Hi there,

Webtrends has an overhyped reputation in the field of web analysis and besides has been superceded by a company called www.clicktracks.com. Have a look at their products. They offer a hosted service and you can also get a 14 day trial.

http://www.clicktracks.com/products/analyzer/hosted.php $49
http://www.clicktracks.com/products/optimizer/hosted.php $99
http://www.clicktracks.com/products/pro/hosted.php $179

Good luck!

Andrew Allfrey
www.e-prominence.co.uk

On 21:39:15 16 September 2005 Markd wrote:

Hi all
I wonder if you could offer us some advice on a problem we are having measuring a 'total' number of visits to a site.

Currently, we are using a 'tagged' statistics system - adding Javascript to the web page which sends info on a 'real time' basis to a server. It's OK on most things, but doesn't seem able to give us a 'total' number of visitors for a given time frame, say a month.

So what we get is:

Unique Visitors - those who have visited for the first time in that month

New Visitors - those who have come to the site for the first time ever.

But what it doesn't seem to log is any subsequent (repeat) visits by those who may have come back after their first (Unique) visit in that month.

The implications of this are that if a site gets 100 Unique Visitors in a month, and those visitors come back 10 times during the same month, approx. 1000 'repeat visits' are not logged at all. Obviously, this makes a 'total visitor' number impossible to measure.

Is this inherent in all 'tagged' based stats programs? I have contacted the Tech Support of the makers of the package we are using in case we are misinterpreting the stats, but they aren't the best Support we have encountered and are not being very helpful.

I know that Web Trends 'on demand' package can break visitors down in this way, but it's really expensive, so any other recommendations are welcome. 

Most of our sites are B2B and information based - so there is not really a need for the advanced e-commerce/purchasing analysis that I have seen in some stats packages.

Hope you may be able to help.

Thanks for the help so far.

Jon - at the moment we are not using WebTrends at all, we are using HitsLink. Yes, we were looking at Webtrends On Demand product - it looks good but is very expensive.

Cookies are used - as far as I know they are session based. Do you know if the products you mention would solve the specific issue we have of measuring 'uniques', 'new' and 'repeat' visitors? A recommendation which addresses this issue would be very useful - obviously I will check them out.

Thanks again.

On 12:04:41 19 September 2005 jbovard wrote:

Hi

What version of WebTrends are you using? You need to be very specific in terms of the product version.

Also, are you sure you are using Webtrends tagging based solution? Webtrends LIVE was superseded by Wetrends on demand.

Are you using Cookies to identify users? If so are they permanent or session cookies?

I agree that there are better alternatives to Webtrends at the lower end of the market. I recommend you look at Urchin by Google or HBX by WebSidestory.

Jon

Both products would deal with the issue you mention. Clicktracks will too I believe.

If you are using session cookies then thats why you cant recognise repeat visitors. If the cookies is deleted when the users session ends, then they will be resissued a new cookie every time they visit again and thus the package is going report them as "new".

Jon

Well,

I would try netracker (www.sane.com) as you'll get accuracy of visitor numbers as well as multiple visit recognition.  A good example of multi visit recognition is where someone arrives from an offer, views several products a week later and almost a month later, purchases the product.  How many people honestly associate the purchase with the initial offer - not many....

Regards,

Craig.

On 12:15:27 19 September 2005 Markd wrote:

Thanks for the help so far.

Jon - at the moment we are not using WebTrends at all, we are using HitsLink. Yes, we were looking at Webtrends On Demand product - it looks good but is very expensive.

Cookies are used - as far as I know they are session based. Do you know if the products you mention would solve the specific issue we have of measuring 'uniques', 'new' and 'repeat' visitors? A recommendation which addresses this issue would be very useful - obviously I will check them out.

Thanks again.

On 12:04:41 19 September 2005 jbovard wrote:

Hi

What version of WebTrends are you using? You need to be very specific in terms of the product version.

Also, are you sure you are using Webtrends tagging based solution? Webtrends LIVE was superseded by Wetrends on demand.

Are you using Cookies to identify users? If so are they permanent or session cookies?

I agree that there are better alternatives to Webtrends at the lower end of the market. I recommend you look at Urchin by Google or HBX by WebSidestory.

Jon

Thought I would give an update to those who may be interested. Contacted Sane who in turn put me in touch with one of their UK resellers. After extended discussions, they said they couldn't provide the 'on demand' service we are interested in and said we would have to contact Sane in the US direct for this.

Got in touch with them 2 days ago - still waiting for a response!

I always think the standard of response and customer service following an initial enquiry is a good benchmark for the level of care and support offered in the future.

Hmmm....

On 09:39:57 26 September 2005 craigsullivan wrote:

Well,

I would try netracker (www.sane.com) as you'll get accuracy of visitor numbers as well as multiple visit recognition.  A good example of multi visit recognition is where someone arrives from an offer, views several products a week later and almost a month later, purchases the product.  How many people honestly associate the purchase with the initial offer - not many....

Regards,

Craig.

On 12:15:27 19 September 2005 Markd wrote:

Thanks for the help so far.

Jon - at the moment we are not using WebTrends at all, we are using HitsLink. Yes, we were looking at Webtrends On Demand product - it looks good but is very expensive.

Cookies are used - as far as I know they are session based. Do you know if the products you mention would solve the specific issue we have of measuring 'uniques', 'new' and 'repeat' visitors? A recommendation which addresses this issue would be very useful - obviously I will check them out.

Thanks again.

On 12:04:41 19 September 2005 jbovard wrote:

Hi

What version of WebTrends are you using? You need to be very specific in terms of the product version.

Also, are you sure you are using Webtrends tagging based solution? Webtrends LIVE was superseded by Wetrends on demand.

Are you using Cookies to identify users? If so are they permanent or session cookies?

I agree that there are better alternatives to Webtrends at the lower end of the market. I recommend you look at Urchin by Google or HBX by WebSidestory.

Jon