I love software that is packed with value and easy to use. For the past
year I have been evaluating web log server statistic packages. These are of
incredible value to a web marketer who wants to know where his visitors come
from, what words and phrases they are using to find his site in the search
engines, and which pages they are reading most frequently.
Armed with this information, a good web marketer knows where to spend his
time refining his sales message and where to spend his advertising and
promotion money. There are many free and paid web site statistic services
available on the Net today. One of the most popular is HitBox that offers both
free and paid versions. Their reporting mechanism is excellent and very
thorough, but such details come at a price. The more page views your site
gets, the more expensive the service.
I have been very intrigued by products which can FTP down web server logs,
analyze them, and then display graphical and tabular results on your local PC.
There are many of these products out there ranging in price and complexity. As
you would guess, the more expensive ones have the prettiest displays, but they
are not always the easiest to set-up and use. I want a product that is highly
intuitive and takes a minimum of time to set-up and see results. If I have to
spend more than an hour to do so, it usually is NOT worth my time, and I would
not recommend it here on the Cool Tool Awards.
To that end, I would like to introduce you to a little development company
called Leech Software (aka NYC Software). Based in downtown NY, they
offer a few inexpensive products to make life on the Net easier. One of these
is called OpenWebScope.
OpenWebScope
is a breeze to install and set-up. You simply tell it to create a new web
site profile, and then follow the tabular wizard to enter the appropriate
information for FTP to know how and where to find your server log files.
Unlike other more expensive packages I looked at, OpenWebScope
did not require me to change anything on my server. It found my log files
and FTPed them to my PC within minutes.
You can even set-up a schedule for report
generation and have it email an HTML report to anyone you like. A real
convenience for webmasters of multiple sites for multiple customers. Set this
baby up once and forget about it.
While the developer informs me that you can also install OpenWebScope
on your server and have all the processing occur there to save the FTP time
and bandwidth, we were unable to make this work reliably and suspect a bug
within their scheduling module.
Once the analysis is done, you can view the tabular and
graphical results through your browser. The report's appearance may even be
customized -- both in colors used as well as the overall appearance. OpenWebScope
provides a list of system variables. Just design your own web page with
your favorite editor, embed the variables, and bingo, you have a custom
report for your customers, investors, whomever.
Oh yes, unlike its competitors who cost four times as much, OpenWebScope
does not limit you to a single domain. You can use the product on unlimited
domains and unlimited log file sizes. It will even read ZIPPED files!
It will perform slower DNS translations if you need that level
of information, too. Whois InterNic look-up can also be set-up. International
languages are supported. And given the processing power and speed of today's
newer PCs and servers, it can analyze thousands of sites simultaneously.
Competitive products without many of these features will cost
you anywhere up to $1000.00, but OpenWebScope,
costs only $99.00.
A free trial copy may be downloaded from their web site by
clicking here.
We're giving this one the Gold!
Open Web Scope
