- In General
A normal page hit counter works something like
this. You register your URL with a page hit counter service. They put
your URL in a database
and give you a graphic to display with an HREF that is linked back
to their server. When someone visits your page their browser requests
the
graphic from the hit count server, the URL of the requesting page
is looked up in the hit count server's database, the corresponding
count
field is incremented by one and the new count is used to return a
graphic with the right hit count number on it to the browser. A counter
can be
an invisible one, the visitor sees nothing but you get a report in
email. A service tends to be free however you must sign up for it so
my guess
is that they want your email address to sell. This is typical. I
like to give such people a non personal email address that I have reserved
for just such occasions. It is real, it is mine, but I almost never
check
the mail there because it is almost all spam. Anyway I don't mean
to trash these folks, they are doing nothing illegal and that is just
how
it works, there is no free lunch and nobody should expect one.
- Ask your host for a page counter
In many cases you can get a page hit counter
from the ISP who is hosting your web site. Read the FAQ your host provides.
- Hitometer is no longer available for new
sign ups
Hitometer is not closed down yet but you will
not be able to get a new account there any more. That is a shame too
because this
was my favorite page hit counter. I had to quit using Hitometer because
I like to check Earthlink's Urchin reports and then update my
Hitometer
account to more accurately reflect the actual number of visitors
to my site. This is no longer allowed, therefore, I'm gone.
- Site Meter has a counter for you
Site
Meter offers a small variety of hit counters
for you to choose from and they supply you with an email report as
well as some
online reporting. I used this one for about a year.
It is not
as cool as Hitometer was but at least they are fully functional
and offer features Hitometer did not have. If you
click on the graphic you are taken to the Site Meter page for
a full report with extensive features. Very slick. When someone
asks me to refer them to a site counter, this is the one I tell them
about. I have abandoned interactive page counters altogether these
days as they only reflect the activity of one page, not an entire site.
I prefer to look up my full stats using Urchin and type in the number
at the bottom of the page.
- Shell out the bucks for extensive features
MyComputer.com offers
a premium counter service for commercial sites but requires you to
pony up some cash for it. This information is important for your business
to know and is worth it if you are a business minded person. For your
filthy lucre you get:
- Site
Traffic Reports — Learn
how many visitors come to your site, how many pages they view
and which pages
on your site are the most popular.
- Marketing
Reports — Learn which sites
send you the most traffic, how long your visitors spend on your site
and on each page.
- Visitor Profile Reports — See
where your visitors are coming from, what languages they speak,
what software they use to browse
your site and detailed breakdowns of who your last 100 visitors
were.
- Site Path Reports — See how
your visitors navigate through your site, where they are leaving
from and
what pages they need
to reload. .
- An invisible hit counter
Direct
Hit offers
an invisible hit counter. This appears to be free. When you sign up,
they ask for your location and a category to place your site in. I
get the sneaking suspicion something is going on here behind
the scenes but I am always wrong, just ask my wife. Here is the hype
they have on their page:
- Tracks your entire web site not just one page.
- Invisible Tracking no visible image has to be placed on your
pages.
- Refer Tracking for every page on your site.
- Password protected.
- Track multiple web sites from the same account.
- Time zone corrected to track in your time zone.
- Base version does not set any cookies on users browsers.
- Detail reports for every page on your site.
- Over 2200 categories to register under.
- Businesses receive a free business listing.
- Can be used in conjunction with any other counters.
- For the snooty snob with his blue blooded
cultured nose stuck in the air...
...there is the Museum
of Counter Art. They boast 500 sets of counter
digit artwork to choose from. Although billed as free it will cost
you your email address. You
WILL find something you like here though, interesting just to browse
through. To use the counter art you need to go through The
Ultimate Counter site where you do the actual sign up and registering.
It is as simple as 1-2-3. You register, visit the museum to pick
out your counter art, then return and configure your counter.
- There are many more free page hit counters out there
Use a search engine to find more if these do
not trip your triggers, but I think there is a nice variety here to
choose from. Search
using, "page
hit counter" and you will find a butt load. Remember, I
in no way endorse any of these page counters, I am only reporting
their
existence. I have however used Hitometer and Site Meter
and I have no complaints about them.
- EarthLink's page hit counters
Here is something very cool I just discovered
this month about my ISP, Earthlink. EarthLink customers, such as myself
can use the EarthLink
Urchin Visitor Reporting. EarthLink describes it as, "a
top-tier visitor traffic analysis and reporting tool designed
to provide critical
insight on a Web site's user activity". And they are not
just expelling that out their hineys, I was blown away when I
found Urchin
recently. Urchin's services are free to any EarthLink member
who is utilizing their free 80 megs of web space to develop a
web site.
A normal page hit counter works something like this. You register
your URL with a page hit counter service. They put your URL in
a database
and give you a graphic to display with an HREF that is linked back
to their server. When someone visits your page their browser requests
the graphic from the hit count server, the URL of the requesting
page is looked up in the hit count server's database, the corresponding
count field is incremented by one and the new count is used to
return
a graphic with the right hit count number on it to the browser.
This is works well enough but it has some fatal flaws. You only
register a hit on the page the counter is on. If someone passes
through the
page 5 times while visiting your site the number is incremented
each time. In fact if someone resizes their window while on the
page with
the hit count graphic, it will also increment the page hit counter.
To further the problem, if people have a page book marked that
does not have the page hit counter on it, you will not count them
even if
they visit your site a dozen times a day and frolic on their favorite
page unknown to you. The same problem occurs if a search engine
or other web site link brings them to your site on a page without
a counter.
You may think your site is not doing well when it is kicking some
serious butt.
EarthLink Urchin Visitor Reporting avoids all of those problems.
Urchin is able to determine accurate counts of your visitors because
it is
using the Earthlink server data to track your visitors and not
just the request for a hit counter graphic. Urchin can provide
you with
a plethora of information about the traffic on your web site. This
information is for your eyes only, you must log in with your password
to see it. This is the ULTIMATE invisible page hit counter.
If it sounds like I am stoked, I am. My graphic based page hit
counter told me one morning (10/17/2000) that I have had 1,797
visitors this
year. Urchin begs to differ, 13,175 visitors is what the actual
visitor count was. For more information on Urchin and the in-depth
reporting
it can do for you, visit the Urchin
FAQ. I've quit using hit counters, I visit Urchin once a week, copy
down the number of visitors and just type it onto the bottom of my home
page. Nuff said.
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