WebTrends

Abila can integrate a client’s netFORUM eWeb site with WebTrends® so that each eWeb page hit will log a page hit in WebTrends. The remainder of this page outlines which WebTrends software the client will purchase and details what the integration entails.

This integration does not include the iWeb (internal staff) site.

WebTrends Licensing

The netFORUM client must purchase a WebTrends 7 On Demand Professional license. As of December 2006, the license for this offering starts at $200 per month. The price can increase depending on site traffic.

If desired, the client may also purchase the Enterprise version which has more functionality and allows for more site traffic but costs significantly more.

The simpler and less expensive Small Business license is not robust enough to integrate with netFORUM; do not purchase this version.

Please see WebTrends for more information about pricing and licensing.

Please note that the On Demand offerings from WebTrends do not require any software installation on web servers.

WebTrends Integration

Abila will integrate netFORUM with WebTrends in the following ways:

Tag Page Hits by CMS Section

Each CMS Web Section will be tagged with a metatag that will result in a page hit for that section in WebTrends. Here is an example of a WebTrends report on a netFORUM eWeb site with five sections:

By tagging hits by section, the web master can get a summarized view of which sections are seeing the most traffic.

As part of the integration, Abila will configure each section to be tagged by WebTrends. If additional sections are added, the client will need to add a simple web section default to any new section that contain certain metatags. Abila will instruct the client how to do this. This takes less than a minute to do.

Here is an example of a web section default and the metatag for a section called Guidelines Main. Note the META tag called content and its value of "Guidelines Main":

Abila realizes that you may have created and organized your CMS Sections in such a way that does not reflect what an executive staff person may logically associate as a "section". If this is the case, then it is easy to combine, rename, or merge sections into one "virtual" section for the purposes of WebTrends analysis. For example, you may have three CMS sections called

• Meetings – (new)
• Meetings
• Meetings – upload

You may have created these CMS sections for any number of purposes, but from a WebTrends perspective you would like to consider them all in one combined "meetings" section. The WebTrends integration can do this easily within netFORUM’s CMS by altering a HTML tag in a web section default.

Tagging Page Hits

Pages will be tagged in WebTrends based on the Page Title as shown here in this WebTrends report pictured on the left.

The Page Title is derived from the page title entered in the CMS Web Page setup as shown here:

The screen shot above is the page setup for the Guidelines main page that appears second in the list above. The Page Title also appears to the end user on the top of the browser window:

As illustrated above, the fact that nearly all CMS pages load as "DynamicPage.aspx" in the URL address does not confuse WebTrends. WebTrends looks at the Page Title to classify the distinct pages. As long as your Page Titles are clear, then the page hit counts will be clear.

In order to make the page counts useful, a lot of care and thought should be put into page titles to make them descriptive when they appear in WebTrends. For example, if you have a lot of search results pages, if you title them all "Results" then they will make no sense in WebTrends reports. Instead, call them "Results – Event Search" or "Results – Member Directory", etc. Additionally, once you decide on a page title, do not change it unless you have to, or else its page count will be divided in two and therefore its true page count will be diluted.

Please note that, unlike the example above, certain WebTrends metrics do lump all "DynamicPage.aspx" pages into the same hit count. Here is one sample of a WebTrends report that does not handle dynamic pages properly:

Obviously, this metric above is not as useful. This is one report in WebTrends that the integration does not address.

Test and Live WebTrends Profiles

Abila will create two WebTrends profiles, one that points to the TEST eWeb url and the other that will point to the LIVE eWeb URL. Abila will configure each account to link to the appropriate URLs.

If you choose to explore more advanced WebTrends analytics, then you can try things out on the TEST site, examine the results in WebTrends under the test account, and then move your modifications to the LIVE site.

Additional Integration Points and Analysis

WebTrends is a very powerful software that offers many sophisticated ways of measuring website traffic. There are other ways to enhance a WebTrends integration that the client may pursue. There are ways to parse out certain URLs, for example, or analyze eCommerce usage and trends by Product. Abila does not configure these settings in the standard WebTrends integration, but the advanced webmaster is of course free to explore other WebTrends analytics or engage Abila to do so on a consulting basis.

Client Tasks

Signing Up for WebTrends Account

The client must sign up for the WebTrends account as it requires a credit card number and other information about the client.

After signing up, the client should give to Abila the username, password and WebTrends account number in order to complete the account integration. You will get a confirmation email from WebTrends and the easiest way to proceed is to forward that email to us as it has the information we need to get started.

Abila will create an additional Abila login with Admin permissions, and then inform the client so the password for the main client account can be changed. From that point on, Abila will login to the WebTrends account using the Abila login to configure the account. After the integration is completed and the client has signed up, then this user account may be terminated if desired.