Introduction
Measure site traffic is vital to have the numerical support for the assignment of web design budget. How do you prioritize if you do not know how many and what kind of visitors accessing certain pages? In addition, in-depth analysis can enhance the effectiveness of the site and types of users of the segment. For these purposes one needs to acquire the site usage data.
This can be done basically in one of three ways:
- logs based Server
- records based user
- logs based ASP
All 3 methods have advantages and disadvantages to offer. In this paper the author alludes to the benefits and disadvantages of all three methods. In addition, some technical clarification begiven to explain why each method has its merits.
Basic registers the server
The physical server that is hosting a web site produces a detailed account of each request made page. These data are generated by a 'by-product ' server operating process. Since the analysis web usage is never envisioned when these systems were designed, the nature of these data makes rather cumbersome transform these data in a form that is usable for the analysis.
To make this data useful for analysis, mapping of the 'raw server data' in an appropriate data model requires knowledge of substantive domain. In principle, the data are very 'rich ', but it is labor intensive to extract all the embedded value. In addition, the server must be properly configured in order to generate all the data fields that may be of interest. Reconfiguration is not very difficult, but it requires IT involvement.
Especially when the website hosting is outsourced, such as the reconfiguration could interfere with the needs of the landlord. A machine capable of hosting several other sites. the first server data has a massive layout. For a great place this flows through to the Mega-Giga bytes per day. These data must be stored and transferred to the analytical users. Copies, backup and maintenance of such data must be negotiated with the landlord, often a third-party resource. In conclusion, despite the fact that these data are basically created for free as a byproduct of operation of the website, getting timely physical access to the right data at the right size can be difficult.
user-based log
With records in user base, the web server goes down a small program on your computer for the sole purpose of tracking clickstream data on the customer's computer. This technology has many advantages that are mostly derive from the fact that these programs have been developed for the express purpose of capturing historical data. In this way the very 'data rich' in the most useful format. Furthermore, since the measurement is performed on the client computer, the client is obtained final data centered. On the contrary, the measurement with the server or ASP-based mechanisms is inevitably subject to slight errors of interpretation of the actual delay time that the user is experiencing. This is caused by the fluctuating speed of the connection between client and server or ASP.
However, in recent times, some website owners have developed this kind of applications for purposes quite intrusive and often unpleasant. This technology has come to be known colloquially as spyware or adware. Most consumers are (rightfully) tired to have these applications installed on your computer. the lack of consumer confidence in essence precludes this technology is used, unless the websurfer has agreed in advance. Such voluntarily and deliberately engaged in the surf behavior monitoring is the case for consumer panels (such as Nielsen NetRatings) where people voluntarily participating in research.
In conclusion, this method is useful and powerful, but because of the lack of consumer confidence is no longer applicable in most cases. Only after consumers have given explicit consent in advance is this method a viable option. Monitoring surfing behavior dependent on an intranet can be done in this way, for example.
logs based ASP
With logs based ASP, a dedicated, separate server is put in place to monitor the behavior of visitors navigate on designated sites. For this purpose, a so-called 1-pixel GIF file is located on each page of the site. This is non-intrusive and invisible to the user.
The ASP server is set up for the sole purpose of tracking your surfing behavior (clickstream data). Therefore, the server configuration and data formatting can be optimized for this purpose. Of course, this allows you to capture all the relevant data, and ignoring any of the "fill" that are useless for analytical purposes. This results in much less voluminous storage and optimal data accessibility. The data are modeled in a format that is easily susceptible to analysis.
Conclusion: the only requirement to put a tracking pixel on each page of the site, this method requires minimal effort from the hosts of the site. Data storage and maintenance are made easier due to the dedicated nature of the ASP server. The data are always quickly available, and pre-treatment can be completely automated. The ASP server can be kept in-house or outsourced. Most of the professionals consider this the method of choice.
Source This entry was " Three ways to measure site traffic "
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