Blog Tipz

Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: General Web Trends and Market Research
Page 3: On-Site Analytics and Packages
Page 4: Server-Side Log File Applications (Current Page)
Page 5: WordPress Plugins
Page 6: Visual Tracking and Visualization
Page 7: Feed and Alternative Services (Miscellaneous)

Server-Side Log File Applications

These services analyze traffic and trends based on the amount of visitors your server logs, through the use of log files.  Often, these come pre-installed when you purchase a hosting package, otherwise they must be installed yourself.  Many people who need statistics as a result of selling their website use these as a somewhat reliable reference to the amount of traffic the site receives.

123 Log Analyzer – 123 LogAnalyzer is a powerful web customer analysis tool available for $14.99/user.  It is stated that this service is 10-20 times faster than their largest competitor.

Abacre – An advanced log analyzer, which generates a large set of visitor paths and patterns. 

Analog – “The most popular logfile analyzer in the world.”  This service shows you the usage patterns on your web server – it’s ultra-fast, scalable, highly configurable, reports in 32 languages, works on any operating system, and is free.

AWStats – AWStats is a free, powerful, and feature-packed tool that generates an advanced web, streaming, FTP, or mail server statistics, graphically.  It works as a CGI or form-command line and shows you all possible information your log contains in a few graphical web pages.

EasyStat – A real-time web statistics software that is “fast, reliable, and easy to use.”  The software hasn’t been updated since June of 2003, but offers several available licenses.

Grape Web Statistics - Grape is an open source program that allows web developers to keep accurate statistics of visitors.  The program is currently in alpha/beta mode, so you need to report any bugs in the forums at this point.  Requires PHP 4.3 and higher, MySQL 4.x and higher, a Windows/Linux/etc. server operating system.  Some of the benefits, as highlighted on the website include:

• Completely free, open source, released under the GPL.
• Clean, sleek interface.
• Accurately records unique and total website visits.
• Statistics are fluid and can be accurately queried from anytime in the past.  
• Extensions API for adding extra statistics or features based on the user’s requirements.
• PHP 4 and 5 inter-compatible, with nearly any server operating system.

Piwik Web Analytics – A comparable service to Google Analytics, it is open source and licensed under the GPL, providing interesting reports on your website visitors, popular posts/pages, search engine keywords, and more.

PowerLogger - An indispensable to help you log host/IP, referrer, agent, time, resolution and color, online-time, unique hits and page impressions, multi-page logging, shows how your visitors browse through your site, shows your daily/monthly unique hits or page impressions as a graph, and much more.

Urchin Software – From Google, Urchin Software analyzes traffic for one or more websites, with more secure and advanced features than Google Analytics.  However, the service is not free (at $2995 per license) and requires experienced technical staff for installation.  It can be the alternative to other services when used in a competitive market.

Webalizer – A fast, free web server log file analysis program, producing highly detailed, easily configurable usage reports in HTML format, for viewing with any standard web browser.