Niche Info Online Business

After your email campaign has been established, you need to try to find a way to keep track of how it is working. If you’re promoting an affiliate program, chances are you pretty much are covered when it comes to tracking. This is because many affiliate programs offer tracking reports in the accounts of their affiliates. Commission Junction is an example of an affiliate network that offers very elaborate tracking reporting. With Commission Junction, you can evaluate how well an affiliate link is doing over time through several types of graphs. Commission Junction also gives you a daily view of how your links are doing by letting you know how many clicks, impressions, sales and leads you’ve received.

Figure 7: Commission Junction Graph

However, what if your affiliate program doesn’t offer extensive tracking, or what if you’re promoting your own business or service? Some web hosting services might offer an overview of how many hits your site has received, but this gives an inflated view of the real traffic your site is getting. Why? It is because hits simply refer to how many times your site has been viewed, not how many unique visitors have seen it. You also want to have some idea of where traffic is coming from. Granted, some hosting providers may provide more extensive tracking for a fee, but there are other options you can consider if you feel this is not enough for you.

1. VistorVille

Have you heard of The Sims or The Sims 2? These are a series of computer and video games in which you control electronic people called Sims. You can build them houses,

make friends for them, even make them have babies. With The Sims 2 all of this done is done in a magnificent 3-D setting. Well, what would it be like if gaming principles that founded The Sims was applied to tracking website traffic? You would have VistorVille, a very unique web traffic tracking service that displays traffic information in a unique visual form: that of a bustling city, complete with virtual people that look like Sims.

Figure 8: VisitorVille Urban View

So, how does VisitorVille work? It is a two-step process. First, you put a special HTML code on your website. This code allows for VistorVille to track the traffic with a special counter. This counter is not visible to visitors. Then, you enter in your pages, which the program views as ‘buildings.’ In fact, these actually show as buildings when you log in your account. Traffic is represented by actual people who visit the buildings. They are transported to the buildings by vehicles, which represent where the visitors are coming from or if they are visiting another page on your site. Buses represent the former, while taxis represent the latter. Transportation is the same for both views, whether suburban or urban. If you want, you can also view VisitorVille in 3-D by using VisitorVille 3D, (the 2-D program is simply called ‘VisitorVille).

Vistorville also lists traffic information in the ‘traditional’ way as well through charts and graphs. The types of information you get are many, including: detailed information about visitors ranging from what web site they came from to their nationality, how many visitors came to which page, how long a visitor was on that page and what search terms were used by a visitor to get them onto that page.

Then, there is the most unusual feature that could ever be included in a website tracking service: the ability to initiate chat with website visitors. In order for a chat session to be initiated, the visitor must have Javascript and select ‘yes’ from a dialogue box asking if they want to chat with you. A messenger-like chat box then pops up, allowing dialogue between you and the visitor. The downside to this is that a visitor could interpret such a session as being ‘spyware-like.’

This is because spyware, (which is a type of malicious software that tracks down what a person does on their computer), often results in advertising that can be in a pop-up resembling an instant message dialogue. Other people may not suspect anything and might actually be more curious about VisitorVille, once it’s explained to them that you are using this service to initiate the chat session. While you should be careful using this feature, it can be useful in establishing a more personal relationship with your visitors. Just make sure you are not throwing additional advertisements at them.

Cost-wise, VisitorVille charges based on how many visitors you receive to your website. One thousands visitors cost $14.99 a month, while three thousand visitors cost $29.99 a month. Five thousand visitors cost $49.99 a month. For websites receiving more than five thousand visitors, they will have to contact VistorVille for a quote, as they are in VisitorVille’s Enterprise Plan. At these prices one can track an unlimited number of websites and web pages.

If you are unsure whether you want to pay these fees, VisitorVille allows you to try their service for free for 7 days. This demo is fully-functional, offering all of the features available with the paid version of VisitorVille. If you decide that you do not want to upgrade to a paid account at the end of 7 days, you do not have to worry about going through the work of removing the VisitorVille HTML from your websites. The service will do this for you automatically upon cancellation.

