Frequently Asked Questions
Installation issues-
Detailed installation help
I need the full Web-Stat code for my account
Is there a shorter version of the Web-Stat code ?
I have installed Web-Stat on my site and I get no stats / no counter
I am not allowed to install JavaScript code on my site
My site has secure (SSL) pages. I need an SSL version of the Web-Stat code
The counter does not increase when I reload my web page
How do I make my counter invisible ?
Something is not working...
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I setup Web-Stat to ignore my own visits but this keeps getting reset
Traffic analysis for my site has not updated for several days
Referrer information does not seem to be recorded properly
Billing issues
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How much does Web-Stat cost ?
How come it's not free ?
How can I update the credit card that is used to pay for my account(s) ?
I have several accounts : how can I list them all ?
How can I cancel my account ?
Do you offer quantity discounts ?
Hosting companies, web designers
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Can I make money by reselling Web-Stat to my clients ?
Do you offer a branded version of Web-Stat with my name and logo ?
Miscellaneous
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What is your reliability, track record ?
Do I have to install your logo or a banner on my site ?
Privacy policy
Can I install Web-Stat on as many of my pages as I want to ?
What are the traffic limits ? What happens if I go over ?
Can you give me the name and address of the people who visit my page ?
What are Plus and Premium accounts ?
Can I change my userID ?
I have another question...
Frequently Given Answers
I need the full Web-Stat code for my account
The full code for your account is available below :
Is there a shorter version of the Web-Stat code ?
Yes ; the simplified code is much shorter than the full code. As such it is more fault-tolerant and allows for easier installation if your access to your HTML is restricted.
The simplified code will work fine except that it will not record referrer, keywords, screen size or screen color information.
I have installed Web-Stat on my site and I get no stats / no counter
First make sure that your counter is not set to be invisible (you can check this in the Web-Stat Control Panel). If your account is set to be invisible no counter will appear on your page and the only way to tell that Web-Stat is indeed working is by checking your statistics.
If the stats don't update or if the counter does not appear even though it is supposed to be visible, then the Web-Stat code is not properly installed on your site.
Please check your installation by loading your web site from Internet and displaying your site's source code (right-click anywhere on a text portion of your site and select 'views source' from the menu that will appear at the cursor's location). Locate the Web-Stat code in your source HTML and verify that it is strictly identical to the code we issued (in particular your code should contain the same number of lines as the original code - sometimes HTML editors insert unwanted line breaks, which prevent traffic monitoring from working properly). The original code for your account is available here
If the Web-Stat code is installed properly on your site and if the account is set to be visible then a counter will appear on your page. Reloading the page will cause the counter to increase by one (providing that the Control Panel's 'Type of Tracking' is set to 'Test Mode' for your account). If the counter does not increase, when you reload your page, see this section.
I am not allowed to install JavaScript code on my site
In this case you'll need to use the simplified version of the Web-Stat code. Please see this section.
My site has secure (SSL) pages. I need an SSL version of the Web-Stat code
Web-Stat offers an SSL (secure) version of the code to be used on SSL pages (and on SSL pages only). If your site has both regular and SSL pages, install the regular version of the code on regular pages and the SSL version on SSL pages).
The counter does not increase when I reload my web page
Your account is probably set to count 'visitor sessions' in the Web-Stat Control Panel, which means that it will only increment once for a given visitor in a 30 minutes period (after all if someone comes to your site and reloads your page 5 times you want us to count 1 visit, not 5).
To test your account you can set it up so that it increments every time you reload your page : simply go to the Web-Stat Control Panel, select 'Type of Tracking -> Test Mode' and submit.
How do I make my counter invisible ?
You can easily make your counter invisible to the outside world : log into the Web-Stat Control Panel, select 'Invisible Counter -> Yes' and submit : the counter on your site will then become a 1x1 pixel invisible GIF image (there is no need to make any changes to the Web-Stat code on your pages).
