WARNING: Be careful with 'stats' components for Joomla!

[skiddhard]

Oh Oh!!!!!!!

Just when I was about to get on with my quest to find the best Extension to gather Visitor Data I ran into this article.

This whole issue would certainly (sooner than later) be the red herring for any good website which gets a lot a hits. I would soon probably vouch for that seeing that a website I recently launched (hopefully) would be a hot bed for tons of visitors.

I however, have a quick question.

On my website, I currently have "Vinaora Visitors Counter" to show my "Visitor Stats". That's naturally for the frontend.
For the backend, I have installed "BIGSHOT Google Analytics" plugin.

Would you recommend this combination to gather Visitor Data??

Correct me if I am wrong here. But I am guessing that such a combination would get rid of the load on the Hosting Server because the data will be taken care by Google.

What do you guys think??




Cheers!!!!

[skiddhard]

Hey there Pancho

As far as I understand you don't need to insert the code in all pages: if you do it in the template's index.php then it will be inserted in all the pages when generated.

Do you mean you edit all your -say- static contents pages, click on html, then insert the code at the end?

Google analytics also works fine with me (with just one insertion) and I have checked withe the "view code" of Firefox that my generated pages do bear the code.
But let me know how GA counts as compared with the native Joomla counter. I am really curious to know.
If I understood Brad well, the counter counts page hits but I could not get that in 100% clear terms (so why does the title says "visitors:" ?)
Cheers
Pancho

After reading all your posts, I was thinking that perhaps this plugin might be of use to you and really simplify your task of gathering "Visitor Data"

This is a link to a Plugin on Joomla!!

http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions ... 70/details


Hope this helps..... (at least in a small part with regards to Google Analytics)




Cheers!!!!

[fmolle]

Hi
Good, if so please provide us with an interesting test:
how do your Google and Vinaora Visitors Counter compare??
Better still: make the inbuilt Joomla counter visible on one page (for example one that only the administrator can see) and -after a couple of weeks- compare the three:
This would be fantastic because again I could never find some developer telling us what Joomla counter counts.
Mine counts roughly three times more than my Google Analytics.
Best wishes
Pancho

[skiddhard]

Hey there Pancho

Hi
Good, if so please provide us with an interesting test:
how do your Google and Vinaora Visitors Counter compare??
Better still: make the inbuilt Joomla counter visible on one page (for example one that only the administrator can see) and -after a couple of weeks- compare the three:

I agree that such a test would definitely throw up some rather interesting facts. Naturally for obvious reasons none of the developers would highlight any short comings in their extension. They would rather come up with a version that "PATCHES" the same.

As far as your question regarding Vinaora is concerned. Vinaora is a substitute for the default built-in "stats counter". And over the past several months I have come to trust Google Analytics.
1. Its very easy to understand. Custom reports et all
2. My clients (like everybody else) trust Google blindly.

Addressing your other concern:

This would be fantastic because again I could never find some developer telling us what Joomla counter counts.
Mine counts roughly three times more than my Google Analytics.
Pancho

The default built-in "stats counter" counts the total times any/or your articles were read. Whereas Google Analytics counts hits to your site with regards to Unique And Return visitors.

At least this is what I have figured out in the last several months that I have been working on Joomla.

And if the above were to wrong, its going to be a hell of a revelation for me.....

Hope this helps you.....



Cheers!!!!

[fmolle]

Hi

you said:
The default built-in "stats counter" counts the total times any/or your articles were read. Whereas Google Analytics counts hits to your site with regards to Unique And Return visitors.

I also thought so but I tried to visit my site at a time where I was the only one online (and from a different computer): I then open the ten main pages of my site: the counter did not move by ten but by one...

Pancho

[skiddhard]

Hey there Pancho

I also thought so but I tried to visit my site at a time where I was the only one online (and from a different computer): I then open the ten main pages of my site: the counter did not move by ten but by one...

Pancho

When you made this observation, what counter are you talking about??

Google Analytics or the default Stats Counter??



Cheers!!!!

[fmolle]

the default Stats Counter
as appearing on my front page

[skiddhard]

Hey there Pancho


Sorry for the rather late reply. Had a busy Sunday with a couple of sites going live.

Am looking into it now. Will have some concrete data for you in another 12 hours or so.

Will catch up on some much needed sleep in the meanwhile.....




Cheers!!!!

[fmolle]

Hi all
For me it is still an unresolved issue!
My Joomla counter is at 4.5 times the Google analytics...

[mbaocha]

"The default built-in "stats counter" counts the total times any/or your articles were read. Whereas Google Analytics counts hits to your site with regards to Unique And Return visitors."

can anyone please confirm that?

[skiddhard]

Hi,

"The default built-in "stats counter" counts the total times any/or your articles were read. Whereas Google Analytics counts hits to your site with regards to Unique And Return visitors."

can anyone please confirm that?

Its pretty simple actually.
1. Enable the default stats counter.
2. Enable the Analytics Plugin and link it to your Analytics account (create a new site profile for testing purpose)

Once both are on the live site, ask, maybe 4-5 of your friends/colleagues, etc to visit your site and randomly view any pages. Ask them to do so from multiple computers in different location (only if its possible).

After a couple of day, you will get the results yourself.



Cheers!!!!!!!

[muddauber]

Does using JoomlaStats module create the same Server load problems
for Joomla hosts? Is there a recommendation from any hosts
as to what option to turn off to ease the load.

JoomlaStats give my clients some nice feedback on visitors
and other data that goes way beyond the Core Joomla Stats.

Does disabling the core Joomla Stats lower my server load
and quota use on my server plan? (Chris?)

[muddauber]

I haven't seen a mention of Google Analytics along with Server-based stats
for providing good review of a Joomla's site's stats.
Google Analytics provide Top Content ,Content by Title ,Content Drilldown
Top Landing Pages,Top Exit Pages and now In-Page Analytics Beta along with
quite a few additional reports.
I think this would provide a good alternative and add little or no additional server load.
It is relatively easy to set up Google webmaster tools for monitoring multiple sites.

[muddauber]

Is the JoomlaStats component one of the stat mods that cause problems?
Is this discussion recommending not using ANY of the stats modules, or
just the poorly implemented ones?

[muddauber]

This thread has not been visited since 2006, but maybe you new post with
revitalize it!! If you have a specific question on Stats, including JoomlaStats,
go ahead and enter it. (enjoyed your site and implementation of virtuemart.)