Visitor Statistics Tracking - What do u recommend?

[EFS Webmaster]

It look like its been about a year since someone asked for recommendations for applications (other than Google Analytics!) that do a good job of tracking website stats such as visitors, page visits, referrers, duration of page visits, etc.

With that said, I wanted to get feedback from other users on what applications they currently utilize (or would recommend) to track stats real-time. I am not interested in applications which need to be installed on the server, but simply script that can be inserted on each page.

Any and all recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I've had experience with:

- Superstats. Great application and reporting tools however I don't think its worth $29.95/month for our niche website.

- Traffic Facts by Go Daddy. We use this for our Marin Modern website and it works pretty well (at a low price ~ I believe a couple of bucks a month), however your site must be hosted with GoDaddy.

- "Built-in" stats for Alamode AgentX websites. We currently have this with our Eichler website and the stats are really basic. We are really looking to augment the stats available on this site with a script that can be inserted on each page.

Again, any and all recommendations would be great since I know technology and available applications change quickly!

[VRI]

Why not just download and analyze your raw log files with any of the commercially available tools. I've been using weblog expert for a couple of years for the general stuff and have been pleased. http://www.weblogexpert.com/

[EFS Webmaster]

Alamode / alamode sites does not permit you to download/analyze raw log files, hence the reason why I was looking for product recommendations that allow you to insert a basic script on each page to track stats.

[Eric Blackwell]

The analytics of a site are one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. I would be very cautious about continuing a relationship with a website vendor that did not allow me to access the raw log files...

I do not mean to criticize a la mode alone...They have good looking websites and I have a couple of agents in my office who have them. The bottom line is this: If your only method of knowing how much traffic you are getting and where it is going in your site is by clipping code onto each page, then you are driving by braille and you will not get very far --very fast.

I realize that may seem harsh, but it is reality. I would consider another option. Not having true analytics would be a deal killer for me.

Cheers;

Eric

[Oppenheimer Group]

Have you considerd hosting with a host that supplies Urchin tracking? We offer this and I believe Morgan does as well.

[TCarr]

I've wrestled with this a lot, too. Raw log files, my host's WebTrends, etc. One that I've tried recently and really like is VisiStat. It's real time web analytics and has a nice interface and easy to read reports.

[EFS Webmaster]

Thanks for all of the recommendations. We are actually trying out statcounter right now and it seems to be working out pretty well. I am also going to check out visistat per your recommendation.

Thanks again!

[AaronSOLD]

G Analytics is awesome. You can set it up with goals to track, link it to your G PPC, near realtime data, fast, available anywhere. Just requires a couple lines of javascript.

[The Real Estate Shopper]

Personally I use Opentracker , It is only free for the first month, but once I used it, I gladly paid the fee on all my sites.

[ryduh]

I will agree that Google Analytics is a very good resource.