There are thousands of different visitor counters, tickers, and trackers on the Internet; some are free and some cost money. Therefore, with so many different options, it can be difficult to find right visitor counter for a website. Luckily, there are steps that can be followed to ensure the best visitor counter is selected.
Guidelines to Find Right Visitor Counter
Considerations
There are many factors involved in selecting the correct counter for the needs of the website. The most common considerations include:
- Budget
- Depth of tracking
- Technical background
- Type of website
- Website platform
Budget
The first point to consider is the budget of the website. For those who have limited funds, a simple visitor counter that displays the number of visitors on the screen may be acceptable. For webmasters who have a larger budget, investing in a paid counter with many features may be the best route.
Depth Of Tracking
Another consideration is the amount of tracking that is required. If the website only requires the counter to track visitors then a simple widget may suffice. More in-depth tracking, such as determining the origin of the visitor, the amount of time spent on the page, the average number of pages viewed, the path taken to the website, and the links used to leave the website, maybe better fulfilled by a complicated program.
Technical Background
Webmasters who have little technical knowledge of modifying code or placing trackers may want to stick to simpler counters. Those with extensive knowledge should delve into a more complicated counter.
Type of Website
The type of website will play a significant role in the type of counter selected. E-Commerce sites will typically require more complicated tracking so webmasters can determine the origin of the traffic; whether it is organic, the length of time spent per page and the route a client takes to leave the page. With professional eCommerce sites, visitor tracking information is continuously being gathered and analyzed behind the scenes so the consumer is unaware. On the other hand, information sites, like blogs and article sites, may only require a small counter at the bottom of the page so they can see the number of views.
Website Platform
The final factor is the type of platform being used; a website that was built from scratch or a site containing various pre-built templates. A site built from scratch may be much more difficult to add a counter than a website builder that could add a counter with a few clicks of the mouse. Normally, website builders have an integrated visitor counter.