2. StatCounter

Visitorville is a great website tracking service if you want a little bit of fun associated with tracking website tracking. However, the amount of traffic it covers is low. While they do have a special plan available for high-performance sites, it can be assumed that since they do not reveal the pricing for their enterprise plan on their website, it is probably very high. This is why if your website is doing exceptionally well and you want your website tracking options to be low-cost or even no-cost, you will want to consider using another website tracking service: StatCounter.

StatCounter doesn’t have the frills that VisitorVille does, but it is still extremely reliable. Like Visitorville, you will have to put an HTML code on your website allowing StatCounter to track the visitors. This counter can be invisible to your visitors or visible… it all depends on what you want. Visible counters can be an effective marketing tool for sites where you want visitors to know your site is highly trafficked. An example could be a classified ads site… if visitors know your site is highly trafficked, they will feel more confident posting their ad on your site. Other features available to StatCounter are listed below.

StatCounter Features:

• Ability to analyze which keywords sent visitors to your site

• Detailed information about visitors including: their ISP address, what website they came from, what operating system they use, how many times they have visited the website, what resolution they are using to view your website and where they live
• Traffic information that is daily (for upgraded members), weekly, monthly or yearly
• Information on which pages receive the most traffic
• Information on which pages are used as ‘entry pages’, (which basically means the first page that a visitor uses to enter onto your site)
• Information on which pages are exit pages
• Graphs detailing how long visitors have stayed on your website
• Charts showing which search engines are sending the most traffic to your website
• A blocking cookie which helps to ensure all of your visits to your website are not included in the results; this can be turned off if you wish
• A world map that shows the countries from which your visitors are coming from
• Secure tracking, which is a feature available to upgraded members. According to StatCounter, with secure tracking, if you run your site through a Secure Sockets Layer (also known as SSL), your visitors will not get any security alerts.
• Custom Branding Logo, another feature available only to upgraded members. It removes Statcounter ads that are visible in your account manager. StatCounter recommends using this feature to show your own ads in place of StatCounter’s, if you are using the service with several other people.
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So, as you can see, StatCounter offers many if not more traffic tracking features than VisitorVille. All of this is done for free if you get up to 9,000 page loads a day. This means you can get up to 270,000 page loads tracked without having to pay one cent. This is unlike VisitorVille, which at that rate could cost hundreds of dollars. The only thing you have to deal with if you use the free version of StatCounter is having to see ads in your manager account. However, that’s the extent of it, as StatCounter will not display its ads on your website. Indeed, this certainly is not a big sacrifice, especially considering the extensive tracking information StatCounter is offering.

If you are receiving more than 9,000 page loads a day, StatCounter will require that you upgrade or remove their tracking code from your website(s). They will not do it for you automatically like VisitorVille, but since they are free anyway this shouldn’t be that much of a big deal. If you do decide to upgrade, it will cost: $9 a month for 1,500,000 page views, $19 a month for 7,500,000 and $29 a month for 15,000,000. Upgraded members get daily website tracking, secure tracking and a custom branding logo. They also get peace of mind knowing that they are supporting a very wonderful website tracking service.

As a side note, StatCounter is a perfect example of a company that has successfully generated revenue from an incentive marketing model, as they have been in business for six years. They don’t seem to even rely as much on actual upgrades as they do Adsense and advertising revenue obtained from patrons who subscribe to their free service. Keep this in mind when you go about your own email marketing endeavors. Earlier this e-book focused more on creating e-books as a means of incentive marketing, but if you are a programming genius like the creators of StatCounter, you might want to consider distributing a free program instead.

Figure 9: Stat Counter Account Manager

3. Tracking Through Email Marketing Services

VisitorVille and StatCounter are website tracking services that work well if you want to track your website or affiliate links directly. However, these services are unable to tell you exact details on your email marketing campaign. If you want to know more specific information, such as: how many people actually opened your emails, how many emails got delivered, which specific visitor opened the email and who opted out, you will need to use an email marketing service. Most email marketing services also allow you to analyze how your email list is growing, both by providing charts showing growth rate and letting you know what methods are brining about email subscribers. The downside to the tracking available through email marketing services is that they usually do not give as detailed information about visitors as website tracking services do. For this reason, you may want to consider using the tracking ability with email marketing services in combination with a website tracking service. If money is an issue, you can always use StatCounter, if your site stats are less than 270,000 page views a month.