Re: UKNM: Web Site Analysis Software

[Andres Varela]

Sean Clarke wrote:


>I think I've had this rant before, but in my opinion the way forward in

>Web site usage analysis is what we call "Custom Logging".

>

>I know this is less straight forward than using an off-the-shelf stats

>package (and is perhaps over-the-top for some sites), but we have found

>that clients seem more than happy to pay the extra monthly fee required

>to build and service "Custom Logging" systems.



Though mine is pretty much a 'me too' posting, I agree with some

reservations.


Already in this thread I've seen WebTrends described as an off-the-shelf ap,

though anyone who has used it will agree that though it offers a sweet

little interface it can be a real sod to tailor for even a 'fairly' complex

site.


In the reports I produced for people like Baileys, Braun and Malibu

(previous incarnation at Lowes) not only were there the usual tweaks of

eliminating agency and company's IP addresses, there was always the question

of what elements and features of the site should be tracked.  CGI calls

weren't all that important to Braun, but were important to Baileys as a lot

of their important content relied on them.  Malibu was more interested in

following Shockwave vs HTML versions of the site.  All (client and agency)

were uptight about the paths people took through the site.  Baileys wanted

to know how regional european TV campaigns effected traffic from certain

countries.


For our own internal reports we would run a bells and whistles document

which would have details of error messages, file transfers, traffic

trends...By contrast, on the client's reports we never included gifs and

jpegs, as clients weren't interested in them.   Giving them a 100 page

report which included that sort of information was only of use if they

wanted to come up with throw-away '10 million hits in just one month'

statistics.


So yes, clients want (and should get) customised logging, and the best

general purpose tool I've seen for this is the regularly upgraded WebTrends

package.  Handy to have the detail if you need it, or a 2 side sit-rep.


-A/


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