With the number of Web sites on the Internet continually growing, the need for Web traffic analysis software is on the rise. Keeping up with that demand, North Kingstown, R.I.-based Sane Solutions, LLC has added NetTracker 5.0 to its NetTracker line of Web analysis software.
According to the company, NetTracker meets the demands of professionals involved in on-line marketing, e-commerce, business development and system administration, and is suitable for virtually anybody with a Web site.
Jim Rose, CEO for SaneSolutions, said version 5.0 has added new features in response to customer requests.
“One of the important things was to be able to track new, unique and repeat visitors,” Rose said. “Marketers want to know how ‘sticky’ their site is and if there is return to their site.”
Key added features include visitor profiling to allow marketers to group Web site visitors by their actions; trend reports which enable Web developers to customize a comparison of site traffic data over time; and content grouping to allow Web site managers to group visitors by the content they view. NetTracker also serves cookies to track new, unique and repeat visitors. Rose said 5.0 also has the ability to drill down within any of the summarized information to get the precise clickstreams of each individual.
Version 5.0 is available for the three existing editions of NetTracker: Professional, which analyzes a single Internet or intranet site; NetTracker Enterprise, which analyzes multiple Web sites, firewall or FTP log files; and NetTracker e-Business, which is designed to process large log files with the speed and reliability of an Oracle8 or SQL Server database.
Though there is a wide array of Web traffic analysis software available, Rose cautioned that people should not be lured by free on-line Web traffic analysis software as he said they are generally nothing more than hit counters.
“When you go to a Web site, typically a page will have five graphics on it. As far as a Web server’s concerned, the Web page is one file and those five graphics are another five files. So there are six files being transferred to you. Those are six hits.”
For Gene Walters, data warehouse architect for Tampa, Fla.-based 3-D desktop package provider UBUBU Inc., choosing NetTracker was a cost-value proposition. Walters said there is slicker software on the market that is easier to use, but regarding price value, he said NetTracker is a great tool. He said other tools require start-up cost as well as additional expenses for every new Web server added.
“We have a need for about 75 per cent of the reports NetTracker generates,” Walters said. “As far as meeting all our needs, no.”
Walters, who previously used version 4.5 enterprise edition, is pleased with the new additions to version 5.0.
“We felt the unique visitor tracking was a very important addition, (as well as) the trend reporting,” he said. “I definitely see ways to make it more flexible and expand it, but it’s a good start.”
Rose said NetTracker will continuously respond to the growing needs of the customer and welcomes suggestions.
Walters added, “If you’re looking at the tool, on the surface it looks a bit rough. It’s not as sophisticated in help and guiding you through it like some of the other tools. But once you spend a little time, it’s definitely a lot of power under the hood for the best price we found on the market.”
Pricing for NetTracker starts at US$495 for single-site professional software; US$995 for multi-site enterprise software; and starts at US$9,995 for e-Business edition. For more information, visit www.sane.com.