Note that the above sets the default behavior of the counter. You can override that behavior if you want to by making the counter 'visible' on certain pages only ; to do this simply edit the Web-Stat code on the pages in question and replace :
var invisible = '';
with :
var invisible = 'no'; (the counter is forced to be visible on this page)
or
var invisible = 'yes'; (the counter is forced to be invisible on this page)
I setup Web-Stat to ignore my own visits but this keeps getting reset
You can have Web-Stat ignore your own visits to your site by selecting 'Exclude my own visits -> Yes' in the Web-Stat Control Panel. When you select this option we write a cookie on your hard disk that allows us to recognize your browser when you come to your own site and load your counter. If that cookie gets erased for any reason then we are unable to recognize your browser anymore and your visits get counted again.
To prevent this from happening make sure that your cookies files don't get erased. Specifically, this will occur if you remove them yourself or if you run a program that erases them for you at regular intervals (some hard disk cleaning programs or privacy software can remove the cookies files from your hard drive if improperly configured).
Traffic analysis for my site has not updated for several days
You have removed the Web-Stat code from your page (probably an error during a site update) That will prevent our program from working and causes your traffic monitoring to stop.
Please check your installation by loading your web site from Internet and displaying your site's source code (right-click anywhere on a text portion of your site and select 'views source' from the menu that will appear at the cursor's location). Locate the Web-Stat code in your source HTML and verify that it is strictly identical to the code we issued.
Click here to get a copy of the original Web-Stat code for your account along with installation instructions.
Note : if your site gets very low traffic, it is possible for the stats to appear to be behind by a day or more : the reason is that your stats update every time a visitor accesses your site ; if you have no visitors in over 24 hours, then your stats will appear as they were 24 hours ago. They will update automatically as soon as a visitor comes to your site.
Referrer information does not seem to be recorded properly
There are two possible cases :
Referrers are never detected by Web-Stat (every referral appears as 'Unable to detect referrer' or as 'Direct Access'. In this case there are four possibilities :
First, it is possible that there are no referrers to your site. Has your URL been submitted to the search engines ? Are people linking to your site ? If not, then there are no referrals for Web-Stat to detect and the results are normal.
If you are certain that there are indeed referrals to your site, and if they are never detected by Web-Stat, then the Web-Stat code is not properly installed (or you are using the simplified version of the code, which is not capable of referrer detection). Please check your installation as follows :
Load your web site from Internet and display your site's source code (right-click anywhere on a text portion of your site and select 'views source' from the menu that will appear at the cursor's location). Locate the Web-Stat code in your source HTML and verify that it is strictly identical to the code we issued (in particular your code should contain the same number of lines as the original code - sometimes HTML editors insert unwanted line breaks, which prevent traffic monitoring from working properly). The original code for your account is available here
Is your site framed ? If yes, make sure that the 'framed' variable in the Web-Stat code is set to 'yes' (the default is 'no') as in var framed='yes';
Verify that the Web-Stat code is installed on your site entrance page and not on some inside page. For instance if people access your site at www.yoursite.com/index.html and get automatically redirected to www.yoursite.com/main.html, the true entrance page is index.html, not main.html, so the Web-Stat must be installed on index.html
Referrers are usually detected but not always, in particular some referrers seem to be absent or under-reported.
This is caused by the fact that some of your referrers use non-standard links to your site (for instance server redirects instead of HTTP links). In such cases Web-Stat can not detect the referrer automatically, however there are ways to easily get around this problem. Please see our Referrer Tracking Tutorial for more information on tracking non-standard referrals.
How much does Web-Stat cost ?
A regular Web-Stat account costs $5 per month. This price is all inclusive, and gives you a permanent account with stats identical to what is available in the free 30-day trial account. Compared to the free trial, a regular account has a few added capabilities, such as invisibility or possibility to exclude your own visits and specific IP addresses.
If you need extra stats, we have two upgrades available for a few dollars more : the 'Plus' and 'Premium' programs. Upgraded accounts will, among other things, monitor your server uptime and connect time and measure click-paths and page views within your site. Additional information on the 'plus' and 'premium' programs, along with sample stats and pricing is available here.
How come it's not free ?
There are some free stats or counter services out there. One rule applies always : 'you get what you pay for'. It's relatively easy to start a free stats service, but it's much harder to maintain it as the users base grows. After a few months, free services need to replace their existing hardware with expensive equipment. Even if they get some revenues through advertising this is not enough to offset the cost of ever escalating hardware needs (the ads revenues don't grow in sync with the user base). The bottom line is that free services are notoriously unreliable.
