Why You Need A Site Search Tool - Part 2

In Part 1 of Why You Need A Site Search Tool I talked about some of the advantages both the website owner and visitor can gain by adding this tool as well as a slick way to earn a few dollars at the same time.  In today's post, I'm going to talk about how these tools work and offer a few suggestions for you to explore.

Site search tools work in the same manner that the big Internet search engines work.  That is these tools are comprised of two separate components: the indexer and the retriever.  The indexer program is initiated by the site owner (or sometimes they can be programmed to index automatically) to sweep through your site's web pages.  Entries are written into a data file that the retriever program access whenever a visitor types their keywords into the search box.  A search results page is then generated with links to any applicable pages.

Similar to the Website Statistics articles I wrote last week, the site search tools can be hosted either on your own server or third-party's server.   That decision will be based on how much control you want to have and your comfort level in installing software.  In either case you'll be required to add a snippet of code to your pages that will display the search box.

There are literally hundreds of site search programs for you to evaluate.  Go to your favorite Search Engine and type in "site search tools" to see some of the big players.  For those of you who like to get into nitty-gritty of installing your own software, often times for free, visit HotScripts.com.  Type in "site search" and select your programming language of choice and click search.  You'll be presented with plenty of programs to choose from.

Some of the tools I've used over the years have been Google Free, Atomz, and Thunderstone Webinator.  For hosted solutions on a third-party server, you're going to pay based on the number pages that you index.  For software solutions that you install and host, then the costs range from free to thousands of dollars based on the features and technical support offered.

One product that I want to talk about is WrenSoft's Zoom Search Engine.  I was contacted by one of my clients recently to replace a site search tool they had installed several years ago.  This client is a non-profit and needed to index over 50,000 web pages.  Cost was a big issue with this client and the reason they were dumping their current site search provider.  The large number of web pages was a big stumbling block for many inexpensive search products.  After investigating dozens of  company's products I came across Zoom.  Zoom offered search tools written in PHP, ASP, and JavaScript.  But they also have a CGI version that was built to handle a large number of web pages.  And at $99 for their Pro Edition, this solution was a perfect fit.  To see this tool in action, visit GSENet.org.

I hope I was able to inspire you to give this powerful tool some consideration for your website.

Why You Need A Site Search Tool - Part 1

Everyone is familiar with the big Internet Search Engines like Google and Yahoo, what I'm referring to is a tool that searches just your website for whatever keywords the visitor enters.  These tools work just like the big boys with the search box and resulting search results pages with links to pages containing the requested keywords.

Except for the smallest of websites, say under 10 pages, a site search tool will really help you understand what information your visitors are searching for.  Plus if you get a decent amount of traffic, I'll show you how you can make a few dollars as well.

All well designed websites should already have an easy to use navigation system to aid the visitor in finding what they are looking for.  You may also have a site map to assist the visitor as well.  But there will be times when this is not enough for the visitor to find what they are looking for.  A search tool gives the visitor the ability to search for information in their terms allowing you to take a peek inside their minds.

Good search tools will keep a history of what keywords were used by your visitors.  By taking a look at this history, you may see some patterns emerge.  For example, you may uncover stumbling blocks in your current navigation that is confusing visitors.  You may find additional content to add to your website to help these visitors.  By adding new content, you may also attract more visitors from the Internet Search Engines to your site.

Pro Tip:  If you see that your visitors are searching information, products, or services that you do not offer, why not create a page that contains some information for them to read.  Then add Google ads, Amazon links, or other affiliate links for your visitors to click on.  If you get people to click to these pages, then click on the ads, then you may be able to generate a few dollars for yourself.

In my next post, I'll talk about how these tools work and offer a few suggestions for you as well.

Free SEMPO Webinar

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) will be offering a free webinar on Wednesday, September 21 starting at 12:00 EDT.

This basic session will be the first in a two-part series on the value of Organic Search, aka "Natural Search." The first session will focus on the benefits of starting a natural search program as well as things to consider before launching. The second segment will focus more on integrating it as a long-term process in your organization.

Click here to register for this free webinar.  More information about SEMPO can be found here.

