Problems with AW Stats ex Open Host: Web site statistics programs recommendations

Forums › IT Pro and developers › Problems with AW Stats ex Open Host: Web site statistics programs recommendations

frednz

1452 posts

Uber Geek

#144061 6-May-2014 11:08

I own a small business site which for several years has been hosted by Open Host NZ.
Overall, I have been very satisfied with their service.

However, the web site statistics provided by Open Host is "Advanced Web Statistics" (AW Stats), which has now been down for 3 weeks.

Open Host is still working on the problem, but I wondered if you know of any good web statistics programs that I might be able to use instead of AW stats?

I would prefer to stay with Open Host, but I guess there must be statistics programs that I could use that provide more advanced features, such as "real time" viewing so that you can immediately see what the site's statistics are on a continuous hourly basis?

Thanks very much for your help.

Regards
Fred

marpada

434 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1037625 6-May-2014 11:13

Google Analytics

MightyApe

You will find anything you want at MightyApe (affiliate link).

frednz

1452 posts

Uber Geek

#1037717 6-May-2014 13:35

Thanks for your reply. Yes, Google Analytics seems to be a very good option but it looks like you have to paste a special script on each and every page of the site. I guess there is no way around this?

I see that there is a "real time" option in the web statistics advertised here:

http://www.crazydomains.co.nz/web-statistics/

Has anyone had any experience with these statistics? It looks like they cost $11 per month.

Regards
Fred

ajobbins

5050 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1037722 6-May-2014 13:59

+1 for Google Analytics. Yes, code needed on each page - but hopefully a small amount of one off pain will be worth it.

If you use some kind of website software or content management system, it might already have somewhere to just input your GA Analytics ID and it will insert the js code on every page.

Twitter: ajobbins

mattwnz

19389 posts

Uber Geek

#1037723 6-May-2014 14:06

If you don't want to install a script on each page, then finding a host that offers server statistics like AWStats is one of the only options. Unless you have it built into your CMS, wordpress plugins, such as plugins for google analytics, but that still installs a script on each page, and is probably the only way to get realtime stats.

Ragnor

8085 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1037750 6-May-2014 14:53

frednz: Thanks for your reply. Yes, Google Analytics seems to be a very good option but it looks like you have to paste a special script on each and every page of the site. I guess there is no way around this?

What type of site do you have: Is it static html pages, cms, store, bespoke/custom development in a server side platform (php, asp, asp.net, ruby)?

Generally you just add the google analytics script block to your layout/template before the closing body tag, so it appears on each page.

Even static html pages can be refactored to use shtml (server side includes are supported on pretty much every web server) so you don't have to repeat the header and footer in every html content page.

Ragnor

8085 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1037754 6-May-2014 14:59

frednz:

http://www.crazydomains.co.nz/web-statistics/

Has anyone had any experience with these statistics? It looks like they cost $11 per month.

Looks like they just re-sell the white label version of http://clicky.com/ which requires js script added to your html.

Clicky also have a limited free version so probably better to use their service directly.

Pingdom RUM is also worth a look https://www.pingdom.com/rum/

frednz

1452 posts

Uber Geek

#1037830 6-May-2014 16:48

Thanks very much for your helpful replies. I have now put a Google Analytics script on each page of my site and this didn't turn out to be a major issue.

I would be interested to hear your views on whether products such as "Clicky" and "Pingdom RUM" are regarded as being as good as Google Analytics.

In other words, if money isn't an issue, which web statistics option would you select for your site?

Regards
Fred

mattwnz

19389 posts

Uber Geek

#1037850 6-May-2014 17:13

I have found that AWstats to provide the most accurate stats, as some people will block javascripts. Whereas the server side stats like AWstats should be very accurate.

frednz

1452 posts

Uber Geek

#1038156 7-May-2014 10:09

mattwnz: I have found that AWstats to provide the most accurate stats, as some people will block javascripts. Whereas the server side stats like AWstats should be very accurate.

Thanks for your reply. Most of the time AW stats have been very good, but inclined to be down for 2 or 3 days a month. I checked again today and the Open Host AW stats are still down and this has been the case for more than 3 weeks now.

On one occasion last month, AW stats reported that one of the pages on my site had been visited about 4000 times, all by the same source. This page is actually one that is usually visited only about 30 times per month, certainly not 4000 times in just one day!

Regards
Fred

onebytemike

90 posts

Master Geek

#1038384 7-May-2014 14:52

If your webhost allows access to the logs, download them yourself and parse them using your own tools (awstats, smarterstats, etc) locally.