! http://www.pleasegivemeone.com
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| Hans Mayr 2006-08-22, 6:41 pm |
| Thanks. Indeed Analytics is an option. But I'd prefere a solution
without giving away all my data. Who knows a program? Or even a little
script only? Or, if nothing else is available, shareware or payware?
Thanks. Hans.
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| Charles Sweeney 2006-08-22, 6:41 pm |
| Hans Mayr wrote
> Thanks. Indeed Analytics is an option. But I'd prefere a solution
> without giving away all my data. Who knows a program? Or even a little
> script only? Or, if nothing else is available, shareware or payware?
Google analytics is just another stats program, with the inherent
limitations.
http://www.analog.cx/docs/webworks.html
It also relies on the visitor having Javascript and cookies enabled.
What better stats than sales?
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
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| Otto de Voogd 2006-08-22, 10:33 pm |
| On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 19:24:30 +0100, Mark Goodge wrote:
> On 21 Aug 2006 10:45:52 -0700, Hans Mayr put finger to keyboard and
> typed:
>
>
> Google Analytics. Provided that you're happy with the fact that
> Google's motto is fast becoming "All your data are belong to us", it
> will do exactly what you want and is completely free.
>
> Mark
There is an Open Source package which has exactly this feature, it tracks
(amongst other things) which referrers lead to sales (and also how far
into your sales path your customers go):
http://www.7is7.com/software/stateye/
--
Otto de Voogd
http://www.7is7.com/otto/ - Homepage
http://www.FireUpTheFox.com/ - Fire up the Fox!
http://www.StatEye.com/ - Website Statistics
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| Charles Sweeney 2006-08-26, 6:31 am |
| Otto de Voogd wrote
> On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 08:39:16 +0000, Charles Sweeney wrote:
>
>
> I don't think it ignores that at all.
> Can you be more specific?
Hi Otto.
I replied to your email. Might be better to keep the conversation in
one place?
These items in particular regard to the reference I posted:
The number of pages visited and number of distinct visitors.
The pages that were visited first and last.
These items rely on optional and forgeable information (referrer, user
agent etc) being sent:
A list of websites that sent the most traffic your way.
The search terms used on search engines like Google.
The browsers and operating systems used by visitors.
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
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| Otto de Voogd 2006-08-26, 6:35 pm |
| On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 10:15:31 +0000, Charles Sweeney wrote:
> Otto de Voogd wrote
>
>
> Hi Otto.
>
> I replied to your email. Might be better to keep the conversation in
> one place?
>
> These items in particular regard to the reference I posted:
>
> The number of pages visited and number of distinct visitors.
> The pages that were visited first and last.
>
> These items rely on optional and forgeable information (referrer, user
> agent etc) being sent:
>
> A list of websites that sent the most traffic your way.
> The search terms used on search engines like Google.
> The browsers and operating systems used by visitors.
I haven't received that e-mail, sending you an alternative e-mail address,
I'll await that before commenting any further.
--
Otto de Voogd
http://www.7is7.com/otto/ - Homepage
http://www.FireUpTheFox.com/ - Fire up the Fox!
http://www.StatEye.com/ - Website Statistics
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| Otto de Voogd 2006-08-26, 10:40 pm |
| On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 20:55:16 +0000, Charles Sweeney wrote:
> Otto de Voogd wrote
>
>
> I'd rather you didn't Otto. I can make my comments here. I do have
> other things to do, you know.
OK. I thought your mail contained additional information that I needed to
read first before commenting.
Your comments hold true if what was being analyzed was purely the log of
your webserver. This software however is not another webserver log
analysis tool. It attempts to log even pageviews of pages that were
cached, by including something which is not likely to be cached. Our
chance to see the actual first page visited appear in our log increases
immensely.
Obviously as with any solution, nothing is fool proof, you don't have
control over the computers of people that visit your site and you are
relying on browsers behaving in certain ways and respecting certain
standards. So although you can say that whatever results you see are
strictly speaking not correct they are an estimate and should be
interpreted that way. What this package tries to do is make as good as
estimate as possible.
The alternative is to have no information at all. However there are many
reasons why this information, even when not 100% accurate, is important to
a website owner. Maybe to help determine which parts of a site to focus
on, or maybe which places to pay for ads.
It is also true that referrers and user agents can be faked. Nobody knows
for sure what percentage of user agents is faked. We know what browsers
identify themselves as (or what they pretend to be), admitting that there
is a deviation from the exact figure it is still interesting to see
certain browsers gain "market share". But the most interesting thing is to
see the enormous variation of browsers that are used, something people
need to be more aware of in order to avoid making websites that lock out
large percentages of their potential visitor.
As for referrers, these can also be faked, but what usually happens is
that they are blanked out. A very large percentage of visitors however
does not do this, so you will still be able to see
something. For example the knowledge that 80% of your visitors from search
engines comes from Google, may not be exactly correct (based on data from
maybe 90% of your visitors), but it is probably not extremely far from the
true figure.
Also note that analog, whose disclaimer you used as reference, also
presents an overview of:[color=darkred]
It could be that the on-line documentation for StatEye is not always clear
enough regarding the uncertainty of certain data, maybe it needs an
overall disclaimer like analog does. It is certainly not my intention to
present this kind of data as an absolute truth.
--
Otto de Voogd
http://www.7is7.com/otto/ - Homepage
http://www.FireUpTheFox.com/ - Fire up the Fox!
http://www.StatEye.com/ - Website Statistics
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| Charles Sweeney 2006-08-27, 6:40 am |
| Otto de Voogd wrote
[comprehensive reply - thanks for that]
> Obviously as with any solution, nothing is fool proof, you don't have
> control over the computers of people that visit your site and you are
> relying on browsers behaving in certain ways and respecting certain
> standards. So although you can say that whatever results you see are
> strictly speaking not correct they are an estimate and should be
> interpreted that way. What this package tries to do is make as good as
> estimate as possible.
That was my point.
I wish you the best of luck with it.
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
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