Web-Stat has been in operation uninterrupted since 1998, serving about 3 million hits per day. We use a sophisticated set of tools to monitor the load on our servers and we upgrade our hardware regularly in order to keep up with demand. We maintain about 25% excess capacity so that you can always count on the reliability of our service. Obviously this has a cost, but we feel that $5 per month is definitely a bargain in the world of professional traffic analysis.
Still, we understand that you need not take our word regarding the quality of our service, which is why we offer a free 30-day trial : you can create an account in less than a minute here, install it on your site and get free traffic analysis started immediately. If for some reason you don't like it you have nothing to do : the account will expire automatically after 30 days. If you do like it, you can make the account permanent at any time simply by using the 'register' link on the menu bar.
How can I update the credit card that is used to pay for my account(s) ?
You can update your credit card information securely online ; all you have to do is :
- click on the 'Control Panel' link in the menu bar
- enter your user ID and password
- go to the bottom of the screen
- click on the 'update credit card info' link in the 'Payment Information' section
- update the credit card information
Note that for your security your credit card number and ID code are not stored online, so they will not appear on the update form.
I have several accounts : how can I list them all ?
- click on the 'Control Panel' link in the menu bar
- enter your user ID and password
- go to the bottom of the screen
- click on the 'update credit card info' link in the 'Payment Information' section
- click on the link just above the credit card form (this link will only appear if you have several accounts with us)
How can I cancel my account ?
If your account is a free trial, you do not need to cancel it : it will expire automatically after 30 days and there is nothing for you to do.
If you have a registered (paying) account with us you can cancel it at any time, no questions asked : simply send an email to helpdesk@web-stat.com with your user ID and password requesting that we cancel your service. We will proceed and send you a confirmation within 24 hours.
Note that accounts are not pro-rated, if you want to cancel an account which you pay for monthly by credit card you must do so before the last day of the month (otherwise your card will be charged for the current period and that charge is not refundable).
For example, if you want to cancel in April, you need to let us know by April 29 at the latest (if you wait until April 30 your credit card will be charged for the month).
Do you offer quantity discounts ?
Yes, if you order several accounts with us you will get quantity discounts of up to 50% : see details here.
Note that you can create your accounts one at a time : when we charge you each month we will find out how many accounts are being paid for with the same credit card and automatically calculate the appropriate discount.
Can I make money by reselling Web-Stat to my clients ?
Yes, many web designers and hosting companies work with us : if some of your clients are interested in traffic analysis for their sites, simply create Web-Stat accounts for them and make sure that you specify a 'guest' password. If all the accounts are created using the same credit card (yours) they will automatically get discounted when we invoice you at the end of each month. Our discount schedule quickly reaches a 50% level at which we split the revenues from your customers evenly with you.
Your clients can then access their stats at any time using their guest password.
Do you offer a branded version of Web-Stat with my name and logo ?
If you have 60 accounts or more with us we can set up a branded version of Web-Stat for your company. This will allow your clients to check their stats in an environment where they'll see only your logo and your company's name (Web-Stat does not appear anywhere).
If you are interested in a branded version of Web-Stat, please contact us using the mail form at the bottom of this page.
What is your reliability, track record ?
Web-Stat was started in February 1998, which makes us one of the earliest web tracking companies in existence. We have been in operation uninterrupted since, serving about 3 million hits per day. We use a sophisticated set of tools to monitor the load on our servers and we upgrade our hardware regularly in order to keep up with demand. We maintain about 25% excess capacity so that you can always count on the reliability of your stats (no downtime over 2 minutes in the last 12 months).
We have over 10,000 clients running all types of sites, large businesses, small homepages, small businesses, government agencies, etc. Please take a look at our client's feedback to find out what other people thought of working with Web-Stat.
We understand that you need not take our word regarding the quality of our service, which is why we offer a free 30-day trial : you can create an account in less than a minute here, install it on your site and get free traffic analysis started immediately. If for some reason you don't like it you have nothing to do : the account will expire automatically after 30 days. If you do like it, you can make the account permanent at any time simply by using the 'register' link on the menu bar.
Do I have to install your logo or a banner on my site ?
