TRACKING YOUR ADVERTISING
When I run an advert in an ezine, print or the web I use a
simple little log trick to keep track of how effective each run
is.
Let's say you are placing an add for your home page
www.yourname.com. Instead of just using your home page address
use the following: www.yourname.com/?code If you type ?code
after your address it will still take you right to your web page
with no interference (go ahead try it I know you want to!) but
what it does do is register the address in your web-server logs!
You can of course substitute the word code with any combinations
of numbers or letters that you want.
You will now be able to easily track as many ads as you want.
This is a powerful and free tracking system. All you will need
to do to utilize this technique is take a peak into your web
server log to see how each ad is doing. Just find the call for
your unique URL plus your code and you can view it's hit's.
Don't understand your logs?
There are many log analysis tools available on the web so using
this technique should be no trouble, even for an internet newbie.
One great program although it's for a more advanced user and
complicated to set up is xav tracker. This is well worth the
trouble learning. It gives you every tracking option you could
want including what keyword a person used to find you. you can
find it at: http://www.xav.com/scripts/axs/
If you are not comfortable using the code call for your ad or
would like to use a unique URL for a search engine submission
you can easily accomplish the same results by creating a unique
directory using a code name. For example:
www.yourname.com/adcode/ Just create a copy of your index page
inside it or insert a page that redirects to your index.
Every time that URL is accessed it will show up in your logs.
This is more tedious then using ?code but will produce the
results you are looking for!