Counting on Web analytics

Mark Gibbs' Web site tips, plus network applications news headlines

If you run an ISP or a Web hosting company you're always on the lookout for ways to increase revenue. ClickTracks has just announced an updated version of its eponymous product that provides Web analytics for multiple Web servers, multiple domains and load balanced clusters.

ClickTracks ISP is essentially a variant of the company's standard enterprise product, which is one of the best metrics analyzers available.

ClickTracks works by digesting the Web server's log and then doing the analysis on the browser client's workstation. What is really neat is that the analysis is browser-based and puts the statistics and analysis *in* the Web page being analyzed. Check out the demo (note that the company calls it a 60-second demo on its home page but when you bring up the demo the title bar says "2 minute demo" - doesn't anyone proof sites any more?).

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If you run an ISP or a Web hosting company you're always on the lookout for ways to increase revenue. ClickTracks has just announced an updated version of its eponymous product that provides Web analytics for multiple Web servers, multiple domains and load balanced clusters.

ClickTracks ISP is essentially a variant of the company's standard enterprise product, which is one of the best metrics analyzers available.

ClickTracks works by digesting the Web server's log and then doing the analysis on the browser client's workstation. What is really neat is that the analysis is browser-based and puts the statistics and analysis *in* the Web page being analyzed. Check out the demo (note that the company calls it a 60-second demo on its home page but when you bring up the demo the title bar says "2 minute demo" - doesn't anyone proof sites any more?).

The demo is really good and does indeed take around two minutes to run although loading it takes about two minutes too (I know it may seem like I'm being critical but I think that companies are still paying too little attention to detail when it comes to Web sites).

What I particularly like about ClickTracks is that you can create ad hoc reports easily and export them to PDF and Excel, which makes distribution within your organization and further analysis really easy.

Anyway, ClickTracks ISP supports branding by the ISP and is intended to be a revenue source for ISPs, which shouldn't be too hard with pricing starting at $3,000 for 30 domains.

Read more about software in Network World's Software section.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.