So you've got your website up and running, but what next? If you're looking at running a website that's not just for yourself but also for the public, then you might want to start looking at your site's statistics. Here at Holdfire we provide you with Webalizer and AWStats, which are website analytic scripts.
Between the two of those scripts, they provide you with data like how many hits, unique hits, search keywords, referrals and more that your website has received. The two are integrated within cPanel and automatically track the date for your website. They are shown in graphs, charts, plots that are updated every 24 hours, as well as being archived so that you can reference it later.
So what does this have to do with your website?
Simple: By gathering up the data that's provided, you can deduce what your viewers like the most, what articles or blog posts get googled the most and you can gain from that data. If you blog about the Apple iPhone and noticed you're getting in a lot more hits from it, you might consider blogging a little more on the topic to increase your website's awareness. Perhaps you created your own Wordpress theme that has been downloaded a lot and linked by a few sites. In the future when you're developing a new theme, you can reference the sites that have linked you previously, and update them to let them know you've got a new item.
Do I have to use AWStats or Webalizer?
The beauty of the internet is that there are some many resources for almost everything imaginable. When it comes to web site statistics there are a number of fantastic alternatives to try out. The following is a list of self-hosted (that we support), hosted elsewhere, free and premium site statistic sites that you can utilize:
- haveamint.com - Self-hosted - Premium
- reinvigorate.net - Remote - Free (invite only)
- getclicky.com - Remote - Free and Premium
- jawstats.com - Self-hosted - Free (works with an install of AWStats)
- google.com/analytics - Remote - Free
- w3coutner.com - Remote - Free and Premium
