Redalto Communications Support Site

Question: Understanding Website Statistics

This question relates to category Web Hosting

Answer:

The standard way in which Urchin website statistics are reported are by tracking "sessions". A "Session" is defined as a series of clicks on your site by an individual visitor during a specific period of time. A Session is initiated when the visitor arrives at your site, and it ends when the browser is closed or there is a period of inactivity.

For viewing high-level usage metrics, the standard Urchin webstats provide a good solution. There are a number of useful reports in Urchin using the standard webstats tracking methods;

Report How to find it
Summary website statistics 'dashboard' -> 'content summary'
No. of visits (sessions) to your site 'marketing optimisation' -> 'unique visitor tracking' -> 'visits and pageview tracking'
Most viewed (popular) pages 'content optimisation' -> 'content performance' -> 'top content'
Where did your visitors come from? 'marketing optimisation' -> 'visitor segment performance' -> 'referring source'
Search terms used to find your site 'marketing optimisation' -> 'search engine marketing' -> 'overall keyword conversion'

Tips:

  • All statistical reports you view are defined within a given time-frame (week, month, year, etc). To define which period you are viewing, go to the 'date range' box at the bottom left of the Urchin window
  • You can export any website statistics query to MS Word, MS Excel, or tab-separated text file for further filtering or other treatment

Advanced Urchin Website Statistics

Tracking "unique visitors" with the Urchin Tracking Module (UTM)?

A deeper level of reporting is available to Redalto Communications customers, by using the Urchin Tracking Module (UTM). The UTM is available as part of any Redalto hosting package. The UTM allows you to exactly identify unique visitors, click paths, and return loyalty metrics including: first time visitors, returning visitors, and frequency of use.

Importantly you need to install the UTM to view statistics within the 'Visitors & Sessions' category in Urchin. The 'Visitors' statistic in Urchin provides you statistics for a unique PC (versus 'Sessions' that which only provides information by IP address. The key difference is that there can be multiple PCs behind one IP address).

Setting up the UTM is easy. Just follow these three steps:

  • Download the below ZIP file which contain two UTM files (__utm.gif and __utm.js) and FTP them to your site's www directory;

    Urchin UTM Download

  • Paste the following HTML code into the top of every page on your site between the and tags

  • Email Redalto support and request UTM activation

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    • Author: Redalto Support Team
    • Created on: 07 Feb 2011
    • Views: 1122
    • Last modified: 17 Jun 2011

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