Absolutely not. We do not rely on advertisements to run Web-Stat. The only thing that will appear on your page after you install the Web-Stat code is a simple counter (you can choose among 175 different styles)... or nothing at all if you choose to make that counter invisible (invisibility can be turned on or off at any time in the Web-Stat Control Panel for your account).
Can I install Web-Stat on as many of my pages as I want to ?
Your Web-Stat counter should be installed on all of your site's entry pages (we call 'entry page' any page on your site that is in direct contact with the outside. Most small sites have only one entry page - the main page - but some bigger sites may have several). Anyone entering your site must trigger the counter as he/she enters : this allows us to record the visit as well as the outside referrer. All subsequent loadings of the counters by the same visitor during the same browser session will then be ignored (so that the same visitor traveling through your site gets only counted once during a single visit - of course if that person returns the next day he or she gets counted again).
If you have a Web-Stat Premium account all of the above applies but in addition you need to paste the counter code on all your inside pages. We have no limit on the number of pages. Premium accounts are capable of 'click-path analysis' which means that we'll give you additional reports showing what visitors did inside your site (where they went, how long they stayed, where they left from and so on).
What are the traffic limits ? What happens if I go over ?
A registered Web-Stat account can handle up to 6,000 visitor sessions per day (1,000 visitor sessions per day for a free trial account). Most of our users never come close to this limit, but if you do reach it your account will lock up and stop recording new traffic. This is done to protect our servers from overload and to keep all our client's counters loading time below 0.20 seconds.
Premium accounts have an additional limit of 20,000 page views per day. Again, if you go above that limit the account will lock up (and we'll unlock it upon request). If needed you can bring your page views count down by removing the Web-Stat code from some of your site's inside pages.
If you go over the limit by accident, simply send us an email and we'll unlock your account immediately.
If your traffic is consistently above our limit you will need to sign-up for one of our high-traffic plans :
- $25 per month for 30,000 visitor sessions and 30,000 page views per day
- $45 per month for 35,000 visitor sessions and 35,000 page views per day
- $65 per month for 40,000 visitor sessions and 40,000 page views per day
- $95 per month for 50,000 visitor sessions and 50,000 page views per day
- $145 per month for 60,000 visitor sessions and 60,000 page views per day
- $205 per month for 70,000 visitor sessions and 70,000 page views per day
- $290 per month for 80,000 visitor sessions and 80,000 page views per day
- $390 per month for 90,000 visitor sessions and 90,000 page views per day
- $495 per month for 100,000 visitor sessions and 100,000 page views per day
Can you give me the name and address of the people who visit my page ?
Internet was designed with people's privacy in mind, making it technically impossible to get personal information on your visitors (such as name, email address and so forth). All we can do is detect the IP number and domain name of the server from where the request to your site originated. 99% of the time that request comes from an ISP (i.e. AOL, Compuserve, Earthlink, etc.) and the IP number has been dynamically allocated to the visitor (which means that if the same visitor comes back later he/she will have a different IP number).
The only case when you can identify a visitor is when he/she is connecting through a private network with a fixed IP number, but this is not a frequent occurrence.
Note that visitor identification is plain impossible : no one can offer that service so don't waste your time looking for it. Keep in mind that in the end this is a blessing : imagine your mailbox every morning if every site you visited could collect your personal information...
What are Plus and Premium accounts ?
Web-Stat comes in three flavors : Regular, Plus or Premium ; the Plus and Premium programs offer additional services and stats (trial accounts are equivalent to a 'Regular' account in terms of what reports are available). The Plus and Premium upgrades will, among other things, allow you to monitor your server uptime and connect time and measure click-paths and page views within your site.
Additional information on the 'Plus' and 'Premium' programs, along with sample stats and pricing is available here.
Can I change my user ID ?
Your user ID is embedded in the Web-Stat code which you have installed on your site, as a result changing it will cause the code to stop working and to display an error message. Still, we can easily rename your account but this will require that you replace the Web-Stat code on your pages with a new version which we will send right after renaming your account. If you want to proceed with this, please contact us, give us your current user ID, two choices of a new user ID (in case your first choice is already taken) and a statement that you have read this and are aware that you will need to replace the Web-Stat code on your site.
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