[thelist] HitBox, WebTrends

[Pat Meeks]

Moe:

> Second question: If I get this, do I need WebTrends? My WebTrends is
> old and I can upgrade, but not sure if I need to.

We used Hitslink (like HitBox). You have to put JavaScipt on the bottom of
every page you want to track (the drawback). The best part is that others
can look up the stats and you don't have to send them and they can look at
just the info they need. As far as WebTrends goes, you can dump it (I hated
it) if you use these other types. However, I'd check to see if HitBox checks
server errors or spider activity (if  this is important to you and you pay
for listings).

I'd still have some way to process the server logs to watch for problems and
attempted intrusions, and there are some inexpensive (and free) programs
around to do that - you simply download the logs and then process them --
much cheaper than paying for WebTrends.

On the same subject, I just found a new, affordable log processor that I
think does a better job of log analysis than WebTrends, but you have to
process the logs yourself at http://www.bitstrike.com/index.php  You might
want to try the free demo.

BTW, I originally went to using a service like HitBox because I wanted the
client to check their own stats and tired of sending weekly stat reports.
After paying for a year of usage, I found that only used it once! They were
too busy running their business to even remember to look at the stats. So,
I'm back to downloading and processing the stats, and sending them periodic
reports on how their advertising is doing, how the search engines are
performing with an overview of what folks are looking at. In essence, an
executive summary -- and I watch for server and site problems.  ;-))

Regards, Pat