|
| Are Website Statistics Available? SUMMARY: Web visitor statistics are vital in your marketing efforts. Does your web hosting provider allow you access to server logs or statistical tools?
Before choosing a web hosting provider, unless you plan on developing a small site for a select group of colleagues or friends, you'll probably need to keep up with information about the site's visits. Useful information can include:
* How many page views does your site get per day?
* How many actual visitors view your site per day?
* Where are people coming from to visit your site?
* Is your website returning errors, possibly due to a malformed link?
To view this information you'll need the aid of a statistics package. Before choosing a web hosting provider, find out what statistics information is available:
* Can you view/download the raw server logs? If so, what kind of information is provided, and in what format? This way, you can download or purchase your own statistics analyzer package.
* If you can access the raw server logs, can you change what information is presented in the logs? You may want to view more information than what is normally presented to other websites by your web host.
* Even if you can access the raw server logs, does the web hosting provider provide statistics software you can try?
* If you can't access the raw server logs, does the web host provide a way you can view general statistics about the web site's visits? If you can't at least get how many page views the site received per day, which pages were the most popular, and statistics on how people found your site (search engines, reciprocal links, news articles, etc.), consider looking elsewhere for your web hosting needs.
Add:
 Del.icio.us |
 Digg |
 Furl |
 My Yahoo!
 Discuss This Tip
 Print This Tip
 Get E-Mail When New Tips are Online
Return to the Choosing a Web Hosting Provider page. |
