Re: Dan, do you have a recommendation for a link tracker?

> Tell me what works, quit BS'n me in the ezines.

Thought you we talking to me here for a minute!

> feel free to suggest a link tracker...your
> experience is valuable and your expertise is
> well known, we'd trust an opinion from you
> and thanks for your post.

Link Trackers I do have one I will suggest just but not at the moment. Will do it a little later this evening when I can post some text with it. I have definate opinions on this. After all we've tracked tens of thousands of click-thru's on our links.

-- Dan Butler


http://www.TheNakedPC.com

Link tracking is important. We all agree on that. The script I choose is Wes Blaylock's "Ultimate Ad Tracker" - however I edited the script very heavily before using it. So the one I use is only remotely similar to the one you buy. Specifically I disabled the setting of cookies, cleaned up the code, added some user interface features for my own use, and ensured it would handle the load we might put on it. That said out of the box it should work okay for most people. I'll comment on the script Steve recommended in a second.

We are talking ezine ad tracking here. So whatever script you choose consider the URL's you will publish in your ezine. The script above ends up with a URL similar to this on my site:

http://www.thenakedpc.com/cgi-bin/tracker.cgi?gordon1

Please note that that URL does not work! So to shorten it I used a shorter directory name and renamed the script. The above url will now be:

http://www.thenakedpc.com/t/g/tr.cgi?g1

That URL will work. It takes you to the Sowpub main page. Note how much shorter it is. The thing to avoid is URL's that will wrap in a mail reader. So keep them short.

Now to the script Steve is recommending. I like the admin portion of the script. I don't like the url's it produces. Mostly the length and some other reasons mostly personal preference. I think the script would work fine though. And it's free - a big plus. I don't know how it would work on a high volume application. Most people won't have to worry about this. I haven't looked at the actual program code so I have no comments there. In general it should work fine.

On volume - the day we send an ezine out our tracker will get hit several thousand times in the course of a couple of hours. Then taper off over a number of days. A poorly written script can casue your server to crash or slow down as it gets volume. You may think you'll never need to worry about this but it can happen. I'll tell the story of the day I had 15,000 emails to download another time. I would never have expected that but luckily I was prepared for it technically.

Now using the script with an ezine. Install the tracker in separate directories - one for each issue of the ezine. Then use one set of tracker links for each issue. Otherwise it will be too cumbersome to maintain long term. (for the heavy techs I actually use symbolic links. If that term has no meaning to you just install multiple times)

Main thing is to get a script and use it. One more thought. If all your links point back to your web site then you don't need a tracker. Just check your log files every couple of days after the issue goes out. The tracker only helps if you are sending them offsite or want more control over knowing where they came from. In the case of an ezine you know where they came from.

Hope that helps.

-- Dan Butler
The Naked PC newsletter

> Thought you we talking to me here for a
> minute! Link Trackers I do have one I will
> suggest just but not at the moment. Will do
> it a little later this evening when I can
> post some text with it. I have definate
> opinions on this. After all we've tracked
> tens of thousands of click-thru's on our
> links.

> -- Dan Butler




http://www.TheNakedPC.com