By David Strom
(originally ran in Infoworld, 4/14/97)
Are you still not reading your web server log files? Will it take the shame of some free software to make you take a look at this treasure trove? Then go download Hit List from Marketwave and get cracking.
Log files contain all sorts of goodies, including how visitors navigate through your site and what pages they look at. You can also find out which domains are the most popular points of origin, what is the pattern of visits with respect to time of day, and what browser versions your visitors use. I have been a big fan of e.g.Software's Web Trends for the past year, but may consider switching over to Hit List. Why? Hit List has some added reports, it is almost as easy to install and run, and the price is right: the bare-bones version is free.
One of the things I liked about Hit List was that its reports could include explanations of the results. If you intend to give your reports to your boss or someone who doesn't know a hit from a page view or an ad banner from a click-through, this has lots of promise. You can also omit the explanations if you wish, or you can have them run the reports remotely without needing access to your log files.
Another thing I particularly liked was the browser vs. operating system report, which lists a table comparing what version and operating system of which browser was used to visit a site. From this report, for example, I could track the rise in Microsoft Internet Explorer users on my own site over the past few months. I haven't seen this particular format on other log analyzers.
Marketwave actually makes three different versions of Hit List: the free version is called Standard. The mid-priced spread is Professional, and the high-priced version is called Enterprise. What is the difference? Standard produces six fewer reports than Pro, doesn't handle as many virtual domains, and doesn't have the remote reporting, customization and report templates that its for-fee cousins have. But for single or simple web sites, it may all you need. You'll want to get Pro though, if your server handles multiple domains (Pro can handle up to 50, while Enterprise can deal with 200), and if you wand to track advertising banner performance on your site. And if you store your logs in a SQL Server database, then you'll need to buy the Enterprise version.
I recommend starting with the freebie version and moving up if you need the extra features. (The other two are also available for limited-time trial versions for free on Marketwave's web site, although you first have to fill out an annoying survey form before you can use the software.)
Hit List has a three-step process to analyze your logs. First, you decide which reports you want to run against which log files. You can schedule these once you decide you got the information you liked. If you are looking at advertising performance, you'll also need to specify where your ads are and what URL constitutes a "click-through." Next, you design your reports, adding and subtracting features, titles, explanations, and other information. You are presented with a series of icons that represent different templates - while initially confusing doesn't take much to learn and gives you lots of choices. This customization step was a bit clunky in earlier versions and seems smoother now. Finally, you run the report and specify what output options you want: Hit List can product HTML files (text with associated .GIFs, like many of its competitors), a Rich-Text Format file, a text file, or a comma-separated file. You then view the report in the software of your choice. Version 3.0 has sped up the reporting process.
There are tons of other features, including the ability to exclude hits from your own domain.
Hit List can run as either an NT service or an application. This is a nice choice, particularly for those webmasters that want to automate their web site reports as much as possible. I tested it both ways, and it worked well. I used Hit List on an IBM 365 Pentium NT Server 4.0 machine. It installed with a few problems, and I wish Marketwave would be more careful about updating my NT system files with its own DLLs and OCXs. But otherwise, this product is worth a look.
Seattle, WA
206 682 6801
206 682 6805 fax
sales @marketwave.com
Price: Standard is freely available from Marketwave's web site, Pro costs $995 (until. 1 May, afterwards it goes up to $1995), Enterprise $2995
Platform: Windows NT 3.5.1 or better; Windows 95
Copyright 1997 Infoworld Publishing Co.