Tracking and Logging

If you have a simple personal site then you probably don't mind if the server is down for a while and your website is unavailable during the period it is down. Also, detailed analysis of your log files maybe overkill, where a simple visit counter may be enough

Tracking and Logging

Is server uptime critical ?

Server log files are critical data

If your website is your livelihood and you are running a business online then any downtime could mean lost sales and damage your reputation. With a critical website you will also want to understand where you visitors are coming from, what they do on your site, how long they stay and which page they leave your site from.

Tracking Your Server Status

Your web hosting company will probably check the status of your server periodically, but dependent upon the importance of your site you may want to know immediately if your website goes down. This is achieved by subscribing to a service that will check your site periodically. If it gets no response then it is often possible to have the service automatically call or page you to let you know. This can provide some peace of mind if your website is how you pay the bills. Often you can set up monitoring to be at different frequencies, from as often as every few seconds, to every few hours.

Logging Your Visitors

Understanding what your visitors do on your site is crucial information, not to mention interesting. If your visitors proceed to purchase a product but then a large majority leave the site when they get to a specific page in the order process then you need to know about it. It could be that this page is confusing or hard to use. Fixing it could increase your sales by 200%. This is just an example, there are many reasons why you want a detailed analysis of your site visitors. Where do your visitors come from? - which search engines, which sites. What errors are encountered on the site, how long do they stay, which pages are popular. Understanding all this information is critical to a successful online business.

If you have a simple personal site then you may not care about the above, but it is always nice to know how many people have visited your website. This can be done by putting a visitor counter on the home page.

There are 2 main methods to gather data and analysis about your visitors.

1. Log File Analysis

If your server is enabled to do it (check with your web host) then every action on the server is logged in a logfile. These log files are basically a text file that describe actions on the site. It is literally impossible to use the raw logfiles to understand what your visitors are doing. You need to analyze the data. There are 2 ways this can be done

Download the logfiles via FTP and then use a logfile analyzer to crunch the logfiles and produce nice easy to read charts and tables
Use software that runs on the server that lets you look at the logfile data in real-time. This is typically more expensive.

2. Third Party Analysis

Services exist which offer to analyze your traffic in real time. These services do not use your log files. Typically a small section of code is placed on any page you want to track. When the page is viewed information is stored on the third party server and available in real time to view in charts and tables form. This type of service is normally a monthly fee arrangement

Resources For Tracking and Logging

Alertra - Site Monitoring. Instant Notification If Your Site Goes Down

SurfStats Log Analyzer for analyzing Web Site activity

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