Monitoring Website Statistics - Part 2

In Part 1 I talked about the basics of website reporting tools, today I want to get into some of the tools available to you.

Website statistic reporting tools come in all shapes and sizes as well as price ranges.  Some of these tools are industry leaders and some I have used in the past.  Please be advised that I am not making recommendations here, my purpose is to open up the world of website statistic reporting to you.

Web Host Supplied Statistics

Any decent web host will provide you with some sort of free website statistics program.  Since I work on Linux servers, the most popular programs installed are Analog and Webalizer.  Both of these programs are free to the web host and function by reading and reporting your your site's log files.  Of these two programs, I prefer Webalizer because of its better reporting system.

If you are fortunate, your web host may have AWStats installed.  I have used this and am very impressed with its detailed reporting.

Going Beyond Basic Website Statistics

If your budget allows, here are a couple of high-end statistic reporting tools to investigate.  WebTrends and ClickTracks.  In addition to reporting the basic website traffic reports, these programs can also report on visitor paths through your website, Return on Investment (ROI) calculations from your ad campaigns, and e-mail campaign analysis.  The detailed reporting facility and ability to track just about anything on your website is what separates these tools from the freebies.

Both of these products offer either software for you to install on your server or a hosted solution for a monthly fee.

A Good Compromise

I have been using a reporting tool called ADVLogger for over a year now and am pleased with its capabilities.  At $29.95 per license, it is very affordable and provides some excellent reporting capabilities.  It is a Perl program that requires installation into your web server and web pages.

It does not provide you with the detailed ROI analysis for your ad campaigns, but the detail and accuracy is far greater than the free reporting tools available from your web host.

To conclude, everyone's needs are different when it comes to website statistic reporting.  There are literally hundreds of statistic reporting tools available and it's a good practice to see what other people use and recommend.  I hope I have offered you a good understanding of what is involved and some of the products that are available.
 

Monitoring Website Statistics

For the next few posts, I want to turn our attention to various tools that all website owners should have.  The first is a quality website statistics reporting tool.

In the early days of of the Internet, the only traffic reporting tool that was well known were those tacky page counters at the bottom of the page.  In today's world we need a reporting tool that gives us a lot more information if we are to manage our websites intelligently.

Website statistic programs come in a variety of configurations ranging in price from free to over $10,000.  There are basically two kinds of reporting methods used, log file analysis and what I call dynamic analysis.  With log file analysis tools, the statistics program reads the entries in the server's log files and reports the who, what, when, and where of traffic stats.  The dynamic analysis tools require a snippet of code to be placed on every web page that you want to track.  When the tracked page is viewed, an entry is made into a collection file or database recording the traffic stats.

In my experience the log file analysis tools have not only been more inaccurate, but if the hosting company you are using decides to wipe out your log files, then there goes your statistics.  This has happened to me on a couple of different times and is quite frustrating for me and my web clients.

The other basic decision you have to make is whether to install and manage the tracking and reporting software yourself or have it hosted on a third-party server.  If you are comfortable installing software on your own then I would go with this option.  Otherwise, paying a  monthly fee to someone else to host your data is quite acceptable.  Personally, I prefer to be in control and host the data myself.

The more sophisticated the program you purchase, the more information that will be available to you.  At a minimum, here is the information you should expect to see reported:

• Summary statistics reported monthly, weekly, and daily
• Number of unique visitors
• Total pages viewed
• Top websites referring traffic to your site
• Top Search Engines referring traffic to your site
• Top keywords used by your visitors
• Top entry and exit pages
• Most viewed pages
• Statistics such as browsers, operating systems, and screen resolution used to view your site

Pro Tip: All to often I still hear a client say "How many hits does my website get?"  A web page is made up of many different smaller parts, such as image files.  It is not uncommon for a web page to have 5, 10, or even 20 individual parts loaded to display the page.  One page view may have up to 20 "hits" recorded.  As you can see this measurement will give you a false indication of the actual traffic.  The better question to ask is "How many page views does my website get?"

Armed with this information, my next post will get into specific programs that are available and I'll recommend an inexpensive but high quality statistics program that I use for my site and my clients.