John Cesta - Lists wrote:
> Since we host over 300 Web sites (NT)and each site generates its own
> logfile, I'd like to get a report that totals the total traffic on the
> server. I can do this by using a program we have that creates an analog
> report for each Web. Curretly I only total the Data transferred. What I'd
> like to see is a total of unique visitors or traffic. I know that a total of
> unique vistitors is almost an impossibility (an accurate one nayway) but
> which piece of summary information below would I want to total to get a
> close approximation? Would it be Successful requests, Distinct files
> requested?
None. The only ways I know of to get an approximation to unique visitors are
1] Place a 'persistent' cookie (i.e. one that expires in, say, 30 years)
on each visitors browser and count those cookies. This is inaccurate,
because visitors do clean their cookies occasionally, may not accept
cookies and may share their browser with other unique visitors.
2] Collect traffic data on sample client systems and extrapolate to the
volume of traffic on the net. This kind of service is provided by
companies like PC Data Online and Media Metrix. This is imprecise
because of the assumptions necessary for the extrapolation.
Also be aware that you can't total numbers like unique hosts or distinct
files requested when there is a possibility that they may occur in more
than one report (i.e. the same host may visit two different website).
It's better to run Analog on all the logs (or cache files) of all your
sites to produce the overall report.
--
Jeremy Wadsack
Wadsack-Allen Digital Group
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