Website traffic and log files
Every time someone visits your website information like their IP address, time and date of access and error messages are recorded into log files that are saved on your server’s (i.e. your web host’s) computer. These files can be used to analyze your website traffic. If your web host doesn’t offer these log files, it is well worth it to switch to one that does.
The statistics generated by these log files are important tools for monitoring what your visitors do when they enter your website. Using the information gleaned from them you can track your website traffic and tailor your pages for maximum effect. Below is a checklist of what to look for when analyzing your website traffic.
In order to analyze your website traffic, you can choose one or many of the following four techniques:
1. A webpage counter
2. A statistical package from your ISP
3. Web traffic analysis software
4. Hire a professional to audit your website traffic
Web Traffic Analysis Tracking Software
Traffic analysis is one of the imperative aspects of a website. You can not promote your site effectively if you do not know the amount of traffic in your site plus the popular entry and exit points in it.
Professional and commercial web traffic analysis companies use tracking software. It is one of the programs that they are using to analyze web traffic. It informs them more than just the number of visitors in your site, but it can classify visitors according to date, time, browser, pages viewed, and other relative details.
It can tell you the exact path a visitor takes in your site. So it is more than just counting the amount of traffic. There are three types of tracking software that is used by these companies. These are discussed in the preceding sections.
Remote Tracking System
It is the most popular tracking system. It records all the traffic reporting in a remote server, which you can log on to check your site’s statistics. It is recorded through JavaScript that can be found in your webpage. Tracking your visitors means you can focus on the systems that are working to increase your web site traffic.
Despite of its popularity, this type of tracking system is hardly used by professional traffic analysis companies for some reason. First, it is often inaccurate because the recording is only relying on the connection to a remote server, where requests simply times out. It leads to unrecorded visitors.
Another is that if your system does not support JavaScript, the tracking software is no use at all. Most of the search engine spiders do not use JavaScript and the benefits of analyzing the web traffic on your site are non-existent.
Logging Programs
These are scripts that are installed on your server that generate log files. It enables you to control what is logged and what is not, thus you can track the pages that you want to track.
Another advanced feature of this type of system is that you can use it to track links from your site as well. It will give you an idea how much traffic you are sending in a link exchange.
Log Analysis Programs
It analyzes your server logs that will serve as basis in reporting intercepted traffic in the site. It includes advance filters that allow you to determine exactly what you want to be reported, although most of the time it reports everything that is saved in the log files.
Benefits of Web Traffic Analysis Companies
As stressed in the previous sections, the reason why we hire such companies is to help us improve our sites. Forced shutdowns of sites are caused by improper handling of web traffic, especially of huge one. It is important to have such aforementioned tracking software to have a daily estimate of the visitors in your site. It will also save you from damages that can be caused by virus-carrying files.
Web traffic is not just your visitors and the transfer of millions of data or files. Your business is at stake here; so do not ever neglect all the aspects of your site. Either you profit or lose money will depend on how you manage your site. Your goal should be to try and increase web site traffic daily.
Website Traffic Analysis 