How do I log the ip addresses of people who visit my website or download my publication?
March 22, 2010 2:42 PM Subscribe
How do I log the ip addresses of people who visit my website or download my publication?
I send out a news publication for a non profit, and want to find out how many people read it. I put up a hit counter on the online-version (html), but want to track unique users.
Also, since the publication's sent out as a direct link, I want to know how many people read the "online version" and how many read the direct-link (I've tried explaining that a link in an email goes directly to the file on the domain, but for some reason it's considered the "real" version that you don't have to read online)
I figured that the easiest way to determine unique users would be to log their ip addresses and then go through once a month and delete multiple-entries. Is there a better way? How do I do this?
Thank you
I send out a news publication for a non profit, and want to find out how many people read it. I put up a hit counter on the online-version (html), but want to track unique users.
Also, since the publication's sent out as a direct link, I want to know how many people read the "online version" and how many read the direct-link (I've tried explaining that a link in an email goes directly to the file on the domain, but for some reason it's considered the "real" version that you don't have to read online)
I figured that the easiest way to determine unique users would be to log their ip addresses and then go through once a month and delete multiple-entries. Is there a better way? How do I do this?
Thank you
I use this PHPCounter which is a free download.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 2:48 PM on March 22, 2010
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 2:48 PM on March 22, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks Winsome Parker Lewis, I just checked out and signed up for google analytics; that seems like it'll do exactly what I want-- except track the pdf downloads directly from an email.
(We send out a "your publication is ready to read, click here!" email, and it's directly linked from the email. I read the FAQ about how to track a direct-download, and I'm going to try inserting the code into the email itself)
Thanks for the suggestion
posted by Seeba at 3:22 PM on March 22, 2010
(We send out a "your publication is ready to read, click here!" email, and it's directly linked from the email. I read the FAQ about how to track a direct-download, and I'm going to try inserting the code into the email itself)
Thanks for the suggestion
posted by Seeba at 3:22 PM on March 22, 2010
Your webserver probably already logs IPs, so you have raw data if you need it. There are problems with IP addresses, though. You can't really assume that one IP address is one user; with proxy servers and whatnot, this is untrue often enough to mess up your data.
If you want to track each user, you will have to give every user their own link. I assume that many mass email programs do this for you, but have never cared enough to do something like this myself.
posted by jrockway at 5:56 PM on March 22, 2010
If you want to track each user, you will have to give every user their own link. I assume that many mass email programs do this for you, but have never cared enough to do something like this myself.
posted by jrockway at 5:56 PM on March 22, 2010
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posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:46 PM on March 22, 2010