 Expensive but essential ........, 2001-05-05
Before I explain the title of my review, I'd like to give you a little background on how I use WebTrends. I've been using the WebTrends Log Analyzer for over a year. I run it at least once a day to see all of the activity on my web site. It helps me spot significant traffic patterns, like how many visitors I get; how they found my site; what are my best keywords and search phrases; and what are the most popular pages on my site.From all of this information, I make design changes that have significantly improved the performance of my site. For instance, I spotted a trend that indicated many of my visitors were coming from a major search engine when they were looking for the name of a nationally known retailer. I placed an affiliate link on this page for the retailer, and have earned enough commissions to pay for WebTrends! Now back to the title. WebTrends is expensive for smaller sites, especially when you compare it to the cost of your design software and hosting service. Additionally, many web hosting services provide some sort of log file stats that you can look at online. However, the quality and quantity of the WebTrends reports is significantly better than these "free" services. You get what you pay for definitely applies here!
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