Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Is there an inexpensive way to spot inflated

Steve Roth (sroth_at_thunderlizard.com)
Thu, 19 Feb 98 09:38:04 -0700

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clicks-thru?
Sender: owner-online-ads_at_o-a.com
Precedence: bulk

On 2/19/98 7:30 AM, margaret_at_workingsmarter.com wrote:

>Presently the advertisers statslogs merely show how many times the
>banners have been displayed and how many folks click-through. We
>have no means of knowing when and even which are the referring
>ISPs which click through.

Two methods (at least):

1. Referring URL. Each clickthrough *should* have a "Referring URL" that
goes into your sever logs and can be reported by various log mungers. So
you can see that n visitors came from x referring URL on y date.

In my experience, however, in something like 40% of http requests, the
Referring URL field is blank. Kind of reduces the value of that tracking
method, because you only know about 60% of a site's clickthroughs.

Also, if a banner is rotating through multiple pages on a site, or with
other complexities, the log analysis gets pretty hard, messy, and (I just
hate this part) manual.

2. Use a query code. For every ad, add a query string to the clickthrough
URL:

http://www somewhere.com?trackingcode

Then set up your server so requests invoke a script which:

a. logs the request from that trackingcode
and
b. delivers the requested page

Then you munge the log written by that script to get reports by
trackingcode.

Hope this helps,

Steve

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Steve Roth sroth_at_thunderlizard.com
Thunder Lizard Productions Voice: 206/285-0305
Technology Events Done Right Fax: 206/285-0308
1619 8th Ave. N. Seattle WA 98109 http://www.thunderlizard.com?SFR
> WEB MARKETING '98: April 22-24, Seattle <
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