If you want to collect data about your website’s traffic, but need more power than the scripts Cpanel provides, there are many options out there. One of those options is StatCounter, a free service which allows you to collect data on not just one, but multiple websites, or “projects.”
With StatCounter, you can easily see where your visitors came from, whether or not they used a search engine, and you can follow their trail throughout your website.
Other data that StatCounter can show you includes:
- What browser was used
- Keywords that were used to get to your website
- What country/state/city your visitors came from
- What links were followed to exit your website
Why are sites like StatCounter remarkable? Apart from the fact that it’s free, all you have to do is insert a few lines of code before the closing “head” command in your HTML. It’s just that easy.
Another cool thing about StatCounter is that, although the core functions are truly free, optional upgrades are available. For as little as $5 a month–paid via PayPal–you can increase the size of your logfile, which will allow you to store more statistics.
Those thinking about paying for an account, however, would do well to be aware that, in the experience of this article’s author, StatCounter tends to experience frequent database issues, which results in your stats being inaccessible, though typically they are still collected. This is no problem for small sites that don’t pay for the access, but it’s something to keep in mind. In one recent 24-hour period, for example, there were at least three periods of time where the database was inaccessible for more than five minutes.
The free account is enough for most webmasters, though, allowing you to store about three weeks’ worth of stats, according to StatCounter’s website. If you need statistics to be stored for longer periods of time, though, the ability to upgrade is there for you.
Paid membership carries with it another privilege: API access. With API access, not available to free customers, you can construct custom applications, custom scripts and even widgets, according to a blog post on the site.
Even the most casual of webmasters will appreciate the ability to look at detailed statistics. You can easily see which pages or posts are the most popular, and you can see what time of day is your busiest. Whatever you use the statistics for, it’s nice to see what visitors are reading when they come to your site.
If you’re worried about just how easy it is to install the code, you can easily install the code yourself for HTML with a simple cut-and-paste. There are also custom installation guides for numerous scenarios, including Blogger, Drupal, Go Daddy Website Tonight and WordPress, just to name a few. If there is no custom installation guide for your platform, the HTML-based code works with any platform your website or blog uses.
Although StatCounter is not the only choice out there, it is one of the most popular, because of how easy it is to install the code, and how quickly the site loads. Its simple but functional design seals the deal. Given that it’s available free of charge, you literally have nothing to lose by trying it out, and it can work in addition to whatever statistics you have installed, because StatCounter is activated through custom code that doesn’t interfere with the code of other such websites.
