To add, or not to add?

M

Manny

True Grumbler
Joined
May 9, 2002
Posts
53
From
Chilliwack, B.C., Canada
We are in the midst of doing a website. We are halfways through and we are experimenting with a few things. I added a "Hit Counter" on the homepage at the bottom centre. I personally think they look tacky and if you don't have a lot of hits, it makes it look like there are not too many viewing the site, which could deter people from buying.

Is there some way of hiding a Hit Counter strictly for our own viewing? I would like to know if our website is being viewed. I have looked at other sites to see if it is a common thing and "No" it is not. There isn't anything in the books that said this can be done. How do you determine if your site is busy without it?

Your input would be much appreciated, since we are inexperienced in web site design and construction.

Thanks,

Marie
 
Hi Marie,

You should check out Extreme Tracking, a free web page statisics generator..

Mike@GTP uses it quite a bit on his sites (and I do too on my personal pages), as it allows you to collect all kinds of data about visitors..
 
Manny,

You can hide your counter but the hit counters only give you a small amt of information which is not really too accurate. Some hosting companies offer statistics with their service (at no extra charge) so you may want to ask about this when you're shopping for a web host.

I use Nexpoint ( Nexpoint ) and the statistics are great, they tell you everything you'd ever want to know and much more. The technical support is very helpful and responsive, unlike others I have had in the past.

Good luck!
 
Big Brother? Nah, that would be this site »

Visitorville

ExtremeTracking crossed with SimCity..
icon21.gif
 
Thank you for responding. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a tracking system from web site hosts. This is every interesting but, a little more than what I had expected. The information could be a great asset to the business. I will inquire about this when we're ready to have it hosted. Thanks again.

Marie
 
You really need to keep such stats if you want your site to be a success. With the info in hand (what search engines are sending you the hits, what keywords are working, etc), you can fine tune your site and optimize it to bring in more hits.

Just about every ISP provides a stat counter just as detailed as Extreme Tracking for free. We refer to both.

[ 02-08-2005, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: Mike-L@GTP ]
 
Like Mike said, if you maintain a web site, there will be something like a “control panel” that is accessible through your ISP. On it there will be a whole lot of options like mail management, billing, site statistics, etc.

In the site statistics, you’ll most likely be told how many hits, unique domains, pages, etc. have been accessed. Trying to figure out what it all means may be difficult and confusing, but try this page for a (somewhat) helpful explanation.

I agree with you, though, that page counters are tacky.
 
When I had my old site several years ago, it had a counter. I would try to visit my own site at least a dozen times per day to get that counter moving. I "encouraged" my two teens to do the same. ("You want internet access? Here's your new home page.")

It was a lot like rolling the odometer back on an old car.

I just use my host's statistics now.